Mains voltage

[Harry Bloomfield]

For many years, I would occasionally check my mains voltage, sometimes just to compare my various meters, one to another, something I have not done for a good while. Today, I plugged in my cheap plug-in, inline wattage meter, just to check an item and update it's cost per Kwh, and happened to switch it to displaying voltage - it was showing 246.3v, whereas our voltage has always been very close, within a volt or two of 240v when I have checked it. Not believing the plug-in, I got my Fluke out to compare it and it was correct.

Middle of the afternoon and quite a dull day, but I wander if the extra 6v might be due to feedin, about one in 4 or 5 of the houses on out feed are fitted with solar?

 

[Munroast]

just normal for this part of the world - gets the dinner made quicker..

 

[pcaouolte]

Seems normal, mine varies between 238v and 251v according to the time of day and the loads that I have switched on.

 

[ericmark]

I found in old house was always around the 245 mark, then a load of solar panels fitted and the voltage dropped to 230.

I know solar panels are designed to switch off if voltage out of the range 209 - 253 I think, and also frequency needs to be close to 50 Hz so if there is a loss of the supply solar panels will not continue to keep the lines live, as this could injure anyone working on the line.

Just checked here 247 volt. Never bothered before this post so not sure on the norm.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

just normal for this part of the world - gets the dinner made quicker..

My original partner, she used to always complain that dinner always took longer to cook at teatime, because the gas pressure dropped when everyone else was cooking at the same time. Nothing at all would convince her that everyone's pressure was the same regardless, and everyone had their own pressure regulator next their meter.

 

[JohnW2]

... - it was showing 246.3v, whereas our voltage has always been very close, within a volt or two of 240v when I have checked it. Not believing the plug-in, I got my Fluke out to compare it and it was correct.

Mine is nearly always between 240V and 246V, most commonly 242-245V.

Middle of the afternoon and quite a dull day, but I wander if the extra 6v might be due to feedin, about one in 4 or 5 of the houses on out feed are fitted with solar?

Factors such as PV installations, even on a dull day, will obviously have some effect. Mid-afternoon is a fairly low-demand time of day,so one might expect fairly high voltages then - it would be interesting to know what your voltage is around 7pm this evening.

Do you know how close you are to the transformer/substation which is supplying you?

Kind Regards, John

 

[ericmark]

I decided to actually try using my new toy, the one thing I did not try was to measure current, but did that when I first got it. What I found odd was having to select AC or DC, simply not use to using a select button, unlike my old meter you can't simply look at the selector switch, one needs to read the display to see if AC or DC shown.

The whole idea of the clamp on meter is there is no range you can select which will damage the meter when you stick in the probes, however with any MULTI meter the user still needs to turn it on to correct setting.

I saw this when doing my 'A' level physics, guess what happens if you try reading volts on the amps range? And it seemed ½ the class did that judging on the number of fuses required. Not me, that would have been rather embarrassing, but I do wonder if I should stop playing?

But as to solar panels looking out of the window today, would not think high output today.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Do you know how close you are to the transformer/substation which is supplying you?

105 yards, it is in the church yard, at the end of the street.

 

[JohnW2]

105 yards, it is in the church yard, at the end of the street.

At that distance (probably a bit more than for me) one might expect appreciable variation.

Kind Regards, John

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

At that distance (probably a bit more than for me) one might expect appreciable variation.

Kind Regards, John

I would expect the bigger variations the further you are from the source, due to volts drop with load???

It, when I have checked it in the past, has been extremely stable. I have just checked it again - 18:18, teatime, everyone back home, heating on, cooking, and darker - 244.7v. I guess they have changed the tapping.

 

[JohnW2]

I would expect the bigger variations the further you are from the source, due to volts drop with load???

Indeed so. If you were only, say, 10 yards from the tranny (which some people are - the tranny supplying me is effectively 'in the garden' of one of the houses it supplies), one would not expect appreciable variation.

Kind Regards, John

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Indeed so. If you were only, say, 10 yards from the tranny (which some people are

That would put me in the church yard - dead

 

[Jackrae]

That's an interesting wallwart you're using. Most generally have bottom-outlet cables.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

That's an interesting wallwart you're using. Most generally have bottom-outlet cables.

Eh?

{EDIT] Eric's wallwart. I have a few like that.

 

[JohnW2]

That's an interesting wallwart you're using. Most generally have bottom-outlet cables.

Both are quite common. The 'bottom-oultet ones can be a problem (as can plugs, which are always 'bottom outlet') with sockets immediately above, say, a work surface.

Kind Regards, John