koputai Posted May 11, 2020 Posted May 11, 2020 Down at Darling Harbour the exhibition area used to sit at 275 volts when there were only small shows on. Our old Yamaha amps used to burn quite often, and we lost a lot of gear through being cooked. In Japan the standard voltage is 100v, but we used to get 75v mains quite a lot. Not good for PSU’s. I guess the moral of the story is, gear should be designed to handle wide swings in mains voltage. Cheers, Jason.
Guest rmpfyf Posted May 11, 2020 Posted May 11, 2020 46 minutes ago, davewantsmoore said: Anyone over 253 just call, it will get fixed quick. If it doesn't sound like it will be fixed quick, ask them who you can complain to (they're required to explain it to you).... and it will be fixed quick. Doesn't exactly work like that. You need to have proven the following: That it's sustained (over 1% of the time with the network deemed in a normal operating condition) That data is acquired in accordance with standards meeting or exceeding AS/NZS 61000.4.30 - a printout from your solar inverter doesn't cut it Similarly, anything coming into the country needs to be designed to meet the same mains quality. If your audio system s***s itself when mains goes over 253VAC a wee time for a wee bit, direct your complaints to the manufacturer. If you can, however, prove that there's an extreme operating condition well beyond any reasonable margins of error, then give them a call.
ikhuong Posted May 11, 2020 Author Posted May 11, 2020 1 hour ago, rmpfyf said: Similarly, anything coming into the country needs to be designed to meet the same mains quality. If your audio system s***s itself when mains goes over 253VAC a wee time for a wee bit, direct your complaints to the manufacturer. If you can, however, prove that there's an extreme operating condition well beyond any reasonable margins of error, then give them a call. Yeah, this is a gray area when we buy direct overseas, manufacturers/sellers might push back on the “extreme” condition if we mention , deny warranty or give refund as their manual mentions 220-240v. they actually ask me to use multimeter at that time but I have none and not interested to proof my house electric has something wrong , my argument was my other audio gears have no issue.
Guest rmpfyf Posted May 11, 2020 Posted May 11, 2020 1 minute ago, ikhuong said: Yeah, this is a gray area when we buy direct overseas, manufacturers/sellers might push back on the “extreme” condition if we mention , deny warranty or give refund as their manual mentions 220-240v. they actually ask me to use multimeter at that time but I have none and not interested to proof my house electric has something wrong , my argument was my other audio gears have no issue. Not really grey - if it was designed to pass Australian mains power standards, you're good. Otherwise, you're on your own (unless they're selling it in Australia). Nothing to suggest you're well out of voltage ATM - send them the link I'd posted and ask if they'll pass. If it's designed for 220VAC nominal, we may run a bit hot.
Addicted to music Posted May 11, 2020 Posted May 11, 2020 21 hours ago, Marc said: I get 259V regularly and have even seen 260V+ on the rare occasion. I’ve actually posted my journey here many moons ago and with a Fluke 12 with a peak hold function it was peaking 263VAC plus. It was worst in the evening and not during the day! Once complaint logged they were here within 15mins and that’s at 9:00pm in the evening! They check switchboard and yep there reading on there fluke MM also correspond to Reading I was getting... They place a logger for 48hrs and then decided to inform us that on a particular day the power will be out for maintenance, it’s since been fixed and the power here hovers around 240VAC the last I checked. Like @Assisi has said over mains voltage can damaged equipment. Under mains voltage can also damage equipment too, as certain AC motors will fail to crank and will sit there unless diagnostics and smarts turns it off, so you have to watch certain equipment. I was constantly replacing compact fluorescent lights and I believe it cooked a 230VAC gas solenoid... when they arrive the 1st thing they’ll ask is has anything been damaged, don’t say no! This gets them out of liability for damages.
