Brown Out or other Power Issues?

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nzkiwiman

406 posts

Ultimate Geek

Topic # 100207 5-Apr-2012 08:57
Question for those who know more about power than me .. Woke up this morning to find that all the lights in the house were only outputting out 1/4 of there light capacity, the light inside the fridge was off (i.e when you open the door, no light), the microwave and oven were showing 0.00 for the time and the garage door wouldn't open. However my computer (desktop) was still on, download as I had left it the night before, and our PVR and Blu Ray player were still on. Also checked with one neighbour and they didn't seem to have any issues. Does anyone know what his 'issue' is - circuit breaker, house wiring, brown out or something else. Be interesting to see what is happening when I get home around 6pm.

gzt

3203 posts

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Reply # 605501 5-Apr-2012 09:01
Where do you live? Personally I would have turned the power off before leaving the house this morning, to (a) prevent the possibility of appliance damage from fluctuating power and (b) to prevent possible fire outbreak if it is faulty internal wiring.

nzkiwiman

406 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 605508 5-Apr-2012 09:08
In Mosgiel (15km, SW of Dunedin) I did turn of my computer rather than leaving on downloading ..

keewee01

IT Professional
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Reply # 605516 5-Apr-2012 09:15
gzt: Where do you live? Personally I would have turned the power off before leaving the house this morning, to (a) prevent the possibility of appliance damage from fluctuating power and (b) to prevent possible fire outbreak if it is faulty internal wiring. +1 - I'd turn the mains off and get and electrician in as there is a serious issue there somewhere!

gzt

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Reply # 605527 5-Apr-2012 09:33
There is always a possibility it is some combination of issues: ie; your garage door needs a reset after a power cut, the cut was short enough to leave some devices running (my desktop sometimes carries on if a short cut resets the microwave and flickers the lights), the fridge may have reasons of it's own, energy saving bulbs may have been in the warm up phase. But as per my previous comment, playing it safe is the thing to do. The costs of brown outs in appliance damage (no matter the cause) can be horrendous.

Evilg

220 posts

Master Geek

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Reply # 605626 5-Apr-2012 11:40
Sounds like your house has lost it's neutral.... Which means your power is going via your boards MEN link to earth... I would shut her down and get a good sparky in. That's just my guess anyway (could be an area wide problem too)

richms

8813 posts

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Reply # 607290 10-Apr-2012 09:30
IME once running PCs are ok down to about 80 volts, whereas the other stuff doesnt have a power supply so will just suffer from low voltage. Most fridges nowdays have electronics in them to prevent them running on low voltage, but other things don't, and you might find things burn out. If its a network fault then not everyone may be effected depending on the phase they are on so check with a few more neighbors not just the immediate next door ones. Richard rich.ms

nzkiwiman

406 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 607317 10-Apr-2012 10:24
Whatever the issue was, it wasn't an issue when returning home on Thursday OR over the long weekend. One of those random things I'll never understand.

gzt

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Reply # 607319 10-Apr-2012 10:28
Call your power company and tell them about it at the very least. If it was a system disturbance they will be able to confirm that for you. If they don't know about it - they will probably come out and check distribution equipment in your area.

Zeon

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Reply # 607321 10-Apr-2012 10:29
had a customer who had really dirty power. Damaged a heap of their equipment including those with power supplies/transformers and they are in the middle of Auckland (ie not Mosgiel =p ). Best to get it looked into.