On Thu, 2014-10-09 at 07:31 +1100, Stephen Morris wrote:
I have had an issue with a wall double power point that has a power
board plugged into each socket, where when there was a power blackout
the red led on one power board went out but the red led on the 2nd
power board remain lit the entire time of the blackout, when there is
power into the power boards the red light is lit on both. This makes
no sense to me if the wall socket is the same as that sold by the
electronics store where there is only one connection point for the
mains wiring, as with only one connection point how could one side be
out and the other side be active in a power blackout?
Sounds more like a brownout, than a blackout. A brownout (horrible
choice of words), is when the mains goes low voltage, rather than
completely cuts out. It's possible for it to go far too low for
electrical devices to run, but there might still be enough for things
like LED pilot lights to still illuminate.
Brownouts are a common cause of bogus repair jobs. The mains went low,
and caused equipment to behave oddly, but it never went completely of,
so people assume the equipment failed rather than the mains, and take it
in for repair, when it didn't have anything wrong with it. Or, the low
mains power upset the circuitry and it randomises settings in
computerised gadgets (televisions, video recorders), so the clock goes
funny and all the tuner settings go askew. All those gadgets really
needed was to be turned off, completely, for a few seconds, and turned
back on again. And perhaps go through the tuning process, again. But
people take the gadget in for repair, and the serviceman finds nothing
wrong with it.
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