What is 104?

Is that some part of the magic of electricity?

Sue, electrically challenged beyond hope of fixing <img src="/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

104 volts.

Standard household power is 170 volts at the top of the hump, or 120 volts on average (mean), which is your effective voltage. Most meters will show your mean voltage, you need a logging meter or an o-scope to see the 170, which really doesn't matter much unless you are a geek.

If you're getting 104 (kc2ice, please tell me that was your RMS!) on either of those, it's not good. Over simplified, it means there is a lot of nothing mixed in with the electrons. Motors whine, lights complain, computers barf. Just not pretty.

I love it! grreat turn of phrase!

Yeah, that was RMS - on a true RMS meter - did NOT dig out the OLD Tektronix to measure the peak/pk-pk - I'll multiply by 1.414 if you want <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Nah, I can do that on my own. Calculus isn't involved, I'm fine. <img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

If I lived in NYC I would have a bad feeling everyday! <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

Just to let you know, average and RMS give exactly the same readings if the waveform is a sine wave.

Oh, it's not so bad. It is a good thing to consider the possibility, but a little preparation and some proactive thinking and it is easy to develop adequate contingency. Bad things can happen anywhere, so preparing mentally for it, we have the ability to reason and to solve problems and utilize elements of our environment to get by. It is no different for me here than it was in Baghdad, or up at elk camp in the Cascades. You just do what you can and learn to live with it. If the SHTF, then you do the best you can and hope your number ain't up, but if it is, then it is, like Gunny Highway said.

correct - true RMS and averaging are identical for a pure sine wave - at one time, the ONLY way to actually get a TRUE RMS reading was to power a resistor, and measure the heat given off, and is actually still the most accurate way, as all other methods actually use a sampling of the area under the curve - the more samples the better - but of course, this is just someone who has done some metrology speaking (calibration of instraments)

BTW did I mention I was an electronics tech for 12 years, before the military electronics field went bust on Long Island?

Oh, I assumed from other statements you knew the difference between an inductor and a capacitor. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />