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From: Robert M. Riches Jr. on 12 Oct 2007 20:45
On 2007-10-13, Adam <look(a)bottom.for.address> wrote:
>
> I know that a phone line surge protector has to be connected to ground
> somehow. So if it's connected to the power line ground, the surge
> protector is faced with the difference between that (side of the
> building) and the actual phone line ground (back of the building)?
> Should I try to inconspicuously connect the two outdoor ground posts
> with 12-gauge wire? :-)

You'd want heavier wire than that. I think it was around
1992 I was told in US new residential construction that if
there were separate ground rods, they had to be bonded
together with #4 wire (about 5/16" diameter). You'd want
that bonding wire to carry a whole lot of current with very
small voltage drop.

--
Robert Riches
spamtrap42(a)verizon.net
(Yes, that is one of my email addresses.)
From: Moe Trin on 13 Oct 2007 17:56
On Sat, 13 Oct 2007, in the Usenet newsgroup alt.os.linux.mandrake, in article
<W4UPi.520$2h2.120(a)trndny01>, Adam wrote:

>Moe Trin wrote:

>The manual for the laser printer says minimum recommended circuit
>capacity is 16A at 120V. Right now it's in the same outlet as the power
>strip for the rest of my computer system. Anything else would involve
>lengthy extension cords and connecting cables, as the next-nearest
>electric outlets are still on the same circuit.

The disadvantage of using a "commercial" style printer on a home
setup. ;-) As long as the _actual_ load on the circuit remains
below 15 Amps, you're OK though I'd be concerned about adding stuff
accidentally onto the same circuit.

>I know that a phone line surge protector has to be connected to ground
>somehow. So if it's connected to the power line ground, the surge
>protector is faced with the difference between that (side of the
>building) and the actual phone line ground (back of the building)?

What kind of distance between the two? By the way, this is only a
concern if you get a strike that hits the ground (or tries to use a
ground rod) within a hundred feet or so.

>Should I try to inconspicuously connect the two outdoor ground posts
>with 12-gauge wire? :-)

Would you believe a number 4 or larger? A hundred feet of 12 AWG is
0.159 Ohms - 4 AWG is 0.025 Ohms.

>> I didn't realize the battery is missing.
>
>Yep. Do you have any better suggestions for what to do with it? New
>(and with battery), those go for $270-$500 US, and a battery for it
>will be at least $80 plus shipping.
I haven't been inside a UPS in a while, but I'm pretty sure they use
a large screw (10-24 or larger) terminal on the battery. What I've
done is to use a motorhome battery (high current, deep discharge)
bought from the auto-parts store. I had to kludge up the connection
(the battery I used has standard automotive style posts) but was able
to bug lugs and appropriate wire (short run of 6 AWG) so that the
battery is now external (in a nylon box). Looks ugly, but it's hidden
under the desk drawers and out of casual sight. Re the wiring, do
remember that a 1500 VA unit is going to be 120 - 150 AMPS at 12 volts.
That's about half the "Cold Cranking Amps" of the typical automotive
battery (which isn't meant to hold that very long), which is why the
high current battery is needed. That also mean short runs of big wire.

>Yesterday at Best Buy I priced UPSs and can get something more
>appropriate for my system for under $100... eventually.

Remember what you want the UPS for. It's to provide the energy needed
to allow the system to do an orderly shutdown - ideally after a few
minutes to weather "short" outages. Next time you shut the system
down, time how long it takes from initiating the shutdown until the
system either shuts down, or reports "System Halted". My systems
seem to need around 90 seconds as a minimum. Add to that the time
between when the power goes off and you've stopped swearing at the
power company and shut down anything critical that you are doing
like reading the news ;-)

>And I'm not sure how urgent getting more RAM is -- I think 1G should
>be adequate for running both Mandriva and some other OS under VMWare,
>since each OS ran well enough on its own when I had 640M.

That's a local condition. As far as the way the distributions are
bulking up and wanting more RAM, an x86 is probably safe for two or
three years, while an x86_64 may start recommending more RAM sooner
than that, especially if you can't resist eye-candy.

>> Of course - they don't reduce the rent (or at least reduce it the
>> amount they had tacked on to cover the water bill).
>
>They also bought the complex I used to live in, while I lived there.
>The previous owner included free "expanded basic" cable TV (about 60
>channels), and of course one of the first things the new owner did was
>stop that, without reducing the rent.

Of course - the new owner has higher mortgage payments to make.

>I expected that. I'd hoped that they would have at least made it an
>extra-cost option, so tenants would only pay the "wholesale" price,
>but they didn't even do that.

No - that would draw attention to the rent increase.

>OTOH they seem to be having problems renting apartments there.
>Serves them right.

I really haven't been paying attention to the rental markets in years.
In NorCal - specifically the "South Bay" (roughly Hayward down to San
Jose and up to Palo Alto), housing is very tight (heck - that's true
though most of the Bay area) and the South Bay has a LOT of rentals
but even more renters. Occupancy rates less than 1 free unit or 95%
(which-ever was less) were _very_ common. Consequently, the rent goes
up a lot and often. A friend who owned three rentals in Mountain View
told me that you set the rent for the first year you owned a place such
that you paid the mortgage. The second year, you increased the rent so
as to pay for any needed repairs AND the property taxes. With the third
year, you were in gravy. With the tight housing market, 10% annual
increases were somewhat at the low end. Don't like it? Leave. (We
finally did - and bought a 35 year old house. Property taxes and upkeep
go up, but the rent is now fixed (if you're smart) for the life of the
mortgage. Then it drops to nil (not really, as you'll do a remodel here,
add this and that...)

Old guy

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