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Electrical engineers? UFO help

kittynh

Penultimate Amazing
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Joined
Dec 18, 2002
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Once again from the askanexpert UFO site I have a question I cannot answer. I did inform the person that just because you have a different electrical provider it doesn't mean all the electricity is kept seperate. I mean, it's all just out there!

This isn't very UFO ish, so I'm really out of my field here!

HELP!!!!


Question is shown below
I was driving to my girlfriend's house tonight when over the hills the
sky
seemed to light up with an electric blue color. Just as this happened,
my
car radio went out for a few seconds. A minute later, the same thing
happened yet again. When I arrived to her house, she said her power
had
flashed twice, and when I returned home, I found our power, even though
we
have a seperate electricity provider, also went out for a second, two
times. Do you know what may have caused this odd phenomena?
 
Well, it does seem to have certain characteristics of an EMP/Lightning event. Going on what you have provided, it would be difficult to diagnos.

A few general comments that will surely be corrected by the likes of Hans shortly.

1) While it is true that here in the northeast we "share a grid", as a general rule, crossing power providers will isolate you from conducted phenomenon. This holds true unless there is a catastophic failure of the grid, as seen a couple of years ago.
2) How did he find out that his power has flashed?
3) Did the timing of his power flashing conincide with his friends?
4) Was it storming at the time?
5) With the car radio being involved, I'd lean more toward a radiated effect (hence my initial thought of EMP/Lightning) rather than a conducted one. Although, depending on the distance between his friend's and his own place, some conducted emissions could be involved.
6) What general locality is this person in? The US/Canada? Europe? Asia? What part?

So, the short answer is, kittynh, I dunno. Not enough info, really.
 
The brief loss of power was caused by a flashover, trip of the circuit and then restoration by autoclosure equipment.

A 'different elecricty provider' could mean various things. Here in the UK, for example, one company is the 'wires owner', and any company can contract to supply you power down it. They all go out if the wires gets struck by lightning, though!

Alternatively, the high-voltage transmission line could have been struck by lightning, affecting customers belonging to a number of smaller distribution companies.
 
Ohhh good! Please more answers! Got to get rid of the "aliens blasted us with radiation" fear!
 
I'm just bumping as I want a lot of replies...these people are stubborn...
 
My company wanted to do some planned flashovers on a 400 kV transmission line in order to test the trip and auto-reclose equipment. The line ran close to a public road and the police were concerned that the flash (an arc several metres long) would dazzle motorists and cause an accident. So they insisted on being present and stopped the traffic.

And caused an accident.
 
well, the one reply is that "the weather was fine". Can you have a lightening strike with "clear" weather? He thinks it might have rained shortly after all this...
 
You can get a flashover at any time, due to: pollution on the insulators; debris such as a piece of wet polythene being blown on to the conductors; or as Ohio First Energy discovered in 2003, from the conductor being encroached by a tree.
 
Any number of things can cause a flash-over. A build-up of conductive salts or dust on the insulators (common at the seaside), a mylar balloon with a metallic ribbon "string" drifting down across the wires, or a large bird or animal nesting on/running across the conductors. I was about thirty feet away from a "squirrel hit" across a power line, and almost had to change my underwear. Very loud and totally unexpected. The only thing left was a charred tail hanging from the insulators.

Lightning does strike without rain quite often. A lot of range and forest fires start with dry lightning.

A few years back, I was heading back at night towards Fort Worth (TX) on I-20, well past any signs of civilization. Moonless night, no artificial lights nearby. Pitch black except for headlights. Suddenly, everything went white for an instant on the south side of the highway. The high-tension lines running along the highway arced over. It was instantaneous and incredible, especially because my eyes were so well dark-adapted. I knew instantly what happened, having seen it before on a not-so-dark occasion, so I didn't lose control, though several cars swerved. Compared to car headlights, the arc was blue-white, not something people are used to seeing. I can understand the "alien death ray" appearance. It seems longer than it really is because of persistance of vision, especially if your night vision has kicked in before the flash.

Beanbag

Edited for spelling defectz.
 
Beanbag said:
Compared to car headlights, the arc was blue-white, not something people are used to seeing. I can understand the "alien death ray" appearance.
Click to expand...
Yup. High voltage live-line workers wear coloured goggles to prevent UV radiation causing damaging 'arc-eye'.
 
