5,000 Smart Meters Explode After Truck Crashes Into Utility Pole

a reply to: hutch622

I'm in Oz so I recognised your voltages very well
Actually in Van Diemens Land (some call it Tasmania) but I prefer the original name myself.

a reply to: AgentSmith

a reply to: hutch622

a reply to: Pilgrum

Pretty much spot on. Those smart meters probably didn't have (enough) surge protection for the accident, and seeing that they were all first in the electricity chain(s) they all carried the brunt of the surge. If they managed to survive the surge, then the next item in the electricity network of the home would've exploded.
I agree that those particular smart meters are probably not well designed, as anything that has proper surge-protection shouldn't be exploding with such force. Unless it was one hell of a surge, in which case the utility provider should be blamed as they should have surge protectors higher up in the electricity network as well...

Bottom-line is, the fact that it was smart meters isn't relevant.

As for this from the other source:

...Despite the fact that these meters have been known to burst into flames from time-to-time, and aside from the fact that they continuously expose occupants to electromagnetic radiation, and despite the fact that they can be used to continually collect data on everyone who lives in a home (the newer versions can send signals from individual outlets in a home every 15 seconds to be later broken down with disaggregation algorithms)… now this. ...
Source

Complete and utter rubbish. I don't know where they get their information from, but they should really fire that source. I work with smart meters - specifically on the systems and data side, and there is no such information available on simple residential smart meters. And even if it was possible, why on earth would anyone want that kind of information?!

Oh look Mr Smith turned on the TV in his room! Quickly send out the FBI, NSA, CIA and KKK to sort him out!

And you will probably get more exposure to "electromagnetic radiation" sitting for 5 minutes in front of your UHD TV, than you'll get in a month from your Smart Meter.

I don't understand the "fear" people have of smart meters. It's the kind of fear people had when TVs first came out. And computers. And the Internet.
Don't let it into your homes! It's the devil!

Reminds me of those third-world tribes that won't let people take photographs of them, because they fear their souls will be stolen... Ignorance is so blissful...

Get with the times, it's simply a device metering your usage using twenty-first century technology. It's not the boogeyman.

originally posted by: Gemwolf

And you will probably get more exposure to "electromagnetic radiation" sitting for 5 minutes in front of your UHD TV, than you'll get in a month from your Smart Meter.

Do you have an opinion on the wisdom of acquiring EMF meters to validate or disprove the perceived radiation? I realise that measuring the EMF soup we live in is a massively complex subject that most of us will never begin to understand.

Please point out where I've used the wrong terms and which terms are correct.

a reply to: Kester

We are bombarded by low levels of radiation from all directions. There are so many sources until reducing them would mean major changes in most of the things that we do daily, most without a second thought.

For example, did you know that the following give off radiation emissions? Hair dryers, cell phones, power lines, transformers, clock radios. We get it from watching TV and working in offices with fluorescent lights. Basically, we are radiated at home, work and most other places we go.
Source

...Electromagnetic radiation includes radio waves, microwaves, terahertz radiation, infrared radiation, visible light, ultraviolet radiation, x rays and gamma rays. The electromagnetic spectrum extends from below the frequencies of radio waves at the long-wavelength end through gamma radiation at the short wavelength end.

Human body is exposed to different kinds of EM radiation that includes the natural radioactivity in the earth, cosmic rays from outer space and also man made radiations coming from electric and electronic instruments. Diagnostic X ray machine, television sets, computers, microwave oven, radar devices, laser devices, mobile phones etc, generates radiations of different frequencies which exists in our environment as electronic smog.
...
Source

And this article

You stick your electric toothbrush inside your mouth bombarding yourself with "EM radiation" from inside your skull. You sit centimeters from your computer screen for hours at end being bombarded by "EM radiation". You stick your mobile phone to the side of your head bombarding your brain with "EM radiation" and then put it in your pocket to have the crown jewels soaked in the same "EM radiation"... Your smart meter sits outside your home on the other side of a wall.

