Invalid argument

[Mike Schwartz]

> On 6/21/2012 7:27 PM, Richard Kreiss wrote:
> > YES THAT IS 5PM.
> >
> > They don't leave until 6PM.
> 
> Well, *something* happens right around 5PM every day.  Maybe it's not
> even computer-related, or even related to with the client does.  For
> example, do they share an electric circuit with the office next door, and
> *they* turn a bunch of stuff on/off at 5PM?
> --
> Kenneth Brody

     Good suggestion to check the power supply!  It might, indeed, be
something your neighbors are doing!

     That reminds me of the very first battery UPS I was involved with;
circa 1983.  A Radio Shack customer kept saying his computers "didn't like
nasty weather" because every time the weather got bad, his computers would
lock up and reboot.  The Radio Shack tech plugged a volt meter into the
customer's power lines and confirmed wild voltage swings whenever the
weather was nasty.  His building was near the airport in Green Bay and the
power company told us the power line he was on terminated at the airport's
radar and lighting systems.  So, he was right about the bad weather.  Every
time the airport snapped on or off its PAR or rabbits (Precision approach
radar and the flashing sequence lights you can see at the ends of the
runways at night or in bad weather), his computers would start acting up.
Of course, the battery UPS fixed that.

    A second situation with my old Tandy Model 1 (profile 1, scripsit):   I
lived right across the street from the technical school.  My computer worked
fine on the weekends, but on weekdays the lights in my house would flicker
and my Model 1 would predictable die at predictable times.  The power
company checked into it and I was on the same power lines as the technical
school's welding shop.  At the start of a welding class, the students would
simultaneously snap on about 30 welding machines, or begin welding at the
same time, and the voltage at my house would go berserk.  I couldn't afford
a $1,000.00 UPS (there weren't any cheap UPS's back then) so I had to live
with it...

   And a third situation:    I installed a new computer at a customer about
20 miles south of Green Bay in the little city of Kaukauna.  The new
computer burned out two new power supplies within the first month.  I
plugged in my volt meter and found out that the line voltage was ranging
between 130 and 140 volts!

   It turned out that Kaukauna generates its own electricity from the dams
on the river running through the city and runs its own power company.   My
customer was in the new industrial park and the city wanted to make sure the
park was provided with plenty of electricity, and it sure was!  A battery
UPS fixed that problem.  

   When I told the customer that their line voltage was way too high, they
said, "Well NOW we know why we keep burning out the microwave ovens in our
break room every few months!!!"

Mike Schwartz