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New Hampshire
Jan. 10th, 2014 07:20 amThe problem at the New Hampshire station wasn't the contactor; it was a relay, probably as old as I am, with a spring that no longer sprung, and therefore no longer made contact sufficiently to feed the 208 volts into the contactor to flip it from day to night position.
Working in what felt like extreme cold -- no more than 10 F -- was a challenge, and it took from 4:30 AM until about 10:00 to replace the relay. The screw holding one of the wires in place wouldn't loosen, and instead the lug broke off, requiring me to solder a new one in its place. Getting the soldering iron to heat up sufficiently was surprisingly difficult.
Part of the field behind the station was an enormous frozen lake whose surface was like polished marble. It is amazing what beauty one finds in nature, even in the bleakest midwinter.
I had intended to wait until today, but my usual Thursday client wants me to meet the phone company on Cape Cod today, so I switched him to today and took care of the NH problem yesterday.
I had to sing to myself on the road home to keep from falling asleep. I noticed that my voice had become raspy and hoarse, perhaps from breathing so much cold air.
Working in what felt like extreme cold -- no more than 10 F -- was a challenge, and it took from 4:30 AM until about 10:00 to replace the relay. The screw holding one of the wires in place wouldn't loosen, and instead the lug broke off, requiring me to solder a new one in its place. Getting the soldering iron to heat up sufficiently was surprisingly difficult.
Part of the field behind the station was an enormous frozen lake whose surface was like polished marble. It is amazing what beauty one finds in nature, even in the bleakest midwinter.
I had intended to wait until today, but my usual Thursday client wants me to meet the phone company on Cape Cod today, so I switched him to today and took care of the NH problem yesterday.
I had to sing to myself on the road home to keep from falling asleep. I noticed that my voice had become raspy and hoarse, perhaps from breathing so much cold air.
