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Rolling power 'restore'

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  • 03-02-2018 9:28am
    #1
    Igotadose
    Registered Users Posts: 13,606 ✭✭✭✭


    Lights went out this a.m. for a few seconds. This happens rarely, but not unknown.

    What was weird this time, is that the lights came back at different times - seconds apart, usually. First one set of rooms, then another, then another.

    No breakers tripped at the service panel. Any ideas as to how to explain it? One device, stayed up throughout the outage. I don't *believe* it has any backup power but maybe enough capacitance(?) to withstand this. It seemed like more than just a flicker. Another guess I have, is that the router, which came from the US, runs fine on 110V or 240V, and we only lost "half" the power. If I understand correctly there are 2 live wires in the 240V circuits here? So if you have a device that only requires 110V, losing half the power it'll keep going. That doesn't explain the 'rolling restore' behavior - why only some rooms at a time and not all?

    Thanks for help with the mystery.


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    #2
    Risteard81
    Registered Users Posts: 2,567 ✭✭✭Risteard81


    230V (not 240V). There are two live wires, but these are phase and neutral. Neutral is 0V relative to Earth. If you lost the phase there would be no voltage, and if you lost the neutral there would be no return path in a single phase setup.


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    #3
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 5,238 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Probably a brownout. It's very difficult to load match when reconnecting power when users just leave all their appliances on expecting it all to come back to life soon as the power is back.
    In this scenario, every storage heater, fridge and incandescent in the neighbourhood demands a huge inrush from the district traffo and it takes a while to settle. Can be quite harmful to your appliances.
    In normal operation, these loads would be subject to diversity.


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