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| Thread ID: 33157 | 2003-05-08 22:20:00 | Ripple switch control | effie C (772) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 142505 | 2003-05-09 01:16:00 | > Geez tweak'e how can I organise that to happen when mother-in-law is on the phone A new cordless telephone for Mothers' Day? :p :D So how does this ripple control actually work?? Do they send less power through the lines so that the water heating element stops working or something? And how can you hear the ripple control signals coming through? This is all a great mystery to me, despite having a plumber for a Dad. :D |
Susan B (19) | ||
| 142506 | 2003-05-09 01:34:00 | Godfather - I'm impressed with your knowledge - most people don't know that these things exist. I have worked for "power boards" and now an asset owner for about 17 years - especially in the metering and load control fields. As to the worry about a ripple signal damaging anyones PC - there is more chance of your friendly microwave frying it than the ripple signal. |
Nomad1 (3546) | ||
| 142507 | 2003-05-09 01:41:00 | SusanB - the ripple signal is "Injected" onto the normal power supply and is detected by the sensitive electronics inside the device. If you picture "normal" electricity as a line that "alternates" up and down 50 times a second - the signal "rides" on the "back" of this line at 475Hz in Wgtn and 1042 in the Hutt (not too sure of other areas), and as Godfather has said it is normally set up of decabit binary code (a combination of "ons" and "offs" that make up a block of ten) - this is how there can be heaps of different codes using the same equipment. Hope that helps a wee bit :) |
Nomad1 (3546) | ||
| 142508 | 2003-05-09 01:45:00 | We've got a night store running which I assume uses the same and it hasn't done affected anything. From what I've seen the PSU would have to handle a bit of variation any way, actual AC voltage at the outlet varies a bit & the waveform isn't exactly smooth either. |
bmason (508) | ||
| 142509 | 2003-05-09 02:13:00 | Bmason - thats correct - "Night store" heaters are usually switched on at 11pm and off again at 7am - so as you can see no harm so far - no harm from how on - the biggest threat to pc's will be if any blackouts occur - the peaks and surges that occur when "Power up" can be vicious to sensitive electronics - hence the warnings to turn appliances off when a power cut occurs | Nomad1 (3546) | ||
| 142510 | 2003-05-09 02:22:00 | I read the other day that up to 50,000 of the controll switches might be faulty and so not let the power prople turn off your hot water. they said that because the hotwater switch is not uses very often a lot of them have get "in to a state of dis-repair". where is the switch and could a home owner make the switch get "in to a state of dis-repair"??? |
robsonde (120) | ||
| 142511 | 2003-05-09 02:28:00 | The "switch" will be on your meter board - next to your meter (or in some cases inside your meter) - and it isn't able to be "corrected" by a home owner - the home owner can ring their retailer and request a replacement due to it being faulty (at no charge). | Nomad1 (3546) | ||
| 142512 | 2003-05-09 04:06:00 | Just to add to that advice robsonde, the hot water pilot wire is always live regardless of the position of your main switch so don't even think about fiddling with it. Even electricians have been caught out by pilot wires and received shocks. Cheers Billy 8-{) :| |
Billy T (70) | ||
| 142513 | 2003-05-09 04:18:00 | Billy - where abouts are you? | Nomad1 (3546) | ||
| 142514 | 2003-05-09 04:27:00 | We used to have one of the older electro-mechanical type off peak ripple control relay thingies on our meter board, the type that used make clacking noises as the wheels turned when the ripple signals were going. It went faulty, and was replaced by the Hutt Valley Energy Board that was, with what seems to be a quiet solid state one. Blast, now we will have our hot water turned off. | Terry Porritt (14) | ||
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