Let's Sparky 1.1 Mystery Cache

Let’s Sparky 1.1

A McKee Clan cache

Another in the Sparky Puzzle series

                Having a sparky back ground I wish to share some of my knowledge and some facts I have learnt while developing Electrical/electronic related caches. There are many in the series to come and will require different methods to solve. I came across this type of puzzle and thought we are in need of one in the northern area.

The cache contains a certificate and a unique FTF path tag for the first to find. They are not swapped or given out so the first to find pathtag will is a unique item that no one else will have. We have also put in some of our Gecko key rings. Good luck Happy Geocaching.

Please follow the:

Answer to puzzle is in text below

Some facts we may not Know about electricity. Obviously dont lick your fingers before you touch it. Understanding electricity is fundamental to understanding how all electrical things work. There is the basic light to a complicated robot and many other devices. Here are some facts and in formation about electricity. There is alternating current (ac) and direct current (dc). Household appliances work on alternating current but most are converted to direct current. It requires a transformer to change the voltage to either step up or step down. Requirments of a bridge rectifier is needed to make it direct current. The purpose of the direct current is so the electronics can have a constant voltage to alter and control to operate a given device. You may not understand this yet as there is some basics i have missed. First alernator to produce an alternating current was a dynamo electric generator. Of which was based on micheal faraday's principles constructed by the french instrument maker hippolyte pixii in 1832. Understandably pixii later added a commutator to his device to produce more commonly used direct current. Recorded practical application of alternating current is by guillaume duchenne, an inventor and developer of electotheropy. Then in 1855, he announced that ac (alternate current) was superior to dc (direct current) for electrotherapeutic triggering of muscle contractions. His find has led to todays electricity distribution systems. Remember that electrotheropy is not reccomended with out specialised supervision. Electricity can kill and cause damage if not treated with respect. Everyone who has ever had an electric shock never forgets the muscle contractions caused. Electric power transformer developed by lucien gaulard and john dixon gibbs was demonstrated in london in 1881. Interest was shown by westinghouse and they also exhibited the invention in turin in 1884. Great changes have happened to transformers over the years and have been adapted into many systems. Having been seen first in a lighting system in turin in 1884. The designs of lucien and john were adapted to the particular laws governing electrical distribution in the united kingdom. Patents followed in 1882, 1884 and 1885 by gaulard and gibbs on thier transformers. Only to have these overturned due to prior arts of nikola tesla and actions initiated by sebastian ziani de ferranti. It didnt take long for others to follow and try other designs and concepts. New designs on electric devices were coming from a shop in london owned by ferranti. The success of alternating current was believed early on by ferranti and he was an expert early on in the united kingdom distribution system. Supply came in the form of the london electric supply corporation in 1887 who hired ferranti. Every aspect of the design of the power station at deptford was done by ferranti. Very complex in its design and instalation of the generating plant and distribution system it took 4 years. Even for it's time it was a truly modern power station in 1891. Not any different from today producing a high ac voltage and then stepping it down for consumers at every street. Simply a basic system that is still used to this day, supplying many homes across the world. Even many electrical meters have the ferranti ac patent stamped on them. Very simple beginnings have seen the electrical distribution be a complex but beautiful system. Electricity is provided to all homes and businesses today based on this system.Notably in australia we have 240 volts at the consumer but on the transmission line 500 kilovolts can be found. New inventions came in time and william stanley jr designed one of the first practical devices to transfer ac power efficiently between isolated circuits. Induction coil was it's name and was using pairs of coils wound on a common iron core. Now known today as the early transformer it became a key in electrical distribution. Evolution of the ac power distribution was very rapid starting in 1886 to what we have today. Each inventor added ther own piece to the overall system we have today. Also key notes to remember was that nikola tesla sold his patent to george westinghouse. So many familiar household names contributed to this system early on including lucien gaulard, john dixon gibbs, carl wilhelm and siemens. The ac system overcame the limitations of the direct current system used by thomas edison to distribute efficiently over long distance. One thing that edison had attempted was to discredit alternating