Guest rmpfyf Posted May 12, 2020 Posted May 12, 2020 13 minutes ago, Addicted to music said: when they arrive the 1st thing they’ll ask is has anything been damaged, don’t say no! This gets them out of liability for damages. This is actually super important advice. Very often there's simply not enough data available to make a judgement on how long a problem has existed, how severe it is etc. Your smart meter (if you have one) doesn't capture fast enough, and your solar inverter not accurately enough (unless the problem is super fcked). If there's a claim for damages the energy distributor will usually (a) go nuts and (b) at some point ask the people reporting to your home, who can easily say 'it was fine when we got there'. if you don't know if anything's been damaged, tell them you'll get back to them. Don't say no. I assed this up personally and still have an ongoing discussion around my U52 that didn't survive a few days of this (logged at 5s intervals):
Assisi Posted May 12, 2020 Posted May 12, 2020 33 minutes ago, Addicted to music said: I’ve actually posted my journey here many moons ago and with a Fluke 12 with a peak hold function it was peaking 263VAC plus. It was worst in the evening and not during the day! Once complaint logged they were here within 15mins and that’s at 9:00pm in the evening! They check switchboard and yep there reading on there fluke MM also correspond to Reading I was getting... They place a logger for 48hrs and then decided to inform us that on a particular day the power will be out for maintenance, it’s since been fixed and the power here hovers around 240VAC the last I checked. Like @Assisi has said over mains voltage can damaged equipment. Under mains voltage can also damage equipment too, as certain AC motors will fail to crank and will sit there unless diagnostics and smarts turns it off, so you have to watch certain equipment. I was constantly replacing compact fluorescent lights and I believe it cooked a 230VAC gas solenoid... when they arrive the 1st thing they’ll ask is has anything been damaged, don’t say no! This gets them out of liability for damages. I can top that. Two Powercor employees turned up very quick at 10.00pm on a very wet and cold winters night to install a logger when I made my first complaint. Too wet so they said they would come back. They didn't because Smart meter info was enough. Powercor take the matter of these complaints very seriously. John
Guest Posted May 12, 2020 Posted May 12, 2020 8 minutes ago, Assisi said: I can top that. Two Powercor employees turned up very quick at 10.00pm on a very wet and cold winters night to install a logger when I made my first complaint. Too wet so they said they would come back. They didn't because Smart meter info was enough. Powercor take the matter of these complaints very seriously. John Probably because they are on call, and paid very well for call outs Good to hear though. I'm logging my voltage now via the Fronius solar inverter. Of the last 30 days, there have been 11 instances of voltage over 253V. That should be enough to get action.
Guest rmpfyf Posted May 12, 2020 Posted May 12, 2020 (edited) 16 minutes ago, Assisi said: I can top that. Two Powercor employees turned up very quick at 10.00pm on a very wet and cold winters night to install a logger when I made my first complaint. Too wet so they said they would come back. They didn't because Smart meter info was enough. Powercor take the matter of these complaints very seriously. John They all take them seriously - because they all pay to maintain their assets. If your data shows an excursion in breach of the standard (your data can come from wherever, it just has to exceed standards thresholds for EMC testing beyond the error of your device) then there's not much left to discuss - get fixing. My max voltage ever at site is over 270VAC. It happened for an extremely limited period of time in an extreme grid condition. Not an issue. If your smart meter recorded two successive intervals over 255VAC under normal conditions they'll want to fix it yesterday. Even one. 255VAC would pass 253VAC given accuracy differentials, and a smart meter measurement is the average of what happened in a half hour. So over 2% of the time it's averaged over the high bound (253VAC). So yes, that counts. Horses for courses. 6 minutes ago, Marc said: Probably because they are on call, and paid very well for call outs Good to hear though. I'm logging my voltage now via the Fronius solar inverter. Of the last 30 days, there have been 11 instances of voltage over 253V. That should be enough to get action. Not necessarily - though it may warrant an investigation. At best that's voltage over 0.69% of the time measured with a non-standards accurate device. If you look at it another way - are you getting voltage over 255VAC, how long and when? Also - that they pay their staff well for callouts isn't an incentive to react quickly, quite the opposite. Edited May 12, 2020 by rmpfyf
bryansamui Posted November 6, 2020 Posted November 6, 2020 If we are getting ' Over Voltage' say 240v, Am I better to buy a 230v or 240v amp? ... ( The maker can supply either).. My thoughts are the 230v would run ' hotter' and 'Sound Better' or do components inside level/ optimise the voltage variations and 230v and 240v sound identical?
andyr Posted November 6, 2020 Posted November 6, 2020 2 hours ago, bryansamui said: If we are getting ' Over Voltage' say 240v, Am I better to buy a 230v or 240v amp? ... ( The maker can supply either).. My thoughts are the 230v would run ' hotter' and 'Sound Better' Yes, the 230v model will run 'hotter' at 240v - and even more so at 247v (which is still within spec: "spec" being 230v +10% / - 5%). No, it will not 'sound better ' at the higher voltage - what is happening is that the DC rail voltage after rectification will be higher if 240 is coming into the power traffo (rather than the specified 230v). 2 hours ago, bryansamui said: or do components inside level/ optimise the voltage variations and 230v and 240v sound identical? No, they don't optimise the voltage variations - they merely respond to them. Andy 1 1
bryansamui Posted November 6, 2020 Posted November 6, 2020 1 hour ago, andyr said: Yes, the 230v model will run 'hotter' at 240v - and even more so at 247v (which is still within spec: "spec" being 230v +10% / - 5%). No, it will not 'sound better ' at the higher voltage - what is happening is that the DC rail voltage after rectification will be higher if 240 is coming into the power traffo (rather than the specified 230v). No, they don't optimise the voltage variations - they merely respond to them. Andy Thanks Andy, for clearing that up for me.. I'll order the 240v Variant as seems more compatible with our 'real world' supply rather than the Australian Nominal 230v Standard.... I did post my question in the ' Amp Forum' yesterday but has only been published since your reply.. So thanks again for your prompt answer.. Cheers Bryan W. 1
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