high voltage

[Ross Trician]

Morning all,

began doing second fix and testing etc on a job, I changed th CU and on conection of tails and testing for voltages in the cu, (just to prove feeds thru rcd's etc prior to conecting all circuits) I found the incoming voltage was 314V.

Why is it so high, do I need to contact the supplier?

It did answer a question raised by the customer tho when discussing types of lighting, she said they had spot lights before and they were for ever blowing bulbs, presumably due to the excessive voltage.

Also if the voltage is supposed to 230V +/- 10% shouldnt the supplier be monitoring this?

thanks ross.

 

[WarrenG]

Morning all,

began doing second fix and testing etc on a job, I changed th CU and on conection of tails and testing for voltages in the cu, (just to prove feeds thru rcd's etc prior to conecting all circuits) I found the incoming voltage was 314V.

Why is it so high, do I need to contact the supplier?

It did answer a question raised by the customer tho when discussing types of lighting, she said they had spot lights before and they were for ever blowing bulbs, presumably due to the excessive voltage.

Also if the voltage is supposed to 230V +/- 10% shouldnt the supplier be monitoring this?

thanks ross.

I would definately contact the supplier about this. But before you do just make sure its right. Take other readings at various points as well and also maybe try with another voltage tester to re-check.

You don't want to make yourself look a lemon if the readings are wrong.

It can be common to have a higher voltage if the property is closer to a Power station or Sub station where you might find it around the 250v ish but not into the 314V region.

It terms of lighting for a 5% increase in voltage there is a nearly 50% decrease in the lamps life and a 10% increase will reduce the lamps life by about 75% (as quoted by Osram).

One way around the lamps blowing is to use dimmer switches so the lamps will only see 240V but either way the Voltage needs to be reduced first of all!

Hope this helps!

Warren