I don't need an EMF meter to tell me that the "EM radiation" from a smart meter is the least of my problems...

People tend to get stirred up about living near EHV power lines and having a transformer outside their home but can't grasp the idea of the 'inverse square law' when considering the danger and I've had to deal with such people over the years. They'll happily use a PC, mobile phone, TV and sleep on an electric blanket in winter without any concerns at all not realising that a few hours on an electric blanket is probably the most intense exposure they'll ever get in their lifetime due the distance (less than a centimetre).

If smart meters had to be designed to cope with a 10x or greater overvoltage without self destructing then that would be the end of them as they'd cost far too much to be viable. Probably would need to be housed in a bomb shelter as well but this event could never be considered a credible contingency so they are designed to tolerate up to about 10% overvoltage as that's all that is required and could be reasonably expected under more normal conditions. I've never seen lightning arresters on LV mains, only on HV feeders 11kV and above (it's all about what is defined as a credible situation and the quoted event was definitely non-credible by any estimation).

a reply to: Gemwolf

Thank you, a very plainly written informative link. emwatch.com...

Our smart meter was indoors in the kitchen.

People who use EMF meters typically remove mobile phones, laptops etc. from their lives. Once they've taken measurements they know which the main offenders are and how to alter their lifestyle to minimise exposure.

Do you think acquiring an EMF meter is a sensible way to gain knowledge?

On the subject of hysteria. The dangerous psychological phenomena I witnessed myself only a few days ago is for a concerned individual to buy 'shielding clothing' etc. Then expose themselves to more radiation having convinced themselves they've done something to help. In this case she bought a silver hoodie and the day it arrived she bought a new mobile phone. This was in spite of my pleas that she hire an EMF meter from a business just five minutes drive from her house. Clearly she didn't want to know what actual exposure she was subjected to. She just wanted to throw money at a perceived problem.

originally posted by: Gemwolf
I agree that those particular smart meters are probably not well designed, as anything that has proper surge-protection shouldn't be exploding with such force. Unless it was one hell of a surge, in which case the utility provider should be blamed as they should have surge protectors higher up in the electricity network as well...

They probably got 10x their design voltage. I'd be really surprised if not only the smart meters on those houses bit it with a bang, but that the house wiring and appliances were damaged as well.

No reasonable surge protection can stop this sort of thing.

As an interesting sidenote, transformer bridging is taught as a technique for wrecking infrastructure downstream of the transformer. It causes immediate amazing amounts of damage, and everything you need is right there in one compact place.

Yep! Posted it four years ago...

Poking around the perimeter of a base is one thing, cutting into the fence of an active USAP and letting yourself in can get you in trouble.

In this case, they did something technically dramatic off-installation. It was unexpected, yet straightforward, but the deterree got in his head that it was "an energy death beam" or the like. Actually that played into the rumors they were starting in the area anyway, so it was all good. However, during one interview he made the comment that he'd seen the local power company trucks up and down the street working a couple of hours before. These guys like doing crap like that, and the description of the effects of the "death beam" seemed too much like a trick we'd been taught in breaking people's infrastructure school.

Never assume that the guys in ambulances, utility trucks, Fedex, UPS etc are the actual people you expect them to be...for some reason, that's a big blind spot for most people, and they'll ignore you if you're in a PG&E or UPS truck with the right uniform.

The "PROOF that the government is using satellite DEATH BEAMS!!" threads were all over ATS for a week or two.

then

They jumped the transformer primary to the secondary, and overvolted everything on the feed. Blown transformer, smoked wiring, flashovers on the wires and blown TVS's up and down the block. Not to mention near total destruction of the guy's equipment.

The pictures of birds fried by the TVS's going up was priceless though. It was tough not to comment at the time. I did like the satellite death ray rumor that started.

Not that that's what happened in this case, but it's well-known, it happens even by accident, and it's easy to do on purpose.

originally posted by: Kester
....

