[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
Of lightning strikes &...
Quoting DWP <pierson-at-msd26.enet.dec-dot-com>:
> Power companies routinely put thermometers, sometimes remote
> indicating data acquisition gear, on large, expensive, pieces
> of power handling gear, notably capacitors and transformers.
> Based on the experience reported here, if i had a $200
> capacitor or transformer, i'd stick a $2 thermometer on the
> case. Might not tell me anything, but then again...
It might tell you a lot... This is an excellent suggestion. I
recently saw some old analog recording thermometer equipment
for sale cheap. This was the kind with several remote probes
leading to a heavy weatherproof gray housing with braid covered
connectors. It was reported to have come from an old chemical
manufacturing plant. The housing contained a variable speed
continuous paper tape recorder with a pen for each probe. Guy
wanted $50, would have sold for $40, I offered $30 for everything
which included a box of paper tape, several pen refills, and
owners manual/operating instructions. We looked looked long and
hard, and I ended up walking away. I was concerned about response
time, but hindsight makes me think that I should have taken a
chance for $40. He told me everything worked and showed me the
test tape he had run as evidence: one probe in the freezer,
second in the fridge, third on top his gas stove with pilot
flame, no record for probes four and five . He said the response
time was around 1 minute once everything was calibrated and set
up. The probe connectors were 10' long.
Richard Quick
... If all else fails... Throw another megavolt across it!
___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12