What Happened?

[peterthekeys]

Never understood how UPS’s (uninterruptible power supplies ) end up being interrupted. In a well known broadcasting organisation generators would kick in when mains went . Not so much of a problem in the analogue days - the Audio desks would go into low power mode , various lights wouldn’t work .From what I remember vision desks would go into emergency cut mode. But digits don’t like it .Some Key places even had battery rooms Going back to WW 2. It was basic but it all went out.

I think it's called Murphy's Third Law - anything going wrong will do so at a time and place so as to cause the maximum possible hassle. UPSs seem to be particularly prone to it.

I remember an incident when I worked for internet provider some years ago. We were testing the main UPS for the operations centre, based on a cluster of batteries, and an enormous Diesel generator which kicked in automatically and filled the entire building with fumes. The test went fine - until they switched the mains back on, and the switch that controlled whether the generator or mains supply fed the building jammed half-way across. So there was power coming from the batteries, but that was all. We raced round frantically shutting down servers, whilst the electrical engineers worked out what to do. Eventually one of them got fed up, and just belted the switch with a hammer: it shot across to the proper position, and all was well.

I've been an IT sysadmin for over 30 years, and I feel for those guys. Sysadmins tend to be either (a) invisible ; (b) mud, if there is a problem and particularly if they can't fix the problem; (c) God, for a millisecond after a problem is fixed.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I think it's called Murphy's Third Law - anything going wrong will do so at a time and place so as to cause the maximum possible hassle. UPSs seem to be particularly prone to it.

I remember an incident when I worked for internet provider some years ago. We were testing the main UPS for the operations centre, based on a cluster of batteries, and an enormous Diesel generator which kicked in automatically and filled the entire building with fumes. The test went fine - until they switched the mains back on, and the switch that controlled whether the generator or mains supply fed the building jammed half-way across. So there was power coming from the batteries, but that was all. We raced round frantically shutting down servers, whilst the electrical engineers worked out what to do. Eventually one of them got fed up, and just belted the switch with a hammer: it shot across to the proper position, and all was well.

I've been an IT sysadmin for over 30 years, and I feel for those guys. Sysadmins tend to be either (a) invisible ; (b) mud, if there is a problem and particularly if they can't fix the problem; (c) God, for a millisecond after a problem is fixed.

Nice one - my grandad was a a radio electrical engineer until the fifties . His solution to most electrical problems - a quick thump with the fist . Works well with valves - not so good with transistors.