[RFI] Interesting...

[Gene Smar]

 I googled "whisker labs ting sensor ", mentioned in the article, and read that WL is a Germantown, MD company whose Ting sensors are used by homeowners to monitor home wiring for arcing faults that could lead to fires. The sensor plugs into almost any 120 VAC receptacle and monitors various aspects of the electrical supply within the home. From what I read on the web site, the sensor does not distinguish between utility and customer power aspects. 
WL does claim to monitor the "quality" of electric service and is able to interrogate its customers' Tings for these data. It claims to be working with utilities to "empower [them] to predict and prevent grid failures."
Somewhere in the depths of the report the author questions, as do I, how these devices distinguish between utility and customer grid anomalies. 
My bottom line: the link between high harmonic grid content and data center presence is not proven but merely circumstantial. 
73 de Gene Smar AD3F 
P.S.  Harmonics from digital loads are indeed a problem in electric supply systems.  Often, building design engineers will specify a neutral conductor to be one wire size larger than usual to accommodate increased current flow from these harmonics.  Also, low-voltage power transformers (480V) used in buildings' wire closets can be designed with greater levels of insulation to accommodate higher operating temperatures caused by increases in harmonic neutral current.


    On Sunday, December 29, 2024 at 07:05:53 PM EST, Dave (NK7Z) <dave at nk7z.net> wrote:   

 https://techcrunch.com/2024/12/29/ai-data-centers-could-be-distorting-the-us-power-grid/

-- 
73, and thanks,
Dave (NK7Z)
https://www.nk7z.net
ARRL Volunteer Examiner
ARRL Technical Specialist, RFI
ARRL Asst. Director, NW Division, Technical Resources



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