Passenger power supply for PC's and mobiles.

[Bletchleyite]

It affects those which automatically adjust the screen brightness when switching to/from mains, which is a lot if not most of them.

That is configurable on all laptops - just set it to be the same for both modes. One of the first things I change.

 

[221129]

The railways are there to supply what their customers need.

No. They are there to transport people and goods from A to B.

 

[221129]

The customer is always right!!

I find that is rarely the case.

 

[AM9]

Thank you for your comment edwin_m. So you are a spokesman for the TOC then. My PC is totally irrelevant to my question. It is only the means by which I discovered this irritating difficulty. Why is the Azuma designed and built to a lower spec than the 225 in this regard. As I mentioned earlier, I am an electronics design engineer and if I was designing or providing a power supply for a client I would think shame to hand over one that switches off every few minutes uncontrollably. Perhaps the TOC should publish a spec on it so we all know what to expect. Anyway, the forum has given me the answer now thanks. It's probably due to neutral sections which I did not previously know about although the difference between the Azuma and the 225 is still a mystery. I do know exactly what's wrong with my PC, how to repair it and where to get spares. And it is quite safe.

All of the Hitachi AT300 trains, like all other EMUs on the UK railway that offer charging power to passengers, AFAIK interrupt non-essential services for a few seconds when the train is not connected to the primary power sourece, i.e. 25kVac or 750VDC. The trains are supplied against a procurement specification that the customer provided (DfT I assume). The manufacturer hasn't supplied a train that "switches off every few minutes uncontrollably", as switching off is very much controlled, every time the track magnets tell the train that a primary power supply interruption is coming, and the specification would have included that ancillary supply in the specification because the customer was offereing it as a charging facility. Had Hitachi put that supply in the permanently on services group, the batteries would need to be heavier, have a shorter off-line capacity, and certainly increased the capital and running cost of the fleet.
As far as giving every passenger a specification of the charging supply, that's nonsense. The railway doesn't give out an air conditioning specification, stating the maximum deviation from setting, nor the maximum ambient temperature that it works in, simijlarly, there isn't a maximum brake retardation spec., so that passengers no how much their drinks might slop. Battery charging power is not a contractual part of the deal, and as edwin_m says, there's no claim for it not working at all, let alone any interruptions that individual passengers might not have prepared their portable devices for.

* the IC225 is irrelevant, - it isn't an EMU, - it's a rake of coaches pulled by a locomotive, thus it needs to have some battery power for lights etc., when it is without a loco connected to it.

 

[mmh]

That is configurable on all laptops - just set it to be the same for both modes. One of the first things I change.

Not all - I had an old Lenovo laptop which did it regardless of the Windows settings. May well have been configurable in the BIOS I guess, but that was passworded with an unknown password.

But I'm probably describing a case more niche than a non-charging battery here...

 

[Dave44]

No. They are there to transport people and goods from A to B.
[/QUOT

All of the Hitachi AT300 trains, like all other EMUs on the UK railway that offer charging power to passengers, AFAIK interrupt non-essential services for a few seconds when the train is not connected to the primary power sourece, i.e. 25kVac or 750VDC. The trains are supplied against a procurement specification that the customer provided (DfT I assume). The manufacturer hasn't supplied a train that "switches off every few minutes uncontrollably", as switching off is very much controlled, every time the track magnets tell the train that a primary power supply interruption is coming, and the specification would have included that ancillary supply in the specification because the customer was offereing it as a charging facility. Had Hitachi put that supply in the permanently on services group, the batteries would need to be heavier, have a shorter off-line capacity, and certainly increased the capital and running cost of the fleet.
As far as giving every passenger a specification of the charging supply, that's nonsense. The railway doesn't give out an air conditioning specification, stating the maximum deviation from setting, nor the maximum ambient temperature that it works in, simijlarly, there isn't a maximum brake retardation spec., so that passengers no how much their drinks might slop. Battery charging power is not a contractual part of the deal, and as edwin_m says, there's no claim for it not working at all, let alone any interruptions that individual passengers might not have prepared their portable devices for.

* the IC225 is irrelevant, - it isn't an EMU, - it's a rake of coaches pulled by a locomotive, thus it needs to have some battery power for lights etc., when it is without a loco connected to it.

Thank you thank you D. You have explained it all. I mean that. I apologise if I irritated you with my last comment. Briefly, the 225 has batteries and that's why it has a continuous supply. The Azuma is built as a complete train so it's passenger power comes directly from the power lines. That makes sense.
Incidentally, I think that the LNER East Coast service is consistently pretty good over all. However, my experience of the Azuma is that the passenger power drops out very frequently. There must be lots of primary power supply interruptions. Never mind, my PC will be 100% again pretty soon.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Thank you thank you D. You have explained it all. I mean that. I apologise if I irritated you with my last comment. Briefly, the 225 has batteries and that's why it has a continuous supply. The Azuma is built as a complete train so it's passenger power comes directly from the power lines. That makes sense.
Incidentally, I think that the LNER East Coast service is consistently pretty good over all. However, my experience of the Azuma is that the passenger power drops out very frequently. There must be lots of primary power supply interruptions. Never mind, my PC will be 100% again pretty soon.

EMUs have batteries as well, as they need to keep emergency lighting going if there is a power failure. Does the Mk4 take the socket supply off the batteries with an inverter, then, rather than straight off the AC with a transformer?

 

[edwin_m]

Thank you for your comment edwin_m. So you are a spokesman for the TOC then. My PC is totally irrelevant to my question. It is only the means by which I discovered this irritating difficulty. Why is the Azuma designed and built to a lower spec than the 225 in this regard. As I mentioned earlier, I am an electronics design engineer and if I was designing or providing a power supply for a client I would think shame to hand over one that switches off every few minutes uncontrollably. Perhaps the TOC should publish a spec on it so we all know what to expect. Anyway, the forum has given me the answer now thanks. It's probably due to neutral sections which I did not previously know about although the difference between the Azuma and the 225 is still a mystery. I do know exactly what's wrong with my PC, how to repair it and where to get spares. And it is quite safe.

Your PC is not totally irrelevant, if it worked properly like everyone else's then you wouldn't have the problem. I never suggested it was unsafe and if you kept an eye on the screen indications you would have known it wasn't charging before you got into this situation.

You've probably heard the saying "an engineer can do for a penny what others can do for a pound" or some variation thereon. By designing for those who have working laptops rather than faulty ones, the people who built the Azuma have saved some cost and weight. Others have suggested a possible explanation for this issue not happening on 225s, yet you appear to have ignored this. And if you're knowledgable about the problem with the PC, you could probably have fixed it yourself in the time you've taken to defend yourself against justified criticism on here.

 

[Dave44]

Your PC is not totally irrelevant, if it worked properly like everyone else's then you wouldn't have the problem. I never suggested it was unsafe and if you kept an eye on the screen indications you would have known it wasn't charging before you got into this situation.

You've probably heard the saying "an engineer can do for a penny what others can do for a pound" or some variation thereon. By designing for those who have working laptops rather than faulty ones, the people who built the Azuma have saved some cost and weight. Others have suggested a possible explanation for this issue not happening on 225s, yet you appear to have ignored this. And if you're knowledgable about the problem with the PC, you could probably have fixed it yourself in the time you've taken to defend yourself against justified criticism on here.

I hope you've got the web forum blast out of your system now D. Very witty. I agree with some of what you say. My original question was about the Azuma design and I now have a very clear answer from edwin_m, and less forcibly by others as you say. I will get round to fixing my PC when I have a few minutes to spare.