Simply random stuff

[ar surround]

In the meantime...

Sign at our hotel in Innsbruck:

 

[Sonik Wiz]

In the meantime...

Sign at our hotel in Innsbruck:

View attachment 106585

Now you're in Austria??!!

 

[ar surround]

Now you're in Austria??!!

Of course. Why do you think I said that I had a 2000 kva portable generator when I meant to say 2000 va? Beer…that’s why. (A 2000 kva generator would fit nicely on the back of a 45 ft semi.)

 

[mandrix]

Unless your generator has an inverter you are playing with fire if you feed electronics. The inverter will give you nice clean AC output. The generators without inverters do not.

I have a portable Honda 2000 va unit where the inverter portion tripled the cost of the generator.

If the device being fed from the generator has a decent power supply, I would think the effect would be negligible. Most things are designed to run on as low as 90V (assuming US), is that not true?

 

[GOS]

You know, all the "news" stories that pop up so fast on the wild web......there are so many poorly written stories, poorly worded headlines...I can't believe it. This headline, depending on how you initially read it...well...you know.

Blame it on the click bate, bullshit world we live in now. So, Jason Kidd carries firearms? Oh, OK. Whatever.

 

[Petr Kropotkin]

Some stories can lead to humorous headlines. Imagine you're an English football writer and you get this information from Germany, what would your headline be?

"Kaiserslautern boss Stefan Kuntz has signed Florian Dick and Danny Fuchs".

 

[ar surround]

If the device being fed from the generator has a decent power supply, I would think the effect would be negligible. Most things are designed to run on as low as 90V (assuming US), is that not true?

I’ve read stories that say yes and stories that say no. But my friend hooked up a small TV to a generator without an inverter and the TV fried.

 

[barfle]

You may have a different, and valid, opinion on this.
Power from the electric company here when unavailable, due to often frequent bad storms, hurricanes etc, I've been without power for a week at a time, and 2 or 3 days many times.
I used to fret about running the tv, pc's etc off generator power. At worst case it's square wave, best case often stepped and not true sine wave. (no clue what mine does) But I would think since the electronics are converting to DC anyway, there should usually not be a problem. I know modern pc power supplies are pretty robust in design, and I have platinum rated SeaSonic power supplies in the computers.
I'm not really sure if the generator can introduce any sort of harmonics into the signal.

What's your take?

Most generators will produce pretty good sine waves inherently. Their frequency stability is probanly their poorest spec, and they are limited in how much current they can provide. Plan your purchase appropriately.

I’ve seen some of those bizarre power regenerators claim that their square wave outputs (full of harmonics) are better for power supplies, and some of that tech makes sense, but I never bothered trying it.

Skip this paragraph if techy stuff puts you to sleep. The idea of a square wave being kind to power supplies is mostly the rectifier current being spread out over a longer period of time than a sine wave would do. The peak current through a diode from a sine wave would be very high, even if the average is the same, because the diode is only conducting while the input voltage is higher than that stored in the filter capacitors. So during most of the rising voltage of the sine wave, the diodes are not conducting. The current out of the power supply might average one amp (just as an example), but because the diodes are only conducting 10% of the time (again, just an example), they are carrying 10 amps while they are conducting. If the input waveform is a square wave, then the amount of time the input voltage is below the voltage stored in the filter caps is miniscule. Of course, the power transformer introduces its own set of distortions and phase changes to the square wave, so there are some considerations there that I can’t predict. YMMV.

I’ve looked into solar panels and batteries, although I haven’t pulled the trigger yet. They spec their output as being locked to the incoming line or crystal-controlled if power fails, and the sine wave has less than 1% distortion, which is probably fine for anything you might be using.

 

[barfle]

I’ve read stories that say yes and stories that say no. But my friend hooked up a small TV to a generator without an inverter and the TV fried.

I’ve run across several instances of people connecting appliances to power they shouldn’t have. I don’t know your friend’s generator or his TV, but if the generator was intended to put out 120VAC at 60 Hz, it should have been fine. Most of the stories involve 110 appliances connected to 220, but other things can happen.

A DC generator is another story.

 

[mandrix]

Most generators will produce pretty good sine waves inherently. Their frequency stability is probanly their poorest spec, and they are limited in how much current they can provide. Plan your purchase appropriately.

I’ve seen some of those bizarre power regenerators claim that their square wave outputs (full of harmonics) are better for power supplies, and some of that tech makes sense, but I never bothered trying it.

Skip this paragraph if techy stuff puts you to sleep. The idea of a square wave being kind to power supplies is mostly the rectifier current being spread out over a longer period of time than a sine wave would do. The peak current through a diode from a sine wave would be very high, even if the average is the same, because the diode is only conducting while the input voltage is higher than that stored in the filter capacitors. So during most of the rising voltage of the sine wave, the diodes are not conducting. The current out of the power supply might average one amp (just as an example), but because the diodes are only conducting 10% of the time (again, just an example), they are carrying 10 amps while they are conducting. If the input waveform is a square wave, then the amount of time the input voltage is below the voltage stored in the filter caps is miniscule. Of course, the power transformer introduces its own set of distortions and phase changes to the square wave, so there are some considerations there that I can’t predict. YMMV.