Our smart meter was indoors in the kitchen.
...

Strange. Was it a split-unit or a single unit? If it was a split-unit, then it would make complete sense.
It would make little sense for a utility to install a single unit meter inside a dwelling. It does however depend on the neighborhood (i.e. an apartment building, security village, etc.) and the actual point of connection to the main supply, but even so a single unit installation inside a home would be rare. Well, from my experience at least.

...
Do you think acquiring an EMF meter is a sensible way to gain knowledge?
...

I think this is a philosophical as much as a scientific answer - and I don't have the answer. I can however give an opinion.

There simply isn't any good scientific data on the effects of prolonged EMF radiation on the human body. Sure, there have been many, many studies on the subject, but they all contradict each other. And the fact that EM radiation occurs naturally as well doesn't make it any easier. And let's say a specific electronic device emits enough EM radiation to give you cancer, how would you prove it? Let's say you sit next to the device - a Wifi router - for six months and then move it. Ten or twenty years down the line you are diagnosed with a brain tumor. How could you possibly trace the cause of the cancer back to the Wifi router?
Personally I doubt that we would ever be able scientifically prove that prolonged usage of a cellphone or a smart meter or a microwave is dangerous enough (in terms of EM radiation/electrical pollution) to kill you. Sure, some folks will jump at me with pages and pages of data indicating that our cellphones are killing us, and I'll respond with pages and pages of data saying the opposite. It's quite pointless IMO.

Philosophically speaking, it depends on what you want to get out of an EMF meter. Would the information be of any value? If you have confirmed that you are in fact being soaked by EM radiation from your HD TV, are you going to get rid of it? Or get rid of your phone, your hairdryer, your fancy German car? Are you going to move to a Radio Quiet Zone? And what will you do about the natural EM radiation? And what if it's too late? What if you've already had enough exposure to cause cancer 10 years down the line? What use would your EMF meter be then?

I am one of those people that try live by not looking at what could kill me, because that would simply drive me crazy and make me go hide in a Faraday cage inside a cave. Then I'll probably die because of a vitamin D deficiency... We all know that there is only one ultimate truth and that is that everyone will eventually die. My personal believe is that when your time is up, your time is up. Whether I'm going to die on 2 April 2015 because of a brain tumor or because of a coconut that falls out of a tree and cracks open my skull; I am destined to die on that day and nothing I do could possibly stop it. But that's just me. If you believe that an EMF meter will prolong your life by another 50 years, then it's something you should do.

a reply to: NthOther

So didja hear? IBM is developing technology to collect and compile all the data from all the different "smart" add-ons - these meters, smart phones, appliances, cars - to make it saleable to "interested" businesses. Privacy? Irrelevant.



F&S& for a good find NthOther.

a reply to: Gemwolf

It was next to the fusebox and was installed as part of the solar panel system. I believe it gathered data on the power generated, what we used and what was sold to the grid. Then I believe this data was transmitted to a base station along with data from our neighbours meters and from there transmitted to the housing authority offices. I may be wrong.

What I found odd was the irregular flashing lights showing data was being transmitted carried on flashing through the night.


I take your point on the EMF meter. I've never used one myself.

Those who are actually spending money on any type of alleged shielding should definitely use an EMF meter to ascertain what effect if any their precautions are having. An inefficiently shielded space can increase exposure.

In the interests of denying ignorance I feel it must be strongly stated that the EMF scare industry is guilty of ripping off customers with goods of very dubious quality. www.electricsense.com...

a reply to: NthOther

I wish mods would jump onto misleading threads such as this, but that would take more bodies in the chairs and a general knowledge that few people (in general) have today.

Yes, drop one high voltage wire onto another and things will go boom? Even human bodies if they are the conductor inbetween. To produce this type of thread is NOT denying ignorance. To the contrary, it is displaying it for one and all.

Why would an electronic METER explode?

