Brownouts, shorts, explosions and the unix pc.

[Thad P Floryan]

dwn at swbatl.sbc.com (David Neill-OKCy Mktg 405-278-4007)
in <1991Jan12.155433.11110 at swbatl.sbc.com> writes:

	[...]
	Anyway, before bringing it back up (with new power supply), I
	got a commercial power relay (16 amps!), and wired the power to
	the relay coil through the contacts of the relay.  This way,
	when the power drops once, the relay contacts open, and no more
	power flows to the machine until I manually reset the relay.
	This contraption is connected to the wall socket, in front of
	everything else.  At least I won't get this kind of "series hits"
	in the future.

	I call this thing a "power interrupt safety switch", and am thinking
	of marketing it... "Commercial power problems?  PISS on it" :-) A UPS
	would be ideal, but somehow, there's always a higher priority for my
	limited funds.

An excellent idea (the relay wired that way)!  And your marketing slogan is
GREAT!

One question: did you wire both legs of the AC power through the relay to be
like a DPDT switch?  Reason I ask is as a safety consideration given the
possibly of a reversed hot and neutral; I've seen "professional" electricians
wire house and office circuits incorrectly at times.  If you want to check
the wiring, an approx. $5 gadget from most any hardware store and mfd. by
SNAPIT and called a CIRCUIT TESTER, Cat.no. 49662 and about the size of a
3-prong-to-2-prong adapter has 3 colored lamps which will display the present
"state" of an AC outlet.

Thad Floryan [ thad at cup.portal.com ]