2500 Volt spikes damaging commuter trains in Oakland, CA

[Gary Hammond]

I found this article referenced on the Drudge Report. Sounds like they are running DC powered Trains and AC powered trains on the same tracks! http://patch.com/california/martinez...-bart-riders-0

"The electrical spikes of up to 2,500 volts last only milliseconds but damage a component called a thyristor in the cars."

[Bradley Malone]

from the way it reads it seems as they all take dc in through the tracks and some convert it into ac for the motors and some controll the dc through dc motors. if that is the case then it could be a radiant event caused by power being switch for the dc motors via brushes (doubt that) or some kind of circuitry switching...the amount of power used to pull a train would definatly be able to have a 2500 volt back emf spike...good find Gary

[Faraday88]

I found this article referenced on the Drudge Report. Sounds like they are running DC powered Trains and AC powered trains on the same tracks! http://patch.com/california/martinez...-bart-riders-0

"The electrical spikes of up to 2,500 volts last only milliseconds but damage a component called a thyristor in the cars."

Hi Gary,
I just went through the article you posted...could not figure out as where they mention about the use of both AC and DC....but if it so...then it is ought to be the RADIANT
Interaction that is extremely Powerful to cause damage to the modern device such as the THYRISTOR (fails of DV/DT) off -state damage.. Modern Engineer recognize this as the Transient or Surge...but Tesla would have told us that these are the genesis of Radiant Electricity.. yes.. the simultaneous presence of Transient and Surge is the nature of Radiant Burst..
Rgds,
Faraday88.

[Gary Hammond]

Hi Faraday88,

Hi Gary,
I just went through the article you posted...could not figure out as where they mention about the use of both AC and DC....but if it so...then it is ought to be the RADIANT
Interaction that is extremely Powerful to cause damage to the modern device such as the THYRISTOR (fails of DV/DT) off -state damage.. Modern Engineer recognize this as the Transient or Surge...but Tesla would have told us that these are the genesis of Radiant Electricity.. yes.. the simultaneous presence of Transient and Surge is the nature of Radiant Burst..
Rgds,
Faraday88.

Here's a quote from the article ........

"Because the glitch only affects cars with older direct current propulsion systems, it's possible trains made up of cars that run on newer alternating current systems can run through there instead, Oversier said.

While possible, such a solution is logistically difficult. Only 59 cars capable of leading the trains with alternating current systems are available, and 42 of them would have to be dedicated to running to Pittsburg/Bay Point under such a plan."

I don't know if the tracks are supplied with DC, single phase AC, or three phase AC. Don't know if it's a third rail system or overhead power line system. But what I do know is, I have an older CNC lathe that requires three phase AC. The spindle motor is DC and uses a complicated feedback motor controller containing six thyristors that change the three phase AC into a voltage variable DC supply to the motor. It is very fussy about having all three legs of the input at the same voltage. If any one of the three legs is more than 5 volts off from the other two, it will fault out and shut down the controller. ...........So I would guess that the tracks are supplied with AC and it is probably three phase AC.

What really attracted my attention and led to my posting this is summed up in the following guote from the article.......

"Three outside consultants, extensive inspections of the tracks and new diagnostic equipment have not been able to find the source of the mysterious power surges."

I think they need to contact Eric Dollard, Paul Babcock, and Jim Murray on this as something connected with radiant energy and Tesla must be happening!

[Faraday88]

Hi Faraday88,



Here's a quote from the article ........
I don't know if the tracks are supplied with DC, single phase AC, or three phase AC. Don't know if it's a third rail system or overhead power line system. But what I do know is, I have an older CNC lathe that requires three phase AC. The spindle motor is DC and uses a complicated feedback motor controller containing six thyristors that change the three phase AC into a voltage variable DC supply to the motor. It is very fussy about having all three legs of the input at the same voltage. If any one of the three legs is more than 5 volts off from the other two, it will fault out and shut down the controller. ...........So I would guess that the tracks are supplied with AC and it is probably three phase AC.

What really attracted my attention and led to my posting this is summed up in the following guote from the article.......

I think they need to contact Eric Dollard, Paul Babcock, and Jim Murray on this as something connected with radiant energy and Tesla must be happening!

Hi Gary,
I suggest you study Gray patent/ Meyer patent and of course FSCE by Peter Lindemann to know how and what exactly Tesla's Experimental set up was when he first learnt about the unusual effect of the Radiant Bursts (Explosive wires ect..), Incandescence without heat, or Luminescence with out Glow..(is the nature of Radiant Electricity),,but also observe that his set up consisted of AC Generator on one side of the set up and DC Generator on the other..
Rgds,
Faraday88.

[Kenowen]

Gary, the question is that they have five thyristors and only one is damaged. What circuitry would have five and only one damaged. Is it a single phase AC with one feed, single phase AC but dual voltage (180 degree out of phase with two live feeds), or DC fed line? And the other three are on the AC side of the car. My guess is that there is the first one "single phase AC" of high potential. Two thyristors are needed for both peaks (positive and negative) but yet only one is damaged. Three are on the three phase output of the controller. The ultimate question in my mind is, "Is it always the same thyristor on the line that is damaged?" I.e. the positive or the negative one. If it is always the same one then on the DC cars there needs to be additional snubbers that will take this spike (inductive kickback) and quench it before it can return to the line. It might be an arc over from a disconnect that causes it (i.e. running a heavy current and then disconnecting with an immediate opening). The solution needs to be on the line side and not of the car motor side. Ken B.