Hahahaha 😂, an interesting thing is that in the UK the 50Hz mains varies frequency slightly depending on the load on the national grid. During the day or adverts in people's favourite soap opera you can see the frequency drop slightly. Over the course of a day there are always the same amount of cycles. So at night or off peak the frequency is slightly higher to compensate for the lost cycles.
I built a few Nixie clocks that use the mains as a time reference as Christmas pressies a few years ago and kept one for myself. You can actually observe during the day the clock running slow and losing seconds over hours. The next morning it's back correct again.
Cheers
Matt.
I built a few Nixie clocks that use the mains as a time reference as Christmas pressies a few years ago and kept one for myself. You can actually observe during the day the clock running slow and losing seconds over hours. The next morning it's back correct again.
Cheers
Matt.
Well that's good news Tonescout. They will fix it as whoever is paying the distribution bill will not want suck up the bill for I2R losses due to the backfeed. Eventually they will exceed the cost of a proper repair.
May be an idea to keep a way to measure voltage next to your amp as when they fix it they surely won't tell you straight away.
Cheers
Matt.
May be an idea to keep a way to measure voltage next to your amp as when they fix it they surely won't tell you straight away.
Cheers
Matt.
Demand seems very high just this minute... maybe tonescout has left something switched on
Ours isn't as fancy... Power Data
Still interesting kodabmx, you guys in Canada are in the enviable position of having a large amount of Hydro 😎
We have a bit over here mainly in Wales and Scotland. We also have a pumped storage facility nicknamed electric mountain:
Dinorwig Power Station - Wikipedia
I have been on a tour and it is like something from a James Bond film.
Cheers
Matt.
We have a bit over here mainly in Wales and Scotland. We also have a pumped storage facility nicknamed electric mountain:
Dinorwig Power Station - Wikipedia
I have been on a tour and it is like something from a James Bond film.
Cheers
Matt.
You're probably familiar with this one and there is some interesting info in the links on the page.
Dynamic Demand
I seem to recall a thread over on another UK forum a few years back where the once super accurate (as averaged over time) 50Hz wasn't what it used to be. Maybe it was a problem for a few months for whatever reason... I don't know.
You just can't beat dials and meters
You just can't beat dials and meters
Especially when every alternate dial is going backwards ....
Do they still do that? Reading a meter used to be quite a skill once upon a time.
Our problem in Ontario is our baseline is all Nuclear (complete with billions for refurbishment - Pickering should have been decommissioned since it's 50 years old for example) we pay a lot for power here compared to Québec, but they have 97% hydroelectric generation...
Because of Covid, our electricity rates have been capped at 8.5 cents / kWh even though the cost is currently 25 cents... We'll just pay later, right?
Because of Covid, our electricity rates have been capped at 8.5 cents / kWh even though the cost is currently 25 cents... We'll just pay later, right?
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OldHector, I was in metering for a few years from 2006-2010. Mainly installing so called smart meters. There are still very many old type meters about. Nothing wrong with them but yes some are pretty crazy to work out how to read and as far as I can tell there was never a standard on the way the dials read.
Cheers
Matt.
Cheers
Matt.
Kodabmx, I guess in a country the size of Canada it doesn't make much sense to have a "national grid" I presume individual regions import/export to each other.
Our Nuclear is also on its last legs. We either need to invest massively now or pay the price in the future IMO. Either way we will be paying to decommission the mess we do have.
Cheers
Matt.
Our Nuclear is also on its last legs. We either need to invest massively now or pay the price in the future IMO. Either way we will be paying to decommission the mess we do have.
Cheers
Matt.
Indeed they do, and the Nothern parts are all on their own generation by diesel. Some remote regions of Canada are only accessible by air.
You can now drive to the Arctic ocean though Inuvik–Tuktoyaktuk Highway
You can now drive to the Arctic ocean though
Inuvik–Tuktoyaktuk HighwayNo wonder Hitachi has pulled out of building two nuclear power stations in England and China,s interest in Hinkley is "not advisable " due to "security concerns" .
So much for "cover the country in electric car charging points " I hope we don't fall out with France ?
Power may transcend politics. Power crossed the Can/US border long before it crossed the Rockies. Remember that BIG industrial electric started at Niagara Falls, a border town, trading in hydropower long before big electric.
