OMG! What's happened to S.F.?

[Fire-medic]

What a play by Giccobe Jones! It may not be over but S.F. has a long way back.

Those guys from "The U" are making a difference in this game. Who was in the coin toss? Ray Lewis & Frank Gore-"The U!" Ray Lewis sacked the Q.B. to end the half w/a field goal for S.F. Ed Reed has had some good plays too.

At the NFL Hall of Fame this weekend, "The U's" Warren Sapp was inducted. When Sapp was injured playing for "The U," who got his break, subbing for the future NFL Hall of Famer? Ray Lewis!

Now 11 seconds to go 109 yards! Jones may just have put the game away. And set a record too!

So is S.F. gonna fight it's way-back, or 'just-fight?':rofl_200:

I think it's 'lights-out' for San Francisco.:confused2:

Oops!!!

Lights coming-back now.

 

[Tex85]

Caught the first half plus the 109 return after the half on my flight home. I won't be able to see the rest but I am guessing the outcome at this point is set for a Ravens win. Hell of a game for them, going to be a rough family dinner the next time the coaches get together.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Redbone]

Agree that SF hasn't even got off the bus yet was looking grim but maybe the lights will change things. Coach John looked mighty upset about something...maybe they can get something going now

 

[[email protected]]

I'm thinking a 49ers fan cut the power in hopes of the coach talking some sense into the players during the break.

 

[PATMAX]

Miners going for two to tie! How about that. Honey, bring me another beer.

 

[Fire-medic]

Wow what an ending! An exciting one for a change.

The only way two separate feeds into the Superdome could go out is if this happened:
http://blackout.gmu.edu/archive/a_1965.html

It was a stadium issue, not a utility problem. Maybe a groundskeeper thought the 49'ers needed a break...like the Bud commercial where the lawn sprinklers keep ruining plays. The tempo sure swung S.F.'s way after that. One of the best end-of-season games I've ever-seen, and I'm older than them-all in the S.B. category.

 

[Fire-medic]

It was a relay that opened to interrupt the power. Now where is the S.F. fan who did it?:biglaugh:

 

[[email protected]]

It was a relay that opened to interrupt the power. Now where is the S.F. fan who did it?:biglaugh:

It ALMOST worked. Seemed SF had quite a comeback after the outage. It was like a different team took the field when the lights came on. Too bad it wasn't enough to win the game.

Being that I am from PGH, it would have been nice to see Baltimore go down. On the other hand, I didn't want to see SF match us for rings.

A what if scenario: SF wins the bowl this year and faces PIT in the bowl next year. It would be a battle for the first team to 6 rings.

 

[Fire-medic]

TotalTruth says:
I worked with power system relays since 1998. There could be several different causes for the Super Bowl power outage. I commend the reporters and others who are trying to get their heads around the root cause, but it's been my experience that unless you work in the utility industry or are legitimately familiar with the power protection schemes that utilities utilize on their power grids....you simply are not going to be able to talk intelligently about the subject. Protective relaying is quite a specialized field and not everyone is cut-out to do that work.

I don't know this for a fact, but I would bet that the switchgear that feeds the stadium is old. I would bet that it's very old, in fact. And...we all know that it was exposed to water in the not-too-distant past! It's not uncommon for any power company in the U.S. (or the world!) to have many components of their power infrastructure be at least 50 years old or more. Utilities have regular discussions about their "aging infrastructure" and what to do about it. I won't go into this subject at great length, but utilities can't upgrade everything on their system as they get old because the cost to upgrade, revamp or replace this type of equipment is very costly. Problematic equipment, of course, gets priority when it comes to upgrading or replacing equipment.

Some old equipment has proven to be more reliable and requires less maintenance than some of the newer replacement equipment. This is not always the case, fortunately, because depending on the age of this equipment--including relays--utilities may not be able to get parts or equivalent replacements anymore. The relay manufacturers may have stopped making that particular model and may have depleted the stock from their shelves years ago.

So what could have happened with this relay issue at the stadium? Let me first say that I know for a fact that utilities go to extra-great lengths to do everything in their abilities to keep the power flowing at events like the Super Bowl. They go over everything associated with the power equipment that feeds the stadium and discuss contingency power plans ahead of time. They will also make sure they have extra staff onboard during these events to cover any problems that may arise. The fact that the utility replaced a relay before the game with the intention of increasing reliability proves that what I'm saying is true. Utilities don't go around replacing relays at random...they will have a reason.

My guess is that they either noticed something visually wrong with the original relay or perhaps it wasn't responding as it should when they tested the relay during normal periodic maintenance. Or they may have decided to test this relay prior to the game just for that event. Regardless, they didn't feel comfortable with that relay for some reason and replaced it. The utility should not be criticized for doing something like this--it's the responsible thing to do and any rational customer would expect it.

The relay in question is part of a "protective relay scheme" and its purpose is to ultimately isolate faults on the power system so that damage isn't done to more parts of the system than is necessary and to also prevent customers from unnecessarily losing their power. This protective relay scheme is highly critical and is of major importance in any utility's power system. Without it, we would all experience more frequent and more sustained power outages for sure.

Assuming the original relay was very old (and had previous water exposure), if the utility replaced it with an exact replacement from their personal stock or was lucky enough to obtain one from the relay manufacturer, that replacement relay is most likely just as old as the original.

If an identical replacement relay could not be obtained, you can sometimes use another model relay and modify it in some way so that it has the same (or similar) characteristics. This is not the preferred choice and it could be risky, but in a pinch, it may be the best temporary option.

The relay technician who installed the relay could have inadvertently applied the wrong settings to the relay, which could have made the relay more "sensitive" and caused a power outage prematurely. This may sound pathetic, but these are human technicians. How many times have we done something foolish because we had other things on our minds at the time and wasn't paying enough attention to what we were doing?

There are probably at least a dozen other possibilities that could have caused the Super Bowl power outage, but it's clear to me that the utility was thinking about ways to make the power to the stadium more reliable. I know first hand what goes into the electric reliability preparation for big events. No one in that business wants egg on their face and they absolutely go to extreme lengths to cover all the bases.


http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-400_162...-by-device-installed-to-prevent-power-outage/