CE Risks from Argentina's Drop to 209V?

stm2 asks: "Effective yesterday at 6 PM GMT, the voltage in Argentina was dropped from 220V to 209V (without any warning). The aim of this change is to save power. According to gov' officials, it won't affect domestic appliances. As a concerned IT worker I think some high precision electric devices could be at stake. There is an ongoing national debate about it. Could the technical community at Slashdot give some insights about possible unintended effects?"

Comments

Re:Regulation.

[jungd]

Surely, this is only true in countries where utility power is unreliable (like the US)?

I moved to the US five years ago and was initially amazed that someone had experienced a power outage in their lifetime! - After realizing they weren't joking I though it must have been a pretty unusual circumstance - like a major earth quake or something. First time I'd ever heard of surge protectors in power strips too - yikes! - doesn't give a good feeling about the power.

Of course, now I know better, that the electrical systems of building and power distributions systems are just extremely poorly engineered due to lax regulations and cost pressures (which might explain cheap electricity too). First time I'd ever seen electricity cabling strung on posts above ground on the street sides - hardly surprising that it can be effected by weather.

Since I've been living in TN, I've experienced 2 power outages due to thunderstorms, and now keep a set of candles in the kithen drawer.

I've even done some re-writing of light fixtures in our house myself - no degree/license required!

So, perhaps the US has traded for relaxed regulation, DIY wiring & cheap electricity at the expense of unreliable power & telecoms and higher cost/complexity of consumer applicances to compensate.

In short, I guess I'm suggesting that assuming that all electric devices are built to handle unreliable power (brownouts, spikes etc.) is perhaps country specifc.