Power generator

During a lightning storm in march 2011 the external power was lost for some reason (been investigated) the emergency generator did not start. Various possible causes were mentioned like the Diesel being to old and the motor being to cold (there was a long period of cold temperatures before the lightning storm and the generator room is not heated). Also, it is not clear what the logic is in the PLC that starts the generator (e.g., does it try continuously for an extended period, does it try more than once, etc.). This is work already going on, but a general maintenance plan should be defined and implemented and it should be decided if we should get a new PLC which we can program ourselves.

When the generator does not start the emergency batteries supplies power to our UPS, but eventually ($\sim$1.5hrs) they run out. Beyond having to start-up the different systems after the power returned, the only consequences was that both StanCam and FIES detectors had warmed up because their CryoTigers had stopped.