Well, they do produce Powerchute for a number of commercial unixs (don't know about Linux), but you probably don't want to use it anyway. It's riddled with security holes, and often responsible for more downtime than the poor mains supply ever was.
Look for UPSD. Note there's more than one of them.
It's rubbish, too. I never got it to work properly.
I use this one;
The NUT (Network UPS Tools) home page:
As if by coincidence, it's just done this;
anubis{root}13: Broadcast Message from nobody (???) on anubis Sun May 29 14:44:01... UPS ups@anubis on battery Broadcast Message from nobody (???) on anubis Sun May 29 14:44:11... UPS ups@anubis on line power
Wonder if we just had a line glitch?
Sorry, I run OS/2... likewise never got on with PowerChute/2.
UPSd or NUT have already been mentioned I've not played with either of those.
I don't think the protocol is complicated. Send it a single character get a value back sort of thing (maybe..). But surely you already have the UPS hooked up to a box so that it can shut things down cleanly when the power goes or before the batteries give out.
Never notice that! Mind, you use a different newsreader to me...
I use PowerChute/2, but keep thinking I'm going to change to the Lone Star software - do you use that?
No I use something written by a friend. Hum he doesn't appear to have released it, probably due to reverse engineering the protocol...
They arent. And they dont. Britain is still 240 despite the official
230 description, and France still 220. Britain uses 240v bulbs and France 220, because incandescents do not span the range happily.Neither country is changing its voltage significantly. The adoption of a cmomon standard simply means new electricals will be rated for use in either country - incandescent bulbs excepted.
1000hr Incandescents last the same time they always did, 1000hr average. 2 things have however changed:NT
And fluorescents with iron-cored ballasts too, it seems. You might find the Lighting Industry Federation's statement on the subject interesting:
Which is the most prominent factor!!!!....
A telecoms engineer suggested that everyone should take a length of cable with them when they set off fell-walking. This was so they could bury it if they got lost or injured.
His experience suggested that about ten minutes later a JCB would appear and dig through the newly buried cable.
John
My heart bleeds for you.
I had one of those too...and 11KV cables over the house too.
I paid nearly 20 grand to get a half mile undergrounded, and they threw in a corner of the garden 250A capable transformer as well. ;-)
All problems - apart from the rest of the overhead that craps out EVERY winter and un summer too...are gone.
BUT I was able to rebuild the house to two storeys...and in the context of that build 20 grand was not excessive.
What you need is to show the leccy company that your pole mounted transformer is inadequate, by e.g. switching on half a dozen 3KW heaters and demonstreating the voltage is below spec. And with them off above spec..
The overheads are not the problem: It's usually the excessively poor transformers attached to them.
If at all possible and you are prepared to underground the last 20 meters...get an underground feed into the house as well. Even if the
11KV stays up top, not having 250v cables round your guttering makes it hugely easier to repair it.The leccy company are generally strapped for cash but sympathetic. They know that overheads cause more problems than undergrounds, and if the area manager can find an excuse to replace ageing equipment at someone else's (partial) expense, they will do it IME.
Looking at my meter - 227V, more or less as normal.
Precisely. A large proportion of lamps now come from overseas, both within Europe and the far east but simply marked "240v" - the filament in a number of cases is absolutely identical to those utilised on mainland Europe and the UK consumer is non the wiser - except that is for a reduction in service life especially if they happen to live in areas at the top end of the "+10%"
I'm sure that there must be a market for a cheap scr device, maybe situated in the consumer unit to limit the volts on the lighting circuits.
I know it wasn't your post Andy but "bulbs" are things that sometimes sprout flowers and nothing to do with electrickery.
You lucky, lucky bastard. I bet your lamps last for ages ;-)
249.7v here but mainly on compact fluorescent's so it matters somewhat less.
We had a transformer on a pole, serving 3 houses. When I ran my electric shower, my neigbhour could not watch TV, so she complained. She is a "busy body" sort, but after a year, 15 guys turned up one day, with all sorts of equipment. They spent the day changing the transfomer, running new power cables, messing with meteres and the like. Neighbour has now found something different to complain about ........
Rick
Do you have any evidence for this? I've never come across any. I've never yet had any such problems, despite buying a range of brands, and from dealing with complaints here of bulbs going often, I find usually the problem is simply unrealistic expectations from consumers.
If you have 9x 1000hr bulbs running 3.7 hours a day, you'll get 1 failure per month average. Yet people expect more like one failure per
9 months!NT
Don't actually have any conventional lamps - apart from the outside 60W one that a CF won't fit in the globe of.
Oh, and PIR floodlights.
250v cables that have fallen off the house over time are, I found, fixed as an emergency repair ....... :-)
I left mine "fallen off" for quite some time, assuming they would attach them back to the rotten roof, that I wanted to repair, once the roof was done they fixed them too the wall - silly me.
Poor old leccie company, we spend a few quid a month on the stuff, and they have fixed just about the whole supply, in a rural localion - they will never get their money back...........
Rick
Wouldn't be someone called John would it?
No he doesn't, if you had read the OP instead of spouting off a load of irrelevant drivel, you would see that he is complaining about a number of short duration interruptions, or severe dips in supply voltage, lasting for a second or two. Those are not typically caused by an overloaded transformer.
Bullshit. Don't spout off about things that you obviously *know* little or nothing about.
Its actually cheaper to boost lamp v and get more efficiency fwiw.
People find bulb changing a pain, but it shouldnt be. Lights should be selected with a small range of bulb variations, and be fitted so the bulbs can be replaced with ease. End of stress. Well, works for me. I cant see any sense in making life difficult.
But if you want that one special fitting with 2" Edison giant screw base... I guess youll have to open an account with a glass blower, make numerous bulb orders and pay numerous delivery charges for small numbers of stupidly overpriced bulbs. PAR38 being the no 2 example of the Stupid Bulb.
NT
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.