Mike McCarty wrote: > > Hmm. I don't want to use my computer as a voltmeter, nor as a line > condition monitor. The only action one seemingly can take is to > shut down when a power failure occurs. What are you going to do > with this information? Complain to your power company? They don't > guarantee any degree of quality of service. They only guarantee > not to charge you for electricity you don't use. > I don't know about where you live, but in the US, they are also required to keep the voltage within a specific range. If the voltage is normally at one end of the range, and goes outside the range, they can change the taps on the transformer to keep it in range. I have also had the power company upgrade to a larger transformer because the one they had was not large enough to meet peak loads. Having records of the actual voltages helps. With larger buildings, it may not be the power company that has to change something. It is not unusual for to have a costumer owned transformer that needs the taps changed. You run into this problem because the transformers are usually set up before the actual load is known, so the electrician is making an educated guess about what the load will be. Sometimes they guess wrong. Sometimes the load changes drastically years after the original setup. But I can understand that you may not want/need the information. It is in the same class as the information from imsensors or hddtemp. Mikkel -- Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste good with Ketchup!
