OVERVIEW

Obviously, modern telecommunications and computing systems run on electricity. Not so obviously, electricity is remarkably unpredictable. It even can be spectacularly unpredictable, as when Mother Nature, Zeus, or whoever is up there hurls a bolt of lightning that follows the path of any sort of conductor be it a power line, a modem line or a clothes line straight to your computer, frying it in an instant. Or it can simply be annoyingly unpredictable, as in the case of a blackout or a brownout. It can even be subtly unpredictable, with brief surges in voltage graciously provided by your friendly local power company, slowly damaging your sensitive electronic equipment. Or it can be downright mysterious, as when tiny static discharges from your fingers shortens the life of semiconductor chips by leaps and bounds.

The origins of these anomalies are as varied as their characteristics: Some types of power anomalies you can expect from the power company include blackouts (no power), dropouts (very short blackout), brownouts (lower voltage than normal), surges (higher voltage than normal) and phase shifts. Some power problems are caused by the customer (you or your neighbor). These can be blackouts (overloading local sub-station), brownouts (starting a large motor), phase shifts (using low power factor loads that require the power company to switch in power factor correcting capacitors), transients, and high frequency noise (such as from arc welding). Mother Nature can occasionally be blamed for transients (lightning hitting a power line) and blackouts (wind blowing down a power line);