As just about all of you may know, power is supposed to be 60 cyles at 120 volts here in America. The problem is, what do you do if it isn't? I have several electric clocks in vintage appliances and on the walls, and I have noticed an interesting phoenominon. They are all loosing about the same amount of time. It's not much...about 5 minutes per day. I could figure 1 clock being off due to mechanical issues, but ALL of them? and the same amount? The only thing I can think of is that the power frequency is off!
The other thing that clued me into this is my Hammond organ that is just the ever so slightest bit off key on the higher notes. These Organs have a synchronous motor in them that spins a tone generator. In effect, they cannot go out of tune, since the motor spins at the power frequency. The tone generator is basically a shaft with notched wheels along it, and magnetic pickups beside each wheel. As the wheels turn, they generate the different musical notes the organ can create. Curious about this power thing, I decided to measure some of the musical notes. I found "middle C" to be 438 hz (supposed to be 440 Hz) The error gets worse as the notes get higher in frequency, and is barely audible when played by itself. If you play it against a newer digital keyboard though, it's readily apparent!
The power company will probably think I'm high on some sort of drug telling them that their frequency is off, but probably nobody has ever questioned it before! It would be nice not to need to keep setting my clocks all the time though. I could figure on the voltage being off, but I would think a frequency error would be something that would be an issue all the way back to the generation plant!
The other thing that clued me into this is my Hammond organ that is just the ever so slightest bit off key on the higher notes. These Organs have a synchronous motor in them that spins a tone generator. In effect, they cannot go out of tune, since the motor spins at the power frequency. The tone generator is basically a shaft with notched wheels along it, and magnetic pickups beside each wheel. As the wheels turn, they generate the different musical notes the organ can create. Curious about this power thing, I decided to measure some of the musical notes. I found "middle C" to be 438 hz (supposed to be 440 Hz) The error gets worse as the notes get higher in frequency, and is barely audible when played by itself. If you play it against a newer digital keyboard though, it's readily apparent!
The power company will probably think I'm high on some sort of drug telling them that their frequency is off, but probably nobody has ever questioned it before! It would be nice not to need to keep setting my clocks all the time though. I could figure on the voltage being off, but I would think a frequency error would be something that would be an issue all the way back to the generation plant!