North America has several "networks". Denver west to Calif and up into West Canada is one. Most of the east is another. Texas has a stand-alone network with limited interchange, and Quebec has limited power trades for some decades (but is in talks to sell hydro to Boston).
The Texas interchange alone is 3X the area (but half the population) of the UK Grid. East and West are much larger.
Some of this large-area groundwork was laid just about 100 years ago. Large industrial changes and hydro development begged for interconnects.
So - THANKS so much for the advice and guidance.
UK Power Networks, either circumstantially or due to measurements down to 209V I told them about have now reinstated the HT line. They had a team of 6 on it for 2 days, and I was contacted with updates by phone on progress and to check on my line status. It has sat at 243-246V ever since they completed.
The only remaining question they are going to answer is the drop on my voltage with a 2kW appliance, showing about 5 V down - is this normal?
Anyway the amplifier now works consistently....YAY!!
UK Power Networks, either circumstantially or due to measurements down to 209V I told them about have now reinstated the HT line. They had a team of 6 on it for 2 days, and I was contacted with updates by phone on progress and to check on my line status. It has sat at 243-246V ever since they completed.
The only remaining question they are going to answer is the drop on my voltage with a 2kW appliance, showing about 5 V down - is this normal?
Anyway the amplifier now works consistently....YAY!!
Do you mean at the incoming line ?
During cold weather high use is made of heaters etc and depends on the area of the country but if internally then you have a connection or wiring problem in the house, its only a big deal if you run a lot of high current stuff and there is a big voltage drop .
I tried this there was no voltage drop in my supply and I live in a village .
During cold weather high use is made of heaters etc and depends on the area of the country but if internally then you have a connection or wiring problem in the house, its only a big deal if you run a lot of high current stuff and there is a big voltage drop .
I tried this there was no voltage drop in my supply and I live in a village .
Great to hear they have sorted the distribution issue out
As to 5 volts reduction when you load the supply with 2kW, well that is not normal and it shows there is significant resistance/impedance to the supply.
You need to do the same test again but this time measure the voltage on a different ring main or spur. In other words if the 2kW is on a downstairs socket then measure the voltage on an upstairs one which will probably be on a different ring, or perhaps measure on a socket that is combined with a cooker switch as that should be on its own feed.
What you are trying to establish is whether the incoming supply to the property is dropping excessively or whether the drop is 'local' within the property.
If you look back at post #49 you'll see I measured a drop of just 8 volts at nearly 12kW loading.
tested again. Iron at 2.6KW on to upstairs ring main from separate consumer unit turned on; voltage on separate consumer unit spur down by 3V. The two separate consumer units get fed from the incoming mains through a splitter.
not sure if I should be concerned with this / proportionally a lot more difference than you quoted in post 49
not sure if I should be concerned with this / proportionally a lot more difference than you quoted in post 49
Back of the envelope calculation...
2.6kW will be around 11 to 11.5 amps. Can't say exactly because it depends on how the iron is specified i.e. 230 or 240 volts and also what your mains actually is. Its near enough though.
So to drop 3 volts @ 11 amps means a circuit impedance of around 0.27 ohms.
If you had a nominal 24kW loading which is old money 240 volt 100A maximum that can be drawn from a domestic single phase supply that would mean a total load of around 2.4 ohms. That's a huge current draw and many properties are not fused up to that level, however...
Your supply based on that would fall to about 216 volts... just about within tolerance.
If you are in a bungalow or particularly a flat then your max supply rating will be way below 100A (perhaps 80 or 60A) but the volt drop calculation is the same.
2.6kW will be around 11 to 11.5 amps. Can't say exactly because it depends on how the iron is specified i.e. 230 or 240 volts and also what your mains actually is. Its near enough though.
So to drop 3 volts @ 11 amps means a circuit impedance of around 0.27 ohms.
If you had a nominal 24kW loading which is old money 240 volt 100A maximum that can be drawn from a domestic single phase supply that would mean a total load of around 2.4 ohms. That's a huge current draw and many properties are not fused up to that level, however...
Your supply based on that would fall to about 216 volts... just about within tolerance.
If you are in a bungalow or particularly a flat then your max supply rating will be way below 100A (perhaps 80 or 60A) but the volt drop calculation is the same.
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