Anybody?

Why would an electronic meter need COMBUSTIBLE components?

originally posted by: Kester
It was next to the fusebox and was installed as part of the solar panel system. I believe it gathered data on the power generated, what we used and what was sold to the grid. Then I believe this data was transmitted to a base station along with data from our neighbours meters and from there transmitted to the housing authority offices. I may be wrong.

That makes complete sense.

What I found odd was the irregular flashing lights showing data was being transmitted carried on flashing through the night.

(Most) meters store either all data, 5 minute blocks, half hour blocks, hour blocks, 8 hours blocks and so on up to a couple of days. Because meters don't have an unlimited supply of memory (they use the same registers over and over) they need to dump the data before older data is overwritten. The more detailed the data (i.e. 15 minute blocks for example) uses up the memory faster and have to do the data dump more often. They can be programmed to push the data to the servers or wait for the servers to come and collect the data. This is obviously also scheduled and can happen every couple of minutes to once a week. The more often you collect data (real time data for example) the more expensive it is.

So with all that in mind, it wouldn't be strange for the smart meter to communicate any time of day at seemingly random times with the data center. At our company we do data dumps once a day between 12 AM and 4 AM. Or when information about a specific meter is needed any time of the day.

Those who are actually spending money on any type of alleged shielding should definitely use an EMF meter to ascertain what effect if any their precautions are having. An inefficiently shielded space can increase exposure.

In the interests of denying ignorance I feel it must be strongly stated that the EMF scare industry is guilty of ripping off customers with goods of very dubious quality. www.electricsense.com...

I wasn't even aware that such a market existed, but I can imagine that there are snake-oil salesmen that would see the opportunity. Kinda reminds me of the "Power Balance" bracelets that used "use holographic technology" to "resonate with and respond to the natural energy field of the body", and increase sporting ability. As they say: A fool and his money is easily parted.

Man, I've got to stop jumping the gun and just read the thread. It happens while I'm at work when I have limited time to post.

originally posted by: bullcat
Why would an electronic METER explode?

Anybody?

Why would an electronic meter need COMBUSTIBLE components?

It's not really the meters that exploded. It's actually a high energy electrical arc which in a blink of an eye can vaporize metal and insulation material. Like lightning on a smaller scale. Enough energy of any kind can make anything "explode" or combust.

a reply to: NthOther

Well, if mine were to blow up, I would just go to the local electrical jobber store, buy a regular meter, take the 5 minutes to install it and off we go, if I wanted to continue to use electricity from the grid. Otherwise, I'd just wire in a generator plug and have a genny, a windmill and some solar panels, it's cheaper anyway in the long run. There are lots of different ways to make energy cheaper than these assclowns. Screw them.

Cheers - Dave

It's strange they don't seem to have an optimum trip fitted? Maybe if those things are outside the house and fed first, (I am presuming they are) the outside elements affect the reliability of the trip. Whatever it doesn't sound like a good set-up.

originally posted by: Gemwolf

originally posted by: bullcat
Why would an electronic METER explode?

Anybody?

Why would an electronic meter need COMBUSTIBLE components?

It's not really the meters that exploded. It's actually a high energy electrical arc which in a blink of an eye can vaporize metal and insulation material. Like lightning on a smaller scale. Enough energy of any kind can make anything "explode" or combust.

So, they were plugged in and turned on whilst being transported?

Really? Darwin Award?

Funny, because we have solar panels, smart switching meters, and not once have we ever had high energy electrical arcs in a blink of an eye.

If you have ever, ever experienced a three phase fault, you know without a doubt how scary that is, and that yes, stuff explodes. Go to youtube and watch some meter arcflash demonstrations. Depending on the size of the transformer, the wire, the voltage, the available fault current stuff goes boom pretty quickly. And those people should be glad their meters "exploded" or it would have been their tvs, computers, etc.

The amount of false information on smart meters that people have in their heads is absolutely absurd.