what causes lights to flicker during a storm

JoeSchmoe007 Premium Member join:2003-01-19 Brooklyn, NY	Premium Fellow member 2021-Jun-8 4:39 pm [Electrical] Lights are flickering during the thunderstorm I alive in an apartment building. 1) There is a thunderstorm right now and my lights merely flickered. What is the connectedness betwixt the thunderstorm and flickering lights, if any? 2) How come my computer didn't reboot and display didn't seem to flicker if there was a drop out of electricity?

Toadman Hypnotoad join:2001-11-28 Mystery

Bobcat00 join:2018-09-nineteen New Jersey	to JoeSchmoe007

Bobcat00	to JoeSchmoe007

Stevert join:2001-x-23 Algonquin, IL	to JoeSchmoe007 1) Lightning may take struck part of the grid infrastructure far enough upstream of you in such a mode that it acquired a flicker but not a surge or outage. 2) The filter capacitors in the power supplies had enough energy stored to bridge those small flickers.

wth Premium Member bring together:2002-02-20 Iowa City,IA	to Bobcat00 Wouldn't be surprised if there's an underground electric cable or something under that "striking" in that pavement.


Corehhi join:2002-01-28 Bluffton, SC	to JoeSchmoe007 Happens to me all the time. Lights will flash sometimes, I take a short brownish out. My UPS had 336 incidents over two years.

PoloDude Premium Fellow member join:2006-03-29 Aiken, SC	to JoeSchmoe007 That'due south another reason to run PCs and AV systems off of BBUs cheap insurance. I also rewired my bbu to a 35AH battery from the installed 7AH. Protects my modem television receiver and stereo.

tschmidt MVM join:2000-11-12 Milford, NH	to JoeSchmoe007 I've noticed LED lights are very sensitive to voltage sags and surges. Electronic power supplies on the other hand usually take enough capacitive to ride out short dips. /tom

fetcher Premium Fellow member join:2015-01-02 Saint Augustine, FL	fetcher Premium Member 2021-Jun-ten 12:43 am LED (or dimmable CFL) lamps on a typical phase-cut (triac-based) dimmer become even more sensitive, especially when the level is set almost minimum. I guess this is due to how triacs piece of work, where whatsoever slight disturbance nigh the AC zip-crossing can plough on the triac much earlier than usual for that bicycle, causing most an entire bike's worth of energy to exist delivered to the load - like flipping the dimmer to maximum for i/60sec, and so back to normal. The visible magnitude of this effect could be much greater than that of the spike itself. Incandescents would be affected besides, merely less then due to thermal mass & lag of the filament. LED driver designs that endeavor for smoother dimming by actively measuring the stage-cut PWM%, and feed that frontward to the DC-side electric current regulator might exist more than suspectible, depending on exactly how the excursion works. A design that averaged across multiple cycles should help dampen this result.

paolo join:2018-11-06 canada	paolo Member 2021-Jun-10 9:35 am yup lightning has probably struck function of the hydro grid, nothing to worry, they take lightning arrestors and reclosures and other protection infastructure

onebadmofo gat gnitsoP Premium Fellow member bring together:2002-03-30 Pennsylvania	to JoeSchmoe007 said by JoeSchmoe007: I live in an apartment building. one) There is a thunderstorm right now and my lights simply flickered. What is the connection between the thunderstorm and flickering lights, if whatever? ---I dunno...Electricity? two) How come my computer didn't reboot and display didn't seem to flicker if there was a drop out of electricity? ---if you're on a laptop, the laptop's battery prevented it from shutting downwards. *mic driblet aw shit, I bankrupt my mic. damn it!

JoeSchmoe007 Premium Member join:2003-01-19 Brooklyn, NY	said by onebadmofo: said by JoeSchmoe007: I live in an apartment building. 1) At that place is a thunderstorm right now and my lights but flickered. What is the connexion between the thunderstorm and flickering lights, if whatsoever? ---I dunno...Electricity? 2) How come up my computer didn't reboot and display didn't seem to flicker if in that location was a drop out of electricity? ---if you're on a laptop, the laptop'southward battery prevented it from shutting down. *mic drib aw shit, I broke my mic. damn it! Non a laptop, a desktop. No battery.

dplantz join:2000-08-02 Bradenton, FL	to JoeSchmoe007 This has happened to me in my Condo hither in Bradenton, Florida during a strong thunderstorm. Lights flicker, power may drib out for a minute or so. I strongly urge you to put your Computer and network gear on a UPS and any home theater gear as well.

jm101 join:2011-07-17 Oakland, CA ·Callcentric ·AT&T FTTP ·AT&T Wireless Br.. ARRIS BGW210-700 Ubiquiti UDM-Pro Ubiquiti UniFi UAP-AC-PRO	to JoeSchmoe007 We had months of this due to a failing transformer at the acme of our street that caused our lights to flicker and fan to even tiresome down/speed back upwardly. Took months for PG&Eastward to really do something most it. I call back it might've ruined my final reckoner PSU.

kevinds Premium Member join:2003-05-01 Calgary, AB	to JoeSchmoe007 Capacitors in the power supply. Capacitors can be used as mini-batteries to buffer brief power losses. Capacitors are also why only during a power 'event' that some appliances volition lose their time and other'south don't, and why a item appliance will but sometimes lose it's time.

	to JoeSchmoe007 My lights flicker occasionally in the summer time when everybody is running their AC units. I would say it is aught to worry about. Here is a YouTube Video of a person monitoring voltage during a brownout. »www.youtube.com/sentinel?v= ··· N0uSEMBw

