Well that will teach me .... we had a 12 hr scheduled brownout today which started at 6 am this morning and I just got here to the board a few minutes ago .... we get them usually on a Sat or Sun so they can do preventive maintenance on their equipment ..... this time it was a major undertaking as they shut down 7 major feeders ....
The worst part is they always notify folks by way of all things Face-less-book and as I don't belong I didn't know .... usually the Mrs checks each Fri. nite but she forgot so in the middle of breakfast the power went out along with our water and everything else ....
Oh well we are now back to normal till next time and I'm now playing catch-up with my emails and various boards ..... see ya .....
Do you mean blackout (no power) not brownout (low voltage)?
A 12hr blackout must be no fun if your fridge/freezer are full. I can imagine your Mrs shouting "Shut that door" everytime you grab a cool beer.
I tend to prefer a black out over a brown out. Low voltage or a missing phase plays havoc on household appliances and computers.
Some years ago, I caused a shutdown of power on my street because I complained about a missing phase/low voltage. The first time the power company came out they said there was no problem. I complained again the next day and when I got home that evening, power trucks were lined up the street, backhoe, and a trailer with this huge transformer on it. Temps are like 17F/-9C. Colder than a mother-in-laws heart for sure.
They killed power, pulled down my neighgbors fence, pulled the old transformer out and put the new one in. Seven hours of cold as the dickens in the house. Of course, the guys doing the work were a lot more miserable than we were.
Over here they call a blackout .... no power ..... a brownout ..... not sure why but that's the way it is .... maybe because the voltage here fluctuates all the time that's why I have a AVR for all my sensitive appliances ..... thank god everything here is 220 V but it did raise havoc with my 120 V stuff I brought over from the US ..... I have to use a transformer for these .... but I have replaced all of them except my Dremel Tool it is still 120 V .....
So true the power fluctuates so much here I have to use a AVR .... and listed to it scratch .... brushes rubbing on the stater .... if the voltage isn't low enough to shut it down .... not much fear of spikes just low voltage ....
For us a brown-out is low voltage. Sometimes caused by high demand and sometimes by utility equipment failure. I have everything on surge protectors, and even then if I know a storm is enroute I will uplug from the wall.
I can always tell the brown outs because refrigerators don't sound right when they run. Of course, the els go wonky as well.
Power black-outs are more straightforward to deal with if power supply fails cleanly, but best to unplug items before power is restored then reconnect after, as switching disturbances can experienced when power comes back on.
Brown-outs can be damaging for sensitive appliances, as in addition to low or erratic voltage, it can include big impulsive voltage spikes, dips and wideband conducted electromagnetic interference.