I'm sorry! I was taking a tour of the power plant and there was this big red button that said "do not push" on it. Curiosity overcame me and I pushed it... please don't tell anyone! :boxedin:
 
Kittynh- I'd suggest to him that he investigates what "separate electricity provider" actually means.
Are we talking totally separate grid, or simply different billing system?

The sky lit up with an electric blue colour. Note the word " electric". This may have been the blindingly obvious- summer lightning- or an arc from a transformer or power line quite close to his car.
Either might have caused the radio interference.

If he and his girlfriend live close enough to drive between- I'll assume 20 miles or less- the chances of a brief power cut due to flashover affecting them both are pretty high. I'd suggest he asks around. Maybe lots of folk had the same experience.

This is so normal it's hard to see how someone old enough to drive would not have experienced it. Maybe power companies are getting too reliable.
 
I know, we have small power outages all the time. I just kept wondering what was so odd about this that the guy would ask the UFO expert about it. What made him think "UFO" rather than weird weather or electrical thingy?
 
Have a look at this link. The movie clip is a worthwhile watch.

Actually, the whole page is pretty interesting.
 
And that's the reason why we don't open disconnectors on load, class.


ETA: You're right, Pidge. The whole page is interesting, thanks for posting it. Kind of like a substation snuff movie, I guess.
 
Last edited:
Hey Kittynh, BillC and Beanbah have it right. We get this situation now and then on our rural system here. The local term is "recloser action" BillC may have more "techie" details if you like. Our reclosers are set to pop like a circuit breaker then close whenever there is a fault on the line (tree branch or even ancient insulator breaking down- you don't need a storm or lightning). These devices will cycle like this I think three times then lock open. So sometimes you get a brief interruption or two or three and if the fault clears the lights come back on and stay on. Other times after a couple of cycles the go off and stay off. (And you look for candles/flashlights and call the utility). Our local primary line is around 7,000 volts phase to phase. Major distribution lines are much more. I can assure you when there is a flashover you see it- quite spectacular, but no need for aliens......although that would sure be far more interesting than a simple electrical fault.
 
Or... if they're near a sizable military base, there are allegedly high-power communication systems that can cause short-range EMP disruptions during use. We were told this one - it may well be a mere military legend - while stationed at Fort Bragg, NC. And on rare occasion, the local grid, stoplights, and auto power all went out at the same time, for a few seconds. But never with a blue flash of light - at least, these outages all happened during the day, so I doubt we'd have noticed much light activity. Another exotic yet vaguely plausible explanation is that the military DOES test EMP weaponry from time to time, including (allegedly) satellite-based EMP systems. A short, weak burst could effectively test range and ability without causing more than a brief outage, and might well be accompanied by such a flash.

But unless these guys are living on or near a military base, I'd suggest a natural explanation, like some unusual lightning activity, or a more man-made cause, such as explained by others, above. And remind them: causing a pair of short-term outages would serve no purpose for visiting aliens, and we cannot blame their ships, since presumably their ships are far more advanced than our craft, and WE can shield them from leaking harmful radiation...

This reminds me of that kook who was on a while back claiming that microwave dishes could knock out advanced alien starcraft... like alien tech would be THAT pathetic? Puh-leeeze.
 
zaayrdragon said:
Or... if they're near a sizable military base, there are allegedly high-power communication systems that can cause short-range EMP disruptions during use. We were told this one - it may well be a mere military legend - while stationed at Fort Bragg, NC. And on rare occasion, the local grid, stoplights, and auto power all went out at the same time, for a few seconds. But never with a blue flash of light - at least, these outages all happened during the day, so I doubt we'd have noticed much light activity. Another exotic yet vaguely plausible explanation is that the military DOES test EMP weaponry from time to time, including (allegedly) satellite-based EMP systems. A short, weak burst could effectively test range and ability without causing more than a brief outage, and might well be accompanied by such a flash.
Click to expand...

A blue-white flash to me suggests that something went sparkspark. Though it could be any number of things going sparkspark, I suppose.

The military probably avoids testing EMP weaponry anywhere near civilized areas, given the insane range a freak incident may have, especially in an upper atmosphere test.
 
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