Problem(s) Encountered:

At around 3 AM the main power shut off briefly, 1--2 seconds, a few times.

I had recalled reading in the MDM manuals before arriving that there were

procedures for determining if we were on generator or back-up power, but

I didn''t recall the specifics and the power interruption killed the Internet, which was my primary link to the MDM manuals.  So both I and the observer at the 1.3m had trouble figuring out what to do in the case of the main power having brief interruptions.  The paper manuals in the observing rooms are scattered and some pages note that they are out-of-date. I couldn''t locate the discussion of the power supply in the main paper manual in the 3-ring binder in the notebook. Conservatively, we both decided to follow the lightning shut down procedure, just in case the power troubles worsened/or we were running on battery backup. The next day, Eric noted that the MDM pages are on the local intranet, and so could still be accessed without internet connectivity, but you need to know the IP address. That fact should be posted in the control room.  And perhaps all of the basic emergency/hazard procedures (not just the lightning shutdown) should be printed out in a single red three-ring binder.

Solutions:

As far as I know, we have no documentation for what to do when there are 1 or 2 second power blips.  Not sure what there would be to document since there really is no procedure to worry about when this happens.  Being on a remote mountaintop, we are prone to power blips, especially during bad weather.  The best way to tell if the facility is on generator power is to listen for the generators.  Another way to verify is that certain appliances no longer have power, such as the coffee maker, the tv, or the microwave.

Bringing documentation up-to-date in the control rooms is an ongoing process.  That said, paper manuals are either kept orderly on the shelves, when bound, or in the case of the quick startup and shutdown procedures and the lightning shutdown procedures, on the bench, where they are stacked before the start of each observing program.  Useful documentation pertinent to MDM are already up-to-date.  I will go ahead and fast-track updating the KPNO emergency docs and binder and amend it to include our lightning procedures in detail.  This will also include the IP address for our online support, which can be found locally at 140.252.83.20.  Home pages on the work station web browsers have been updated to reflect the IP address instead of the one given by the name server.