Is 260-262V mains voltage safe for modern electronics?

J

Jeßus

Guest
Just as per subject heading...

Trying to ascertain whether a friend's mains voltage is the reason
they have lost a few electrical items lately - mainly amplifiers and
computer PSUs. Their mains voltage is as in the subject heading... TIA
for any advice.
 
On 10/01/2014 1:20 PM, Jeßus wrote:
Just as per subject heading...

Trying to ascertain whether a friend's mains voltage is the reason
they have lost a few electrical items lately - mainly amplifiers and
computer PSUs. Their mains voltage is as in the subject heading... TIA
for any advice.
Click to expand...

It's within limits for some Australian states, just. It doesn't seem
probable that your friend would have multiple devices that were running
so close to their ultimate limits.

If the mains supply is implicated at all, it seems more likely that the
gear was damaged by voltage spikes. Installing surge arrestors would be
a good start.

Sylvia.
 
On Fri, 10 Jan 2014 14:01:02 +1100, Sylvia Else
<sylvia@not.at.this.address> wrote:

On 10/01/2014 1:20 PM, Jeßus wrote:
Just as per subject heading...

Trying to ascertain whether a friend's mains voltage is the reason
they have lost a few electrical items lately - mainly amplifiers and
computer PSUs. Their mains voltage is as in the subject heading... TIA
for any advice.


It's within limits for some Australian states, just. It doesn't seem
probable that your friend would have multiple devices that were running
so close to their ultimate limits.

If the mains supply is implicated at all, it seems more likely that the
gear was damaged by voltage spikes. Installing surge arrestors would be
a good start.
Click to expand...

Thanks Sylvia. To elaborate, this is in Tasmania and my mate recently
had a solar/grid installation. The 'electrical inspector' came out and
took measurements - he reckons the solar array is adding 1 to 2v above
the 'normal' 240v and the rest is coming from the grid itself.
 
On Fri, 10 Jan 2014 14:32:44 +1100, Jeßus <none@all.org> wrote:

On Fri, 10 Jan 2014 14:01:02 +1100, Sylvia Else
sylvia@not.at.this.address> wrote:

On 10/01/2014 1:20 PM, Jeßus wrote:
Just as per subject heading...

Trying to ascertain whether a friend's mains voltage is the reason
they have lost a few electrical items lately - mainly amplifiers and
computer PSUs. Their mains voltage is as in the subject heading... TIA
for any advice.


It's within limits for some Australian states, just. It doesn't seem
probable that your friend would have multiple devices that were running
so close to their ultimate limits.

If the mains supply is implicated at all, it seems more likely that the
gear was damaged by voltage spikes. Installing surge arrestors would be
a good start.

Thanks Sylvia. To elaborate, this is in Tasmania and my mate recently
had a solar/grid installation. The 'electrical inspector' came out and
took measurements - he reckons the solar array is adding 1 to 2v above
the 'normal' 240v and the rest is coming from the grid itself.
Click to expand...

Limits in Tas are 207-253v
www.ewh.ieee.org/r10/nsw/subpages/history/Australian-AC-Line-Voltages.pdf
 
"Jeßus"

Trying to ascertain whether a friend's mains voltage is the reason
they have lost a few electrical items lately - mainly amplifiers and
computer PSUs. Their mains voltage is as in the subject heading... TIA
for any advice.
Click to expand...

** Any of these ( 240V to 220 V step down) should remove the your Tasweigian
friend's worry:

http://www.tortech.com.au/step-down-transformer-australia/european-transformers-to-australia

The 600W model ( $154 plus delivery) should do all the electronics in an
average house.

Only 2.5kgs so freight ought to be cheap enough from Sydney.



..... Phil
 
On 10/01/2014 2:40 PM, Jeßus wrote:
On Fri, 10 Jan 2014 14:32:44 +1100, Jeßus <none@all.org> wrote:

On Fri, 10 Jan 2014 14:01:02 +1100, Sylvia Else
sylvia@not.at.this.address> wrote:

On 10/01/2014 1:20 PM, Jeßus wrote:
Just as per subject heading...

Trying to ascertain whether a friend's mains voltage is the reason
they have lost a few electrical items lately - mainly amplifiers and
computer PSUs. Their mains voltage is as in the subject heading... TIA
for any advice.


It's within limits for some Australian states, just. It doesn't seem
probable that your friend would have multiple devices that were running
so close to their ultimate limits.

If the mains supply is implicated at all, it seems more likely that the
gear was damaged by voltage spikes. Installing surge arrestors would be
a good start.

