Dec 27th 2012:
The whole of day was with no power supply due to some maintenance works in our locality, and by evening the electric supply was restored. All was fine for a while and my system was put on. The power was on for a while and then to our shock the distribution transformer close by blew up its link cutting of power supply again. Sensing trouble, all my electric installations were put off, and system closed. I have an APC BackUPS 500 connected and I shut down my PC and was just about to shut down the UPS, when the power was restored again, this time instantly blowing up the transformer link again and same time, I had my UPS blasted, spark flying out, and smoke emitting out. I quickly disconnected the plug from the wall socket and isolated the UPS. It was beeping right through until I called the service engineer and he suggested to slide out the battery door and disconnect the battery.I did that in dark with my light from the cell phone coming handy. No external damage was seen in the UPS, but I was certain it has gone kaput....
We had no power throughout the night. I heard several people in our condominium had lost bulbs, other equipments like Voltage stabilizers and other installations. Normal power supply was restored only by next day morning.
Year 1994 - 2000:
I was with a magnetics company, VIL-B in Bangalore, which was set up to make electromagnetic components for home appliances and entertainment electronic equipments, working from the startup stage till two units were established and operating. The second unit was made exclusively to develop and supply electromagnetic components to APC. I was involved right through the project in development, UL insulation system approval, Surveillance audits, Customer approval, productionization, Infrastructure for special processes and automated testing, QMS certification, Operator training, methods and tools and a running unit was then managed by an other manager. I came out of VIL-B in the year 2000, after which more products were added to APC supply range. That unit VIL-B eventually closed down around 2006, due to various management decisions.
Dec 28th 2012:
The APC service engineer visited and opened the unit to find the PCB burnt beyond repair and the components burnt / blasted and scattered. No damage to the plastics and the transformer insulation, and the lead wires from transformer show no signs of burning. Yes, it was the same transformer made by VIL-B in the year 2004, and my APC BackUPS 500 purchased in 2004 was trouble free since then until the Dec 27th 2012 incident.
Dec 29th 2012:
I purchased a new APC BackUPS 700, as my first model APC BackUPS 500 was obsolete and the damage was assessed to be beyond reasonable and timely repair. The damaged unit was collected back by the company engineer, but I kept back the power transformer as my souvenir that reflected back on the hard work and dedication of my team who made the APC business possible and took it to greater heights becoming one of the leading quality magnetic component supplier to APC (Now Schneider Electric) till VIL-B closed down. I shared this to all my ex colleagues of VIL-B with pride and where ever they are, I am sure they are doing excellent quality work.
Have any of you here had the experience of getting back the result of your good work at your door and surprising you after years gone by ~~~
Here are some pics of that Power transformer and it is looking as good as new. Just that carbon deposit on the insulation after the blow-up.
The whole of day was with no power supply due to some maintenance works in our locality, and by evening the electric supply was restored. All was fine for a while and my system was put on. The power was on for a while and then to our shock the distribution transformer close by blew up its link cutting of power supply again. Sensing trouble, all my electric installations were put off, and system closed. I have an APC BackUPS 500 connected and I shut down my PC and was just about to shut down the UPS, when the power was restored again, this time instantly blowing up the transformer link again and same time, I had my UPS blasted, spark flying out, and smoke emitting out. I quickly disconnected the plug from the wall socket and isolated the UPS. It was beeping right through until I called the service engineer and he suggested to slide out the battery door and disconnect the battery.I did that in dark with my light from the cell phone coming handy. No external damage was seen in the UPS, but I was certain it has gone kaput....
We had no power throughout the night. I heard several people in our condominium had lost bulbs, other equipments like Voltage stabilizers and other installations. Normal power supply was restored only by next day morning.
Year 1994 - 2000:
I was with a magnetics company, VIL-B in Bangalore, which was set up to make electromagnetic components for home appliances and entertainment electronic equipments, working from the startup stage till two units were established and operating. The second unit was made exclusively to develop and supply electromagnetic components to APC. I was involved right through the project in development, UL insulation system approval, Surveillance audits, Customer approval, productionization, Infrastructure for special processes and automated testing, QMS certification, Operator training, methods and tools and a running unit was then managed by an other manager. I came out of VIL-B in the year 2000, after which more products were added to APC supply range. That unit VIL-B eventually closed down around 2006, due to various management decisions.
Dec 28th 2012:
The APC service engineer visited and opened the unit to find the PCB burnt beyond repair and the components burnt / blasted and scattered. No damage to the plastics and the transformer insulation, and the lead wires from transformer show no signs of burning. Yes, it was the same transformer made by VIL-B in the year 2004, and my APC BackUPS 500 purchased in 2004 was trouble free since then until the Dec 27th 2012 incident.
Dec 29th 2012:
I purchased a new APC BackUPS 700, as my first model APC BackUPS 500 was obsolete and the damage was assessed to be beyond reasonable and timely repair. The damaged unit was collected back by the company engineer, but I kept back the power transformer as my souvenir that reflected back on the hard work and dedication of my team who made the APC business possible and took it to greater heights becoming one of the leading quality magnetic component supplier to APC (Now Schneider Electric) till VIL-B closed down. I shared this to all my ex colleagues of VIL-B with pride and where ever they are, I am sure they are doing excellent quality work.
Have any of you here had the experience of getting back the result of your good work at your door and surprising you after years gone by ~~~
Here are some pics of that Power transformer and it is looking as good as new. Just that carbon deposit on the insulation after the blow-up.
