Be Excellent To Each Other

I mentioned this a while ago on Bits and Bobs... a few times a week or two ago, the lights flickered a bit, much to the worry of the missus. My internet connection didn't like it very much either, but my 360 was fine and carried on regardless. Goddess Jasmine said the same thing had happened in her house, so I assumed it was just normal.

It's happened three times this evening, only more violent... the lights practically going out for that half-second, my 360 cutting other altogether (and giving me a quickly flashing red ring)...

What's causing this? Has anyone else had it happen? Does my wiring need checking? Not much else was on in the house at the time.

Probably the first thing you should do is see if your neighbours are having the same problems and if so get onto the leccy company. I'd be a bit surprised if it was your internal wiring to be honest.

I had the same problem in my flat. It'd happen out of the blue, but it would also be reproduceable just by switching on a light or otherwise adding load to the electrical system.

It got really bad for a week or so, causing half-second powercuts that would knock everything out. Then it just stopped.

Happened again about a year later, same symptoms, same effects on the electrics. Then stopped again a few days after.

Hasn't happened since, so I'm not worried about it.

My first thought is that it was load... but the boiler hadn't just switched on, so that wasn't it, and that is the only major appliance in the house that can switch itself on.

I suppose somewhere, things happened at a power station, but I suppose I should just shut up and be grateful for 24/7 electricity. I also suppose I should have more supplies in the house in case of a proper outage... you don't realize how dependent you are on it for everything (especially entertainment) until it goes out... then you're sat in the dark, bored, trying to read old magazines by flashlight.

It hasn't done it again since.

Is it happening in other houses nearby?

Generally if your power dips 2 or 3 times in a row (I forget which) the next time it dips it will cut. Don't ask why, it's some kind of safety circuit at the sub stations.

Or do you have a poorly wired house? Does the kettle,fridge, etc kicking in cause a dip?

Invest in a UPS for your main PC. Well well worth it, although getting my Belkin to work on the Mac is a bloody nightmare. It still protects the box though and was very cheap.

My main PC is a laptop anyway, so it'll survive in standby mode for hours, even on its fucked battery. Though it does mean that I won't be able to swap in the good battery (which I keep in the fridge) without it going properly off.

I haven't asked the neighbours, no.

That sounds like a brownout - voltage "sag" as too many people draw too much power. You should definitely ring your supplier, first to find out if there has been any sagging, and second to tell them that you're experiencing it and that your stuff doesn't like it.

If your wiring were the problem, it would drop and stay dropped. Or it'd set on fire.

Also be aware that if such sagging causes things to fail, the supplier is liable for replacement.

We're running well close to the wire in terms of supply equaling demand due to various stations going off line and such, so I'd expect more of this shit for a while.

Yeah, the Metro today had a thing about supply currently exceeding demand by 110 megawatts, which sounds like a lot but isn't. A decent cold snap, or a station being taken offline unexpectedly, will cause blackouts of varying degrees.

Still, better that large swathes of the country go without power than generate one more watt from nuclear, eh?

Annoying semi-relevance: the Metro yesterday had a cartoon about the French buyout of sites and intent to build nuclear stations. It was along the lines of "If I were French I'd build my nuclear stations somewhere else as well". Displaying complete ignorance of the fact that 80% of French leccy is in-country nuclear generated. Twat.

Quite frankly I don't see how the greenie beardie vote can be so large that they can't just ignore them and build what the country needs - nuclear power plants. And if they go protesting outside them, arrest them as terror suspects (as they're planning to vandalise a power plant)

Also, why the fuck are you reading anything in Metro at all?

Because everybody likes Nemi.

I prefer the goaste Nemi myself...

People bring them in, it's not as bad as most news sources, and it's fun finding the inaccuracies. For instance, unilaterally declaring the plutonium enrichment plant that North Korea is reopening a "bomb factory", yesterday.

And sometimes, I'm in it.

A brownout typically stays for a while. You'd notice dim lights but most electronics wouldn't be affected.
So it was a power cut or "outage" as our American friends call it.



Not necessarily - a loose main connection can cause exactly this kind of problem.

Observe the neighbours lights next time it's happening. If it's not just your house it could well be your whole region that's affected.
I doubt it's anything to do with the power stations though.

I can't believe you bothered to write in to correct someone who couldn't be bothered to google for his own problem :/

Heh. That made me smile.

I'm mildly tickled by the fact that Grim...'s letter about how to stop Word offering up Americanisations is right next to a letter entitled "YOU DO THE MATH".