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Thread ID: 119890	2011-08-15 08:10:00	Brownout!	george12 (7)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1223453	2011-08-16 02:09:00	Yes I heard that too. Mind you, the 110kV line from Haywards to Wilton is quite grunty. Very thick multiple conductors and only a short distance It must have caused a tough decision for Transpower. Either let the last remaining line into Wellington go out and plunge Wellington into darkness, or let it stay on load and potentially damage hundreds of thousands of appliances Interesting what stayed on and tripped out at our house. The Bravia TV was the most sensitive. Old-style fluorescent lights also tripped out (not CFLs). We complain about FTP sessions tripping out for no reason but it didn't miss a beat during the troubles (Filezilla) That explains it. Amazing how few people could tell it was a reduced voltage though. Our microwave was the only thing that refused to work at all, but I didn't try the TV. All the internet and phone equipment was running through a UPS which was kept very busy. The dryer struggled to turn the clothes and probably would have burnt out its motor if I left it running like that. We must have been rather close to a total blackout in Wellington huh?	george12 (7)
1223454	2011-08-16 02:45:00	A Transpower guy on the radio said that the 110kV line was shedding ice which caused the conductor to flip up and briefly arc to the conductor above. That would explain the 'blips' we got here. The sustained low voltage that some experienced would've been something else - the loss of a phase at the input to some transformer, as mentioned above When I was young I burned out a transformer - I set it to 115V to give me a lower voltage...:groan:	BBCmicro (15761)
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