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All appliances in house go out in power outage but not the digital clocks?

DebunkThisPls

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So a couple nights ago at around 11 PM, my room lights flickered on and off and the TV cut off and back on, obviously a power outage. Then, as I went to go tell my parents, my room light looked brighter, kinda hard to explain but it's just a normal room light that appeared to be almost twice as bright. I assumed it was a result of the power outage doing something to our circuit board just sending extra surges of electricity. The lights flickered on and off again before I got there, but this never happened again. The weird thing is that everything in the house went out (TV, fan, printer, microwave, etc.), except for three digital clocks, all plugged into different outlets, no batteries. I've heard that it's possible for temporary outages "sensitive equipment" like fans and TVs can go off, but clocks can survive. The only thing is that one of the clocks that survived is very sensitive. We're talking the power goes out the instant I unplug it. I just don't think it would be able to survive, and that's kinda creepy to me. I was hoping for a skeptical opinion, I asked on another forum more about circuits and electricians, and although they were helpful, most gave me possibilities that didnt seem as likely with the sensitive clock
 
Capacitors, probably. A big one across the rectified side of the power supply, in a device that draws a very low current, means it'll be unaffected by a very brief outage. It's quite possible that it was designed not to stop, because that's quite a useful property of a device for timekeeping; less so with a TV, fan, printer, microwave etc., all of which may also draw quite a bit more current.

Before you ask: No, I can't say whether this is the case for any specific type of digital clock.

Dave
 
I'm still struggling with why you keep asking these quite unremarkable things as if there is something magical going on.

Folk answer what appear to be your questions, giving eminently feasible answers based on their knowledge of the types of thing involved and you don't like it.

OK, it's aliens deliberately targetting YOU with a load of weird **** to try to freak you out, as they are bored and want some entertainment. Or you have annoyed the house spirits and they are taking vengeance by subtly undermining your world - you clearly need to make some class of sacrifice in order to propitiate them.

Everyone else just accepts that brown outs happen and different bits of kit can act differently as they have different circuitry (our central heating timer clock survives for hours without mains power; the cooker clock goes out immediately and needs to be reset; TV just drops into stand by; amplifier and CD player both drop into stand by; lights go off then on again).

ETA And capacitors, like Dave said, 'cos they can discharge at completely different rates.
 
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Dave Rogers said:
Capacitors, probably. A big one across the rectified side of the power supply, in a device that draws a very low current, means it'll be unaffected by a very brief outage. It's quite possible that it was designed not to stop, because that's quite a useful property of a device for timekeeping; less so with a TV, fan, printer, microwave etc., all of which may also draw quite a bit more current.

Before you ask: No, I can't say whether this is the case for any specific type of digital clock.

Dave
Click to expand...

This is another one I heard that I like. I know you don't know if this is the case for any specific types, but this was a cheap, $5-$10 clock. Do you think this would still have this?
 
DebunkThisPls said:
This is another one I heard that I like. I know you don't know if this is the case for any specific types, but this was a cheap, $5-$10 clock. Do you think this would still have this?
Click to expand...

Practically any rectified power supply will have a capacitor across it, it's what converts pulsed power to a smooth DC voltage. It probably adds about half a cent to the unit cost.

Dave
 
Ok we've lived in our apartment for about 15 years so I can't be 100% sure we have that, but it sounds like something my mom wouldve had done
 
DebunkThisPls said:
Ok we've lived in our apartment for about 15 years so I can't be 100% sure we have that, but it sounds like something my mom wouldve had done
Click to expand...

It isn't something one would need to "have done," a smoothing capacitor is a standard component of a DC power supply. Practically anything that works off the AC mains will have one when you buy it.

Dave
 
Oh my bad, how can I tell if it's a DC power supply? I'm sorry I'm just not super familiar with these terms
 
DebunkThisPls said:
So a couple nights ago at around 11 PM, my room lights flickered on and off and the TV cut off and back on, obviously a power outage. Then, as I went to go tell my parents, my room light looked brighter, kinda hard to explain but it's just a normal room light that appeared to be almost twice as bright. I assumed it was a result of the power outage doing something to our circuit board just sending extra surges of electricity. The lights flickered on and off again before I got there, but this never happened again. The weird thing is that everything in the house went out (TV, fan, printer, microwave, etc.), except for three digital clocks, all plugged into different outlets, no batteries. I've heard that it's possible for temporary outages "sensitive equipment" like fans and TVs can go off, but clocks can survive. The only thing is that one of the clocks that survived is very sensitive. We're talking the power goes out the instant I unplug it. I just don't think it would be able to survive, and that's kinda creepy to me. I was hoping for a skeptical opinion, I asked on another forum more about circuits and electricians, and although they were helpful, most gave me possibilities that didnt seem as likely with the sensitive clock
Click to expand...

How strange, I had exactly the same thing happen!