current as being to dangerous during the war of currents. Now for the united states. Establishing a system in the united states was to be a three-phase alternating current. Having it's first power plant at mill creek no 1 hydroelectric plant near redlands, california in 1893. Undertaken in it's design and installation by almirian decker. New standards were established as it was a 10 kilovolt three phase system of generation, transmission and motors used today. Developing rapidly was alternating current circuit theory in the latter part of the 19th century and early 20th century. Recorded in history is many contributors to the theoretical basis of alternating current calculations including charles steinmetz, james clerk maxwell, oliver heavside and many others. Even calculations in unbalanced three-phase systems were simplified by the symmetrical components method discussed by charles legeyt fortescue in 1918. Due to these early pioneers the theory and calculations are used daily by electricians across the world to calculate all electrical installations. Ac basics are that it may be increased or decreased with a transformer. Now the higher the voltage the more efficiently power is transmitted. Direct current has large losses over a large distance and hence we have an alternative current distribution system. The power losses in a conductor are a product of the square of the current and resistance of the conductor. Hence this means that when transmitting a fixed power on a given wire if the current is doubled the power loss will be four times greater. It then comes to voltage as increasing the voltage will decrease the current required for the same supply. Requirements therefore for long distance distribution is high voltages. The formula for power is voltage times current so if voltage was higher then current will be smaller. You can see with less current requirements then less losses allowing for high level power transmition over larger distance's. Enormous voltages can be seen on these transmission lines that deliver power from electric generation plants. Included with high voltage transmission is the requirement for increased insulation. Generally specially designed insulators are used to keep users safe as well as the difficulty of safe handling of these voltages. High voltages are managed at the generation stage at a voltage safe to transmit from the generation building. Then it is stepped up using a step up transformer to transmit it across the generation network. For the best method to minimize the losses they step this voltage back down as close as possible to the load. Obviously different countries have different voltages at this point but the basic principle is exactly the same. Right here in australia we have a 240/415 volt system at the final stage of distribution. The voltage step downs start from 275kv to 132kv to 66kv to 33kv to 11kv. You can see a transformer at the end of each street and this is where the step down of voltage occurs. There are many caches hidden on these across adelaide so i know you have seen them. With a distribution system there are standards and the above voltages are the standards in australia. Over time technology has allowed the introduction of a high-voltage direct-current electric power transmission system. Power conversion from direct curret to alternate current and back again was the issue when edison, westinghouse and tesla were designing power distributuion systems. Over time the economical cost to convert electricity from direct current to alternate current and back to direct current have been achievable. In most cases the three phase electrical generation is the most common, internal to these generators is three coils (stator) that are offset by 120 degree's to each other. Now 3 times 120 degrees is 360 degrees and is a complete sine wave and with three 120 degrees apart it means one waveform is always in the negative. This allows for current to be returned on that phase. On three phase distribution systems they use a three wire system on the high voltages and a four wire on the final distribution systems. Neutral is added to the final distribution system to allow 240v instead of 415v. Electricity is supplied at a high voltage and connected to the transformer with a delta connection on the primary winding and star on the secondary winding. Neutral is created by the use of the star connection where the central connection is the neutral. In most cases in australia the basic system is an active and a neutral at each property with some requiring all three phases and a neutral. Normally larger industry is the only ones who get supplied a higher voltage as there is higher demand than a domestic situation. Earthing is introduced at the load for the protection of the user. Earthing is used primarily as an alternative current path if a fault is to occur and that you do not become the current path. Including a earthing system that is connected to the neutral to ensure a path back to the source. Generally it is known as a bond wire or earth here in australia. High resistance in earth systems can cause issues as the earthing system needs to have the lowest resistance possible. To conclude, this is how power gets to your house and a lot more is done with electricity after that.