Power out, almost

[grimor]

Like many people this morning I woke to some power issues. It seems the power went "out" at 0625 this morning. What I noticed was my LED night lights were still on, the standby lights on the TV were on, transformer power lights had a dim glow, but lights (CFL) wouldn't turn on. Checking the voltmeter, my outlets were all at 20VAC. As many of you know, this is worse than not having power for many electronics, motors/compressors, etc...

I had to flip all the breakers off except my alarm so it txt me when the power came back so I could come home and turn everything back on. I did send a message to AEP to see what they say about it.

During the "power Outage" this morning (0623 - 0939 April 11th 2011) the power coming into my house was not "out" but had dropped to 20VAC. This low voltage condition is actually harmful to many electronics, motors, pumps, etc... worse than no power at all. Is there a reason that this occurred? Inductance from a nearby operational power line? Partial short in equipment? Someone improperly wiring a backup generator? (I do not have one at my house)

What can be done to prevent this destructive low voltage condition in the future?

I normally don't lose power at my house, but after one outage I did have some electronics burn up, I found that the outlets were all putting out 140VAC then. Since then I try to check it whenever things seem weird. Any Ideas?

 

[grimor]

The reply I got back from AEP was "your power is working fine now, have a nice day"

 

[ATOMonkey]

My mom and dad had a leg go out on their power and it fried some of their TVs.

 

[Martin Draco]

When the power drops that low there's not much that can be done. You can build a little alarm with a relay that will activate a buzzer when there is not enough power going to the coil. Power stabilizers, buck boost transformers, and other devices can be used to prevent extreme fluctuations in voltage. Whole house surge protectors are available for power surges and worth the money if you are worried about sensitive electronics.