The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is planning a year long experiment that may effect older alarm systems, access control systems, camera recording devices, and other devices that get their timing off of the 60 cycle electrical power grid.
In the past the power industry has tweaked the frequency so that the average is a very accurate 60 cycles. Many devices use this frequency to keep an accurate clock. But it is expensive for the power industry to make these adjustments. Starting possibly as early as July 2011 they will stop making these adjustments to see how it affects equipment. No one can predict all of the problems that this may cause. The problem will show up as devices run fast.
For alarm systems, this may cause test signals to appear missing, or if a system uses an auto arm feature, this may cause the alarm to arm early. For access control systems the schedules may drift over time. The prediction is that devices could run from 2 to 20 minutes fast per year. Video recording devices, mainly DVRs, could get off for recording times and could be time stamped with incorrect data.
Dial One Security is currently assessing the protential problems.
