UK AC Mains voltage?

[Charles Darwin]

Was the EU regulation actually put into place or was it just a document signed & ignored?
I have 240

The EU regulation was put into place automatically the second it was signed because it meant that nobody had to physically change anything.

Again because there seems to be some difficulty in grasping it: NOTHING HAS CHANGED. Nobody adjusted their mains voltage, it was merely renamed 230V to cover nominal 220V and 240V by very slightly widening their acceptable variation.

 

[chienmort]

Thanks.
I wonder though if it has actually been lowered to 230v or was this just a political thought falling in line with EU and it still stands at 240v?

The nominal voltage across the EU was set at 230V but the tolerances were changed both in the UK and across the EU to enable equipment to cross EU borders seemlessly.

 

[MarcelvdG]

Only equipment designed after the change. Equipment designed for 220 V +/- 10 % doesn't necessarily survive 253 V.

 

[Charles Darwin]

When I moved to the UK from Germany in 1987 none of my electrical equipment had any problems with UK mains.

 

[MarcelvdG]

Then you were lucky.

 

[bohrok2610]

Slightly off-topic anecdote:

About 10 years ago a lightning struck our outhouse and traveled about 10 meters via the underground mains wiring to the main building. My son was playing on PS3 when it occurred and a light switch behind him flew about 4 meters across the room straight into the corner of the TV screen. About 15 electronic devices failed but insurance covered those. I guess the mains voltage was briefly above EU regulation 🙂

I learned my lesson so for our new house I installed lightning conductors into the roof and centralized overvoltage protectors.

 

[NickKUK]

Slightly off-topic anecdote:

About 10 years ago a lightning struck our outhouse and traveled about 10 meters via the underground mains wiring to the main building. My son was playing on PS3 when it occurred and a light switch behind him flew about 4 meters across the room straight into the corner of the TV screen. About 15 electronic devices failed but insurance covered those. I guess the mains voltage was briefly above EU regulation 🙂

I learned my lesson so for our new house I installed lightning conductors into the roof and centralized overvoltage protectors.

I remember APC wanted an UPS (not mine) back for study following a lightening strike internal pictures. Typically companies love to see incidences of design failure in these outlying scenarios. Perhaps the TV manufacturer less so with a light switch sticking out of the front!

 

[bohrok2610]

Actually that TV survived and is still in use with only a scratch on the display. Another TV did not survive but most of the equipment that failed were various stuff with external SMPS wall wart such as routers, satellite receivers.

 

[soundoutlad]

Again because there seems to be some difficulty in grasping it: NOTHING HAS CHANGED.

If only they had thought of naming it the "230-ish Voltage Bill" we'd be clear on what what was intended 🙂

 

[nigelwright7557]

I use a lot of wall warts and they work from about 100VAC to 240VAC.
Handy if I sell something abroad.

 

[PRR]

U.K. is now supplying 230v

I found this comment on a Canadian(?) power technician's YouTube video:

petesmith2234 5 months ago
I once installed some radio equipment on the roof of a 15 storey residential block in the UK. The equipment was all monitored remotely and within a couple of days, I started receiving alerts from the UPS saying it was compensating for high voltage, the logs showed it rising to about 260V at times. I continued to monitor over the following couple of weeks until one day I found a reading of 282V, at which point I rang the electricity company! They were rather concerned as the transformer supplied not only the 150 flats, but several streets too and said they’d meet me there in an hour. I arrived within about half an hour to find them already there waiting for me. Unfortunately, at the time, the voltage was just within limits, and after confirming that the voltage at the transformer was similar to that at our equipment and that the reading from the UPS was reasonably accurate, they said that normally in such cases they’d install a data logger for a couple of weeks, but in this case they’d probably be able to accept my UPS logs.
The following day, they rang me to say they’d meet me on-site and change taps. In the event, there was only one more downward tap available and it still sits at about 250V, but I’ve never received another high voltage alarm in the seven years since. Overall I was quite impressed with the speedy response and not what I was expecting at all.

(underlines added)
from comments below How we change voltage on a transformer -- Bobsdecline - Lineman blogger

 

[Speedskater]

I use a lot of wall warts and they work from about 100VAC to 240VAC.
Handy if I sell something abroad.

Those would be the ones with a SMPS (Switch Mode Power Supply). They don't much care what the AC line voltage is. High line voltage and they draw less current. Low line voltage and they draw more current. This can make some UPS's and regenerators very unhappy.
HAM radio operators hate most of those SMPS wall warts. They can generate a lot of radio interference for their small size.