It was a weekend about 3 months ago. I was at home. I turned the power off at the mains to do some electrical work and my digital clock stayed on. I went to check it was not on batteries. It wasn't. There was no battery compartment. It was plugged in so I unplugged it. The clock stayed on. I next, as you do, gave it a thump on top. The clock not only stayed on but to rub it in, the minute number ticked over from 18 to 19. This was weird.
I pressed the off switch. I am not sure why I did that. As I said it wasn't plugged in. Still on. I held the off switch down for a good 10 seconds, still the time stared back at me. This really was concerning me,
I decided to look in the manual that came with it. I flicked to the back as I know that is where you always get get the "issues" section. You know the ones, mostly patronising. "No power - Have you plugged it in?" As I started looking through the common issues, suddenly the clock display went black.
That episode taught me that reading is the best way to kill time.
 
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DebunkThisPls said:
So a couple nights ago at around 11 PM, my room lights flickered on and off and the TV cut off and back on, obviously a power outage. Then, as I went to go tell my parents, my room light looked brighter, kinda hard to explain but it's just a normal room light that appeared to be almost twice as bright. I assumed it was a result of the power outage doing something to our circuit board just sending extra surges of electricity. The lights flickered on and off again before I got there, but this never happened again. The weird thing is that everything in the house went out (TV, fan, printer, microwave, etc.), except for three digital clocks, all plugged into different outlets, no batteries. I've heard that it's possible for temporary outages "sensitive equipment" like fans and TVs can go off, but clocks can survive. The only thing is that one of the clocks that survived is very sensitive. We're talking the power goes out the instant I unplug it. I just don't think it would be able to survive, and that's kinda creepy to me. I was hoping for a skeptical opinion, I asked on another forum more about circuits and electricians, and although they were helpful, most gave me possibilities that didnt seem as likely with the sensitive clock
Click to expand...

SO what do you suggest is the explanation?

Hans
 
Lothian said:
How strange, I had exactly the same thing happen!

It was a weekend about 3 months ago. I was at home. I turned the power off at the mains to do some electrical work and my digital clock stayed on. I went to check it was not on batteries. It wasn't. There was no battery compartment. It was plugged in so I unplugged it. The clock stayed on. I next, as you do, gave it a thump on top. The clock not only stayed on but to rub it in, the minute number ticked over from 18 to 19. This was weird.
I pressed the off switch. I am not sure why I did that. As I said it wasn't plugged in. Still on. I held the off switch down for a good 10 seconds, still the time stared back at me. This really was concerning me,
I decided to look in the manual that came with it. I flicked to the back as I know that is where you always get get the "issues" section. You know the ones, mostly patronising. "No power - Have you plugged it in?" As I started looking through the common issues, suddenly the clock display went black.
That episode taught me that reading is the best way to kill time.
Click to expand...

How strange. What do you think it couldve been?
 
Thank you Dave. If you don't mind, do you have any explanation for the comment another user listed? They talk about having a similar experience except their clock lasted much longer and even after being unplugged
 
DebunkThisPls said:
Thank you Dave. If you don't mind, do you have any explanation for the comment another user listed? They talk about having a similar experience except their clock lasted much longer and even after being unplugged
Click to expand...

Either a backup battery or just a bigger capacitor in the power supply, probably. If the power supply half way along your laptop mains lead has a green LED on it, try watching how long it stays on after you unplug it. It can be quite a long time. That's the smoothing capacitor keeping it going.

Dave
 
DebunkThisPls said:
Thank you Dave. If you don't mind, do you have any explanation for the comment another user listed? They talk about having a similar experience except their clock lasted much longer and even after being unplugged
Click to expand...
It was a joke son... a joke.
-Foghorn Leghorn
 
As you still have the digital clocks around, you can test this. Clocks tend to have very low power draw, so the power supply can keep them updated for a while after unplugging.

My first digital clock I had (was around 1980) could last around 8 seconds or so of being unplugged without losing the time. I could relocate it from room to room by hurrying it from one outlet to the next.

Take your clocks, and unplug them for one second and see if the time remains. Then try two seconds if that works.

Now do the same for the other devices. You'll probably find that they turn off much more rapidly and can't be without power for as long.
 
DebunkThisPls said:
Thank you Dave. If you don't mind, do you have any explanation for the comment another user listed? They talk about having a similar experience except their clock lasted much longer and even after being unplugged
Click to expand...

As some already mentioned, the supply circuitry will contain a capacitor. This is a cheap and reliable component that can store electrical energy. In most applications, such a part will not be dimensioned to retain energy to drive the circuitry for more than a second, or so, but for a digital clock, it is a very useful property to be able to be able to keep time even during a short black-out or disconnection, so any manufacturer will be likely to spend the few extra cents it will cost to use a capacitor of a value that can keeps the clock running for a minute or two.

Now, I think if you really feel you need to explore this more, there are two things you can do:

1) Experiment with your clocks to see how long you can switch off the supply before they loose time.

2) Find and state manufacturer, model, and preferably serial number for your clocks here, and perhaps someone will take the trouble to try to find specifications for your actual devices and interpret them for you.

hANS
 
I don't think there's anything remotely unusual about this. Poltergeists often have this kind of effect.

Don't worry, your house/apartment is haunted, is probably all this is.
 
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