8744675 join:2000-10-10 Decatur, GA	to JoeSchmoe007 Small twigs and other droppings blowing around may cause a temporary brusque until the debris burns up like in a bug zapper, causing the lights to flicker. The bigger the debris, the longer it takes to burn down up and clear the short. If the short only lasts for milliseconds, it may non drop the voltage long enough to trigger a reboot but causes the lights to flicker. For a long short that trips a billow in the line, the system will attempt to reset itself twice automatically. If that fails, the power stays out until they roll a truck.

jm101 join:2011-07-17 Oakland, CA	jm101 Member 2021-Jun-11 1:16 pm There was an incident a few months back where apparently a airship struck a nearby power line. Our power went out for a couple of minutes. I think the worst time was when a turkey struck the line down the street. PG&East had to scroll trucks.

	said by jm101: There was an incident a few months back where manifestly a airship struck a nearby power line. Our power went out for a couple of minutes. I think the worst time was when a turkey struck the line downward the street. PG&Eastward had to whorl trucks. How did a turkey come into contact of a live power line? I approximate the repair crew had turkey for dinner.

jm101 join:2011-07-17 Oakland, CA ·Callcentric ·AT&T FTTP ·AT&T Wireless Br.. ARRIS BGW210-700 Ubiquiti UDM-Pro Ubiquiti UniFi UAP-Air conditioning-PRO	jm101 Member 2021-Jun-11 ane:56 pm said by toolman1990: said by jm101: At that place was an incident a few months back where apparently a balloon struck a nearby power line. Our power went out for a couple of minutes. I retrieve the worst fourth dimension was when a turkey struck the line down the street. PG&E had to roll trucks. How did a turkey come into contact of a live power line? I guess the repair crew had turkey for dinner. Climbed into a tree at dusk I believe. It was interesting.

kevinds Premium Fellow member bring together:2003-05-01 Calgary, AB	to 8744675 said by 8744675: For a long curt that trips a breaker in the line, the organization volition endeavor to reset itself twice automatically. If that fails, the ability stays out until they roll a truck. I recall that growing upward... During a tempest, if the power went out and doesn't come back within xxx seconds, it was going to be at least a week without power... Our 1000 was literally the cease of the line.

Bobcat00 join:2018-09-19 New Jersey	to jm101 said by jm101: said by toolman1990: said by jm101: At that place was an incident a few months dorsum where apparently a balloon struck a nearby ability line. Our ability went out for a couple of minutes. I recall the worst time was when a turkey struck the line down the street. PG&E had to roll trucks. How did a turkey come into contact of a live ability line? I estimate the repair crew had turkey for dinner. Climbed into a tree at dusk I believe. It was interesting. You guys know that turkeys can fly, despite Mr. Carlson's feel. They're big. And they fly.

fetcher Premium Fellow member join:2015-01-02 Saint Augustine, FL	to JoeSchmoe007 Another thing helping make mod computers more tolerant than about loads of voltage wobbles, and brownouts down to ~90V or and so (as in the posted Youtube video) is that nearly all at present have motorcar-ranging universal power supplies designed to take any world voltage standard, from 100V (Japan) to 240V (Great britain, Australia) and everything in between, with a certain tolerance outside of this range. This avoids needing to stock different country-specific variants, with tolerance of minor power fluctuations as a squeamish side benefit. Switchmode power supplies are interesting in that they can act equally a "negative resistance"-- give them a lower voltage and they'll compensate by drawing more current to go on delivering constant output power. Similar opening a faucet more to brand up for depression water pressure. Some UPSes, the true-online types and those able to alter transformer taps for voltage regulation rather than always switching to bombardment, can do a simliar thing regardless of what's plugged into them downstream. If every major appliance behaved this fashion, though, it would make the grid very unstable - the beginning brownout due to strain on the system would cause everything to start pulling fifty-fifty more current, further dropping the voltage, that in plow increasing current demand even more, etc. leading to rapid collapse. Then, it's a good thing almost large motors, lamps etc. are not like this.

·T-Mobile	to JoeSchmoe007 said by JoeSchmoe007: I live in an flat edifice. ane) There is a thunderstorm right now and my lights simply flickered. What is the connexion between the thunderstorm and flickering lights, if whatsoever? Lightning hits a primary, nearby Surge Protection Devices (SPD's) shunt the over voltage to earth, in the procedure they also shunt a lot of the primaries energy to globe likewise, this causes what is known as a glimmer. Once the surge is nullified the SPD's finish conducting and the primary recovers and voltage goes dorsum to normal. 2) How come my figurer didn't reboot and display didn't seem to flicker if at that place was a drop out of electricity? Information technology's internal power supply had enough stored free energy to ride out the glimmer.

onebadmofo gat gnitsoP Premium Member join:2002-03-30 Pennsylvania	to JoeSchmoe007 said past JoeSchmoe007: said by onebadmofo: said by JoeSchmoe007: I live in an apartment building. i) At that place is a thunderstorm correct now and my lights just flickered. What is the connexion between the thunderstorm and flickering lights, if any? ---I dunno...Electricity? 2) How come my computer didn't reboot and display didn't seem to flicker if at that place was a drib out of electricity? ---if you're on a laptop, the laptop'due south battery prevented information technology from shutting down. *mic drib aw shit, I bankrupt my mic. damn it! Not a laptop, a desktop. No battery. Groovy. At present I have to have my broken mic and become home.