Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Frequency Deviations In Continental Europe Are Causing Electric Clocks To Run Behind By 5 Minutes (entsoe.eu)

Posted by BeauHD on from the fashionably-late dept.

elgatozorbas shares a short note from the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E): Apparently the Continental European Power System has been off since mid-January, causing some clocks to run behind by 5 minutes. How common are these mains-frequency synchronized clocks anyway, and why are they built that way? "The power deviations have led to a slight drop in the electric frequency," reports ENTSO-E. "This in turn has also affected those electric clocks that are steered by the frequency of the power system and not by a quartz crystal... All actions are taken by the transmission system operators (TSOs) of Continental Europe and by ENTSO-E to resolve the situation."

3 of 251 comments (clear)

  1. Simple and Cheap! by Mister+Transistor · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The reason they did that is because an AC synchronous motor was much cheaper than a quartz oscillator and solenoid like the new ones have.

    --
    -- You are in a maze of little, twisty passages, all different... --
    1. Re:Simple and Cheap! by jpaine619 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Spoken exactly like someone who has never used quality anything in their life.

      If you have a wall clock that keeps good time and is working, why the fuck would you replace it, genius? Do you get off on spending money to replace working widgets?

      You know, not everything was always made cheaply/shoddily in China. The pre-2000's was full of companies that actually made decent stuff. But the absolute idiocy of the current crop of consumers is what destroyed that. I personally know people who will buy a $5 widget once a month (when it breaks) rather than shell out for a $25 widget that will last a year because "It's cheaper and it's gonna break anyhow". It's like you people are devoid of the ability to see the value of quality. Fucking everything is shit now because of you dead-brains. I still see land-line telephones in operation that are approaching 70 years old, because they were made to last.

      Most companies that made decent products simply could not continue to do so once you retards became a dominate spending force. Selling your widget to 10% of the population while 90% of the population buys the cheap piece-of-shit ripoff/clone doesn't encourage anyone to continue making decent products....

  2. Re:20 years ago by sjames · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They use a synchroscope to get the generator as close as possible to the grid before switching it in to keep stress low. Once it's switched in, it's effectively locked to the grid frequency and phase.

    In "the old days", farmers would use two incandescent bulbs in series connected across the hot lines of 2 generators. They would adjust the speed and phase until the lights went out, then throw a switch to connect them.