I’ve looked into solar panels and batteries, although I haven’t pulled the trigger yet. They spec their output as being locked to the incoming line or crystal-controlled if power fails, and the sine wave has less than 1% distortion, which is probably fine for anything you might be using.

So a UPS hooked to generator output probably isn't doing any good? Although I would think a standby UPS would be okay.
BTW I have a Coleman 5500w/6000w peak generator I bought probably 18 years ago.

 

[barfle]

So a UPS hooked to generator output probably isn't doing any good? Although I would think a standby UPS would be okay.
BTW I have a Coleman 5500w/6000w peak generator I bought probably 18 years ago.

I have had bad luck with UPSs on my PCs, but maybe they’ve gotten better. Supposedly, they simply passed the regular AC power when it was there, then immediately provided a kilowatt if the power failed. I lived in an area where the power was notoriously bad, so I tried a UPS, and the gel-cell batteries dried out in a year or two, and were out of production by then. My second UPS was so damned glitchy that it was less reliable than Dominion Virginia, and that’s saying something.

At some point, I was considering a standby natural gas powered standby generator, but by then I was already planning on moving. If I had gotten one, I wouldn’t have worried about the sine wave quality.

I don’t know the capacity of your UPS, so I can’t say what it will do for your system in a power failure. I suspect your generator will keep your refrigerators alive.

 

[mandrix]

I have had bad luck with UPSs on my PCs, but maybe they’ve gotten better. Supposedly, they simply passed the regular AC power when it was there, then immediately provided a kilowatt if the power failed. I lived in an area where the power was notoriously bad, so I tried a UPS, and the gel-cell batteries dried out in a year or two, and were out of production by then. My second UPS was so damned glitchy that it was less reliable than Dominion Virginia, and that’s saying something.

At some point, I was considering a standby natural gas powered standby generator, but by then I was already planning on moving. If I had gotten one, I wouldn’t have worried about the sine wave quality.

I don’t know the capacity of your UPS, so I can’t say what it will do for your system in a power failure. I suspect your generator will keep your refrigerators alive.

Well I was thinking more in quality of signal delivered, as in an "active" UPS. But all 3 of our UPS's are "standby" so they only kick in if the voltage drops low enough or stops completely. They are mainly handy for me in that they provide enough run time after a power failure to properly shut everything down on the pc's. Plus they function as surge protectors, though how good in that regard I have no clue.

 

[jimfisheye]

FYI, you have to set a UPS to low sensitivity mode to use with a generator.

I think the generated sine waves are a little squared or maybe there's just noise? Not sure but the UPS mode is a thing, it's in the manuals, and low sensitivity just makes it work with a generator all day long.

 

[cbmmm3]

may not be the best of pictures but this was the freakazoid sky last night around 9 fifteenish PM. when you looked to the west it looked like the world was on fire. it was from dwindling sun rays bouncing off an incoming thunderstorm. Was not your typical sunset color bomb - this one was plain ol mean and freaky

 

[barfle]

Well I was thinking more in quality of signal delivered, as in an "active" UPS. But all 3 of our UPS's are "standby" so they only kick in if the voltage drops low enough or stops completely. They are mainly handy for me in that they provide enough run time after a power failure to properly shut everything down on the pc's. Plus they function as surge protectors, though how good in that regard I have no clue.

Hmmm. So what you’re thinking of is basically a battery charger, an inverter, and a battery, running all the time. That’s a pretty simple setup, but good luck knowing the purity of the waveform of the inverter, unless it’s specified.

But again, that’s probably not a big issue with most quality electronics these days.

 

[GOS]

It’s amazing how a simple fall and knee scrape can break my heart!!!

 

[Petr Kropotkin]

I have to say the magpies here make a God-awful screeching sound in the morning. Oz magpies sing. But I do like the squirrels here, running down a tree to a branch where they look at me and tell me off with repeated "barking" while I'm walking the dog.

 

[mandrix]

I have to say the magpies here make a God-awful screeching sound in the morning. Oz magpies sing. But I do like the squirrels here, running down a tree to a branch where they look at me and tell me off with repeated "barking" while I'm walking the dog.

Here I have crows. Now, I'm a bird lover. I have a hummingbird feeder and feeders for the larger birds, several birdbaths.
But the constant racket from the crows is a royal pita. Lately they've come to harassing a hawk whom I suspect has a nest close by, and he/she is always vigilant when the crows are about.
Plus they dirty up my birdbaths something awful.

 

[Petr Kropotkin]

Here I have crows. Now, I'm a bird lover. I have a hummingbird feeder and feeders for the larger birds, several birdbaths.
But the constant racket from the crows is a royal pita. Lately they've come to harassing a hawk whom I suspect has a nest close by, and he/she is always vigilant when the crows are about.
Plus they dirty up my birdbaths something awful.

Ah, there are ravens here too that come down with the magpies when my Canadian lady throws them the leftover dog and cat food. But whereas they squawk, the magpies just screech (and rapidly too, like machine gun fire).

I'd put my money on that hawk if it was a one-on-one with a crow.

 

[mandrix]

Ah, there are ravens here too that come down with the magpies when my Canadian lady throws them the leftover dog and cat food. But whereas they squawk, the magpies just screech (and rapidly too, like machine gun fire).

I'd put my money on that hawk if it was a one-on-one with a crow.

Yes. But there's always a murder of crows about, and a single hawk.