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[Weaver]

There was a power outage here 2019-06-27 ~20:30 - 21:10 UTC very roughly. The UPS didn’t last anywhere near long enough, but those figures are from the time it died so I don’t know how long the outage actually was.

Is there any source, on the web say, for looking up power outages? Or is it a matter of digging a round in various distributors’ websites?

[burakkucat]

Knowing the relevant post-code, I thought it should be a easy search to find details of the regional distributor but it is not that simple . . .

Area                     Emergency Number        Distributor
North of Scotland        0800 300 999            Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks

I also came across the following --

National Power Cut Helpline        105        24 hours a day, 7 days a week

[roseway]

You can also register with the network company as a vulnerable customer, or as in my case, somebody of pensionable age. I get texts from UK Power Networks keeping me updated on progress with fixing power cuts.

[Weaver]

Thank you friends. I found the SSE vulnerable or is it valuable (invalid? Invaluable?) customer thing and filled in my details.

Initially I found this utterly useless web dns space hog

    https://www.ukpowernetworks.co.uk/power-cut

which has uk not just once but twice in it. When I put in my postcode it told me to get lost because you are someone else’s customer. Last time I checked I’m sure I’m in the uk. Gratuitous name-landscape hoggery should be a moral offence. It;s like all these things that call themselves the NHS, until you drill down several miles and find that you are Scottish so need TheOther NHS, so not the definite article singular and not N for National.

[sevenlayermuddle]

Wow, what an awful website.   When I enter my own postcode I am presented with a pull down list of properties, and I’m not listed.   

I can guess why not, as my property is built on land that once belonged to a neighbouring property, and that neighbour is listed.   Also listed is another address, vaguely described as “adjacent to” the neighbour.  Pretty sure that’s me, as no other explanation presents itself.

If it were a recent change of land assignment I’d understand, but my home has existed under its own name for 20 years.   Land Registry,  Post Office, BT,  and everybody else has listed me correctly for these 20 years.   It’s not, as they saying goes, Rocket Science.   

[burakkucat]

Initially I found this utterly useless web dns space hog

    https://www.ukpowernetworks.co.uk/power-cut

which has uk not just once but twice in it.

I came across that in my initial search, yesterday. Quite useless. 

However with a little more effort, this evening, I found the Scottish & Southern Electricity Networks site which does appear to be applicable for Heasta, Isle of Skye.

[Weaver]

Tapadh leat, A Khuro Neko. I got there in the end. I was hoping these fools might have got together and collaborated on a truly Uk-wide website rather than fake time wasting ones with bogus ‘uk’ names. Perhaps one might be able to complain to google about the ranking of things that falsely claim coverage over or dominion over some region that they actually do not cover or represent.


On a completely different topic. I just realised that some times I might not be aware that the power has gone off. My iPad tells me of course when it has lost power, but the other night the sound was turned right down, or switched to headphones by mistake when I was not wearing them, anyway, for whatever reason I did not notice that the power had been lost. I have a main UPS, which is rubbish and needs to go, and now I have a 12V DC UPS on the WAP nearest to me and am intending to get a second DC UPS for a second WAP. The sensible thing is to have a light on somewhere so you can see it go off, and then back on again.

I just wondered if there is some cheap easy device that will report mains status over the LAN using some standard (? Some chance) protocol (or hopefully a useful variety thereof)?

My UPS will report mains status but the cable that goes into it needs some device on the other end that speaks whatever it is - who know. As mentioned in another thread recently, Windows boxes can pick up such messages from UPSs and Windows drivers exist which can do the right thing. But anyway, because of circumstances, that turns out not to be useful for me.

[sevenlayermuddle]

Tread  carefully, per mains monitoring devices.

A nearly useful device for detecting outages was one I purchased a few years ago.   Available from Costco, Homebase and other reputable suppliers, it plugged into a 13A socket.  When mains power was present it functioned as a motion-sensor ankle level lamp, so useful for dark stairwells and landings.   It also contained an internal rechargeable battery and, in event of power failure, illuminated permanently. 

We had two of them.   All well and good, until one stopped working.   Upon disassembly, cause of failure was a wire trapped behind a mounting lug at manufacture.   The trapped conductor had eventually fractured, the resulting arcing starting a small internal fire that had caused damage verging upon total combustion of the plastic housing.   Examination of the second device showed the same defect, same conductor trapped, just no symptoms yet.  Both were taken to the small electrical items/“chinese tat” skip at our local recycling centre.

Both were, of course, legitimately CE marked, and fully compliant with RoHS and other EU standards.

[Weaver]

Ugh. Duly warned. Thanks. Having had a terrible house fire and a washing machine go up, plus ame thing happening to one of my best friends, such safety failures are a sore point here.

[sevenlayermuddle]

No lack of sympathy re the washing machine, I am very sorry for your experiences, but interesting to hear that.

We ( occupants of the 7LM abode) sometimes find ourselves in disagreement.   It’s time to go out, but washing machine is still running.   Better half says “don’t worry about it”, but I insist, we either abort the wash program, or wait til it has finished.  I’ll continue to ‘stand my ground’.

[burakkucat]

I am another who will never leave the washing machine unattended, whilst it is operating. Once it has completed its designated work I will then turn off both its water supply and electricity supply.

[Weaver]

When our washing machine caught fire, this was back in North London, Janet was in at the time so thank goodness it wasn’t unattended.