Thanks Sylvia. To elaborate, this is in Tasmania and my mate recently
had a solar/grid installation. The 'electrical inspector' came out and
took measurements - he reckons the solar array is adding 1 to 2v above
the 'normal' 240v and the rest is coming from the grid itself.

Limits in Tas are 207-253v
www.ewh.ieee.org/r10/nsw/subpages/history/Australian-AC-Line-Voltages.pdf
Click to expand...

So, for Tassie, his voltages are bit high. I still don't see it causing
widespread damage to his electronic gear.

Sylvia.
 
On 10/01/2014 3:50 PM, Phil Allison wrote:
"Jeßus"


Trying to ascertain whether a friend's mains voltage is the reason
they have lost a few electrical items lately - mainly amplifiers and
computer PSUs. Their mains voltage is as in the subject heading... TIA
for any advice.


** Any of these ( 240V to 220 V step down) should remove the your Tasweigian
friend's worry:

http://www.tortech.com.au/step-down-transformer-australia/european-transformers-to-australia

The 600W model ( $154 plus delivery) should do all the electronics in an
average house.

Only 2.5kgs so freight ought to be cheap enough from Sydney.
Click to expand...

Won't do anything for him if his problem is spikes.

Sylvia.
 
On 10/01/2014 1:20 PM, Jeßus wrote:
Just as per subject heading...

Trying to ascertain whether a friend's mains voltage is the reason
they have lost a few electrical items lately - mainly amplifiers and
computer PSUs. Their mains voltage is as in the subject heading... TIA
for any advice.
Click to expand...

**Depends on where it is manufactured. Aussie built stuff (which is
destined for WA) would be safe enough. Anything made in China is a
crap-shoot. Some is reasonable, some is utterly hopelessly under-rated
for even 240VAC. I've measured some, admittedly, low volume, Chinese
rubbish, where power transformer saturation occured at 200VAC.

--
Trevor Wilson www.rageaudio.com.au
 
Je?us <none@all.org> wrote:
Thanks Sylvia. To elaborate, this is in Tasmania and my mate recently
had a solar/grid installation. The 'electrical inspector' came out and
took measurements - he reckons the solar array is adding 1 to 2v above
the 'normal' 240v and the rest is coming from the grid itself.
Click to expand...

260 V is well above the maximum allowable voltage. I am not sure which
electrical inspector you are talking about but Aurora would take a
very dim view of that situation. It is possible that a locally
installed solar inverter would cause the voltage to be a touch higher
inside the house but still be within spec at the connection point. Not
260 V though. Either the distribution transformer needs to be tapped
down or somebody with solar has cranked up the maximum voltage cutoff
higher than they are supposed to. Either way Aurora should take
action.

And yes you will see more electronics failures at that kind of
voltage. Components are stressed more than usual. I'm not sure how it
applies to the new halogens but incandescents always had shorter
lifetimes at higher voltages.

--
thomask@sdf.lonestar.org
SDF Public Access UNIX System - http://sdf.lonestar.org
 
On 10/01/2014 11:40 AM, Jeßus wrote:
On Fri, 10 Jan 2014 14:32:44 +1100, Jeßus <none@all.org> wrote:

On Fri, 10 Jan 2014 14:01:02 +1100, Sylvia Else
sylvia@not.at.this.address> wrote:

On 10/01/2014 1:20 PM, Jeßus wrote:
Just as per subject heading...

Trying to ascertain whether a friend's mains voltage is the reason
they have lost a few electrical items lately - mainly amplifiers and
computer PSUs. Their mains voltage is as in the subject heading... TIA
for any advice.


It's within limits for some Australian states, just. It doesn't seem
probable that your friend would have multiple devices that were running
so close to their ultimate limits.

If the mains supply is implicated at all, it seems more likely that the
gear was damaged by voltage spikes. Installing surge arrestors would be
a good start.

Thanks Sylvia. To elaborate, this is in Tasmania and my mate recently
had a solar/grid installation. The 'electrical inspector' came out and
took measurements - he reckons the solar array is adding 1 to 2v above
the 'normal' 240v and the rest is coming from the grid itself.

Limits in Tas are 207-253v
www.ewh.ieee.org/r10/nsw/subpages/history/Australian-AC-Line-Voltages.pdf
Click to expand...

I've got some devices here that state an input voltage of 220-230V, so
even at 250V these are quite a bit over their rated spec. That's
shouldn't matter because they should be engineered to have tolerance
well beyond that.

I would be looking at voltage variations over time and if there are
surges jumping from ~240VAC to ~260VAC which may be what is taking out
equipment.

Out of curiousity, do you know specifically how/what is failing
specifically?
 
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