Lights flikering and meter failure

[Rheilly Phoull]

On 27/02/2013 7:53 PM, Sylvia Else wrote:

On 27/02/2013 10:32 PM, Phil Allison wrote:
"Sylvia Else Congenital Fuckwit Troll""


Apart from a reference to a clearly obsolete style of meter, no one's
said
anything relevant.


** Wot a fucking, insane bitch.

Every reply was relevant.



Seconded !!
Probably waiting for someone to say it's the meter !!

If you bother to read my original posting, you'll see that my query
related specifically to the way in which a failing meter can cause
flickering lights.


" Mechanical energy meters use induction motors like this one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ElectricityMeterMechanism.jpg

At the bottom of the pic you can see wire loop terminals where arcing
trouble might eventually develop. "

I discounted that posting as being nonsensical.

Arcing from live to neutral or earth would soon blow Ausgrid's fuse if
it were sufficient to drop the voltage noticeably.

The kind of arcing that causes light flickering is the kind that occurs
between wires that are meant to be connected together when they become
corroded or loose.

Sylvia.


What about arcing from loose connection ???

 

[Art Vanderlay]

On 27/02/2013 10:53 PM, Sylvia Else wrote:

On 27/02/2013 10:32 PM, Phil Allison wrote:
"Sylvia Else Congenital Fuckwit Troll""


Apart from a reference to a clearly obsolete style of meter, no one's
said
anything relevant.


** Wot a fucking, insane bitch.

Every reply was relevant.



Seconded !!
Probably waiting for someone to say it's the meter !!

If you bother to read my original posting, you'll see that my query
related specifically to the way in which a failing meter can cause
flickering lights.


" Mechanical energy meters use induction motors like this one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ElectricityMeterMechanism.jpg

At the bottom of the pic you can see wire loop terminals where arcing
trouble might eventually develop. "

I discounted that posting as being nonsensical.

Arcing from live to neutral or earth would soon blow Ausgrid's fuse if
it were sufficient to drop the voltage noticeably.

The kind of arcing that causes light flickering is the kind that occurs
between wires that are meant to be connected together when they become
corroded or loose.

Sylvia.


The Ausgrid fuse you are relying on blowing because there is some arcing

from phase to neutral in your meter typically has an 800 amp rating. I
think you will find that the meter wiring (typically 16mm2 in domestic
installations) will well and truely burn before this fuse blows

 

[Phil Allison]

"Art Vanderlay"

The Ausgrid fuse you are relying on blowing because there is some arcing
from phase to neutral in your meter typically has an 800 amp rating. I
think you will find that the meter wiring (typically 16mm2 in domestic
installations) will well and truely burn before this fuse blows

** IME arcing from active to neutral tends to be a dramatic event -
accompanied by a loud bang.

A cable of 16 sq mm can handle up to 15,000 amps for 100mS.

Even an 800 amp HRC fuse is not gonna stand up to that.



..... Phil

 

[Sylvia Else]

On 23/02/2013 7:15 PM, Sylvia Else wrote:

A goodly few years ago, I had a problem with flickering lights, and was
trying to diagnose it. I had a scope looking at the mains, and was
turning on and off a fan heater.

I had done this a few times, getting surprising images on the scope,
when the entire power went out. I hadn't blown the fuse - the meter
itself had failed.

When the guy from Energy Australia (this was before Ausgrid) came along,
as soon as he determined that the meter had failed, he asked whether
we'd been getting flickering lights.

Now, the meter was the old rotating wheel type. I have been unable to
understand the link between flickering lights and meter failure. Any ideas?

Part of the reason I'm asking is that I'm seeing a similar problem at my
current property.

Sylvia.

FWIW, Ausgrid seem to have decided it's a fault on their line. This
explains how, in the process of replacing the wire connecting their line
to my power pole, they moved the fault from one of my phases to the
other (yes, I do indeed have two phases). It's also consistent with the
streetlight that I last night observed to be flickering. However, the
implication is that a number of other households have also been
affected, but haven't bothered to complain, perhaps assuming that if
they ignore it, the problem will go away, as, indeed, it will.

Sylvia.

 

[Ian Field]

"Sylvia Else" <sylvia@not.at.this.address> wrote in message
news:aorc58Flm98U1@mid.individual.net...

A goodly few years ago, I had a problem with flickering lights, and was
trying to diagnose it. I had a scope looking at the mains, and was turning
on and off a fan heater.

I had done this a few times, getting surprising images on the scope, when
the entire power went out. I hadn't blown the fuse - the meter itself had
failed.

Here in the northern hemisphere there was a recent epidemic of gas meter
failures - rainwater getting in the card slot and freezing solid.