On Sun, Sep 30, 2012 at 1:23 PM, <hvlems at zonnet.nl> wrote: It takes a steady hand to work on live wires so say the least. The "card" made me think you have pre-paid power and thus in the UK. Are there more countries that do it that way? ________________________________ From: Tony Blews <tonyblews at gmail.com> Sender: owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2012 16:42:56 +0000 To: <hecnet at update.uu.se> ReplyTo: hecnet at Update.UU.SE Subject: Re: [HECnet] Tardis and sidrat Basically I live in a flat built on to the back of a house. We were sharing the electricity supply. Now its been changed so that we each have a sub-meter and get charged independently. The change didn't go well. The card meters take plastic cards that you load with credit at the local shops. Yes I live in the UK. On Sun, Sep 30, 2012 at 10:33 AM, <hvlems at zonnet.nl> wrote: What is a card meter ? (Are you located in GB?) ________________________________ From: Tony Blews <tonyblews at gmail.com> Sender: owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2012 04:06:36 +0100 To: <hecnet at update.uu.se> ReplyTo: hecnet at Update.UU.SE Subject: [HECnet] Tardis and sidrat Hi, My two machines (tardis and sidrat) are going to be down for a while due to a series of power problems knackering the PSU on the machine I use to run the bridge software. Basically, my inept landlord decided to rewire our card meter live and caused the power to cycle repeatedly for about 2 minutes. The PSU in the old dell box couldn't handle that abuse. As the Raspberries (which run the VAXen) were powered from that machine via usb, I'm now awaiting a crate of wall-warts to power them back up. I don't think it'll affect anyone, as I doubt anyone was using my simulated machines, but i'm just letting you know. Tony Blews Hello! There was talk of trying that step here, at the same time the governor at the time deregulated the power delivery methods in the area where I live. (US:NY) It fell over with 32 legs in the air dead as a do-do. That because for NYC and Westchester County the provider Con Ed is actually way cheaper then the others, and uses spinning meters that were the selected design about the time Edison passed. As for the rest of the country, I'm not sure. But those meters are standardized all over the country. Possibly Canada as well. For some silly reason the companies in the UK chose what Tony is grudging about, and yes you are right friend about working on the live ends coming from the power mount on the pole and inbetween the meter and the breaker box. Does this mean Tony that you guys are constantly buying power company credits at the same time you're buying other stuff? Incidentally gas meters here were once paid for their allowing the customer to buy the stuff from the vendor by sticking a coin in the slot on it. If you want know more Tony about the other examples I cited Tony regarding the R.PI and Linux and what else can happen please contact me off list as the discussion is running off topic. ----- Gregg C Levine gregg.drwho8 at gmail.com "This signature fought the Time Wars, time and again."