Alarm Clock & Wiring: Is It Possible?

[drakonhardt]

Hey All.

I want to throw this out there to someone knowledgeable and hopefully I can find my answer here.

I had a spat with my downstairs neighbor whose room is below mine. He's been doing things like turning up the TV loud or banging beneath my bed in the middle of the night, etc.

One thing that caught my attention was that my alarm temporarily stopped going off. The clock itself was still working. I don't particularly know why this happened. But it eventually started working again about a week later after I switched rooms.

I'm just going to throw this one in from left field. Is it at all possible to mess the wall socket wiring in anyway to magically stop my alarm clock from working?

Thanks.

 

[anorlunda]

Yes it is possible but dangerous. Someone could plug in a (nearly) short circuit load that pulls down the voltage on that circuit. Many alarm clocks are sensitive to momentary voltage dips.

It is not necessarily malicious. Your neighbor could be using a hot plate or a microwave or some other electric load too big for the circuit.

 

[Dr. Courtney]

I don't think so.

 

[berkeman]

I'm with Dr.C on this one. Probably just a faulty switch or something on the clock.