Voltage optimisation

[ericmark]

I worked on the building of Sizewell "B" and being so close to the "A" station the voltage fluctuated a lot depending if the "A" station was on line.

I was given the job of installing a series of florescent lamps all 110 volt 60W rated so giving a little leeway used 25 on each B16 MCB. When they tripped I went to find out why and found they were taking 21A not around the 15A expected so I did some tests.

I found the lamp was in fact 230 volt with a step up auto-transformer fitted which had a 127 volt and a 110 volt tapping. Using the 127 volt tapping dropped the current way beyond what one would expect using ohms law. Changing the first 20 to 127 volt tapping saved me the 5A required. Volt drop on cable meant if I did all 25 then last few would not strike.

So from this I know keeping florescent lamps to the correct voltage when using induction ballasts does save a lot of power.

However this is only the case with induction ballast controlled. Using the HF ballast (Inverter) the lamps auto correct and spot on voltage is no longer required.

Again tests showed that changing from induction to HF ballast reduced the power being used the amount saved depends on voltage of supply and old inductive ballast.

So years ago using one of these voltage correction units would have worked. However today unlikely they are any longer needed with so much being powered with switch mode power supplies which auto correct for voltage fluctuations.

So I would not say they don't work. I would consider one with a factory using 100's of old type florescent lamps where the voltage for some reason was high. But in most cases a waste of money.

Power factor and wave form clipping is a very real problem but not in the private household.

It's like the campaign to stop people leaving items on stand-by. With the exception of the Sky Box most items use less than 1W on standby. With the exception of the Sky box there is no point in most cases of switching off for less than 24 hours.

The Sky Box is an exception where in order to update even in standby it still powers the LNB so uses around 12W on standby. However unplug it and it will not update. Using a free to air box they don't need to power LNB so save money not only by not paying sky but also using less power.

 

[JohnW2]

So years ago using one of these voltage correction units would have worked. However today unlikely they are any longer needed with so much being powered with switch mode power supplies which auto correct for voltage fluctuations.

Yes, but you're talking about lighting which, even back then, was a pretty trivial part of electricity usage in domestic settings - and which. today, with CFLs etc., is generally a negligible proportion of domestic electrical usage. Given that voltage reduction achieves nothing (often slightly the converse) with virtually all non-lighting loads, there clearly is no benefit to be had from these things in the domestic setting.

Kind Regards, John.

 

[Taylortwocities]

Deleted

 

[securespark]

That's a shame, I was getting peckish...

 

[ricicle]

Deleted

Spoilsport !

 

[Taylortwocities]

It was pointless without our friends little adverts..

 

[ban-all-sheds]

There's a rash of them at the moment.

I wonder why the site doesn't block new members, with less than a certain number of posts, from posting URLs?

 

[olly_k]

Things like laptops etc have SMPSs so will compensate for the reduced voltage by increasing their current draw, and using the same amount of power.

...and more current = marginally more power wasted loL!