My novel switching method
Yesterday, I could hear an alarm. Intermittently. And so, after checking the obvious sources, I went into the stance where you listen and lean, hoping to locate the source. I did; the UPS in the upstairs office was sounding off. Unplugged everything, decided that the internal battery was at fault, pulled it out and ordered another one from the good folks at Amazon.
Except that come bedtime, my lamp in the bedroom wouldn’t turn on. Either of them. The plugs were off, and with my best home electrical skills, I went to the basement to reset the breaker. Two of them, also unusual, but I took that at face value. Went back upstairs, plugged the battery back into the UPS, returned everything to order and quickly sent off a cancellation to Amazon. That worked, in passing.
This afternoon, I heard the UPS alarm, again. Went downstairs, reset two breakers, went back upstairs and turned off my HF transmitter. The strong RF field from a wire spiraling across the room had triggered things; only the GFCI breakers, but technically significant.
Two things of note here. One, most homeowners wouldn’t have a “strong RF field” in the house. Two, with less background knowledge, Amazon would do quite well in shipping replacement battery packs.
The kids are off to chase the sunset. They’re not back yet (and it’s not really dark outside), so I think they might have made the trip in time. Our house does wonderful sunrises; sunsets are another situation. Too many trees, and the shore is out of sight. Perhaps I should construct a tower for moments like this.
