Why Are They Called Brown Outs?

[Dzighnman]

A couple of thoughts for this topic, I know we all experience them, but if your power outage is more than momentary, is it not a BLACK out? So why is that so hard to clarify with the locals? And the second, who has the most frequent and longest outages? In Carcar, we would experience "planned" outages maybe once monthly, but we would lose power for between 1 and 6 hours, on average, weekly. Our planned outages were mostly due to either maintenance or for example, we were off for 18 hours one day so they could connect the power to the new Citi Hardware. This inconsistent power supply needs to be accommodated in any business operation plan.... it is an uneasy feeling when you have a resto full of customers, the lights all go out and the front gate is open.... :thumbsup:We would always say, "Well at least out power bill will be lower..."... somehow though, Cebeco has managed to keep the meter spinning without power as we never saw that lower bill.On the upside, the Naga plant has recently come online so maybe there will be marginal improvements?

[Mike S]

I would think that brown outs are more localized like they do to preserve energy during peek loads ..... where as a black-out could be like the whole city of Cebu or other large area ....... just saying ......... :cheersty:

[Jollygoodfellow]

I think the term brown out means an unplanned outage where blackout is planed but I forget just now if this is correct, anyone?????

[MikeB]

http://www.philippin...dpost__p__53759

[Bundy]

Confusing aint it? I remember sitting down with a few SML's and some Nagarayas to watch a super rugby game one afternoon and the power went off about 10 mins into the game.It came back on halfway through the second half, i watched about 5 mins and then the cable went out! Twas then that it dawned on me..........yep i'm back in the Philippines again.Brown.......Black whatever, it's just a pain in the arse. :hystery: :hystery: :hystery:

[guamman]

We actually observed a real brownout here once awhile back. All appliances and tv's that had dual voltage (100-240) were still running while all the 240 appliances and lights went out. Now that is a real brownout when the power supply dips below 220 but still provides enough juice to run low voltage items. So during a real brownout lights will dim, thus the word brownout. Only observed that once in ten years. The word brownout is used for blackouts throughout the Philiippines. Why, I guess brownout sounds sexier than blackout and with a brown out the power can be expected to return shortly or so we think.

[Americano]

Several times both in my home in Cebu City and in Carcar the power has gone off and someone living with us has said, brown out and then I said do you see anything brown? It looks black to me. I have only seen one brown out in over 2 years I have been living here.The number of brown outs or black outs will not improve by adding a new power station because most power outages are caused due to scheduled electrical work. Filipinos do not have the equipment and knowledge necessary to work with power lines that are hot, like in most western countries.Using the word brown out is similar to using the word Tissue for Table Napkins, Paper Towels, Toilet Tissue, or Toilet Paper, and Facial Tissue. They only know one word. Making a shopping list must be confusing. That's why I teach everyone in my household the different words. I just tell them, read the package it has the correct name on it.

[retired]

As guamman 's experience relates doubt most Filipinos would know brownouts are possible since most are only familiar with 220 . Once had a Filipino electrical engineer that worked for the local electric company tell me that it was only a brown out because some folks in the city still had power. :-)As for power issues Mindanao is in worst shape with parts of southern Mindanao already having daily "brown outs" of 4 - 8 hrs. It will move to the rest of the island by April /May . In the past reason given has always been a lack of water , meaning dry season . Plenty of water in the dams but the utilities always take down parts of the generating capacity for maintenance in the dry season . Real reasons of course are because there is more demand than supply , period . Compound that by the lack of new plants being built to meet increased demand and certain interests that wish to use diesel ( power barges ) to supply power because of the greater profit and you get a clearer picture .In reality has more to do with an inefficient power generation and distribution system in tandem with special interests than anything else . But then , Mindanao has always sort of suffered from being the "red headed step-child" . Try and have an intelligent discussion about attracting new foreign investment & tourism while having one of the highest electricity rates in the world and one of the worst supply chains and you will find yourself whistling in the wind . :-)

[Ungoy66]

I think that the brown out is a word for a voltage drop.....there is power but not 100%..Black out no power at all...

[Americano]

I think that the brown out is a word for a voltage drop.....there is power but not 100%..Black out no power at all...

You are correct in almost every country except the Philippines. In the Philippines when there is no power at all its still called a brown out, why? Maybe they don't like the word black.