Lights flikering and meter failure

to diagnose it. I had a scope looking at the mains,

entire power went out. I hadn't blown the fuse - the

As far as I know, all the old meters have a current coil and a voltage coil which operate together to rotate the disk in direct proportion to the power. So when you say the meter has failed does that means the current coil has blown ? Or is there some other hidden fuse inside the meter?

soon as he determined that the meter had failed, he

understand the link between flickering lights and meter

You should have asked the guy from Energy Australia when you had the chance.

current property.

Are we talking about the same meters as before, or a different meter?

Many years ago a similar thing happened at my place, and after the fleet of trucks had come and gone, the local electrician said it was a faulty earth on the supplier's side. No doubt he was dumbing it down for the likes of me, but the physical problem was at the power pole. He said it was not uncommon.>

For the lights to flicker would indicate a loose or bad connection. That could be anywhere in your system but there are common places for such, one that can happen in older places is the "Pole" fuse if you have such on your place. These are not used in underground supply just on the pole outside in older connections. It's common for the cover on these to be left open with subsequent corrosion on the contacts. The possibility of a loose connection can be anywhere, if turning on a power hungry device causes a lighting flicker then there is a likely cause in a bad connection in the main board in the common supply wiring such as the terminals in the main switch etc etc.

some of those meters have brush-motors with the line current flowing in the rotor (and through the brushes).

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"Jasen all Betts are Off"

** No they don't.

Mechanical energy meters use induction motors like this one.

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

... Phil

start reading at "Also around 1889"

I haven't seen one like that recently but do recall seeing a freshnly disassembled retired one about 30 years ago.

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"Jasen all Betts are Off"

** Piss off fool.

Have you dropped dead, Sylvia??

to diagnose it. I had a scope looking at the mains,

entire power went out. I hadn't blown the fuse - the

soon as he determined that the meter had failed, he

understand the link between flickering lights and meter

current property.

trying to diagnose it. I had a scope looking at the mains,

entire power went out. I hadn't blown the fuse - the

soon as he determined that the meter had failed, he

understand the link between flickering lights and meter

current property.

Er, no, why?

Sylvia.

trying to diagnose it. I had a scope looking at the

the entire power went out. I hadn't blown the fuse -

soon as he determined that the meter had failed, he

understand the link between flickering lights and meter

current property.

No replies to the thread you started, that's all!

trying to diagnose it. I had a scope looking at the

the entire power went out. I hadn't blown the fuse -

soon as he determined that the meter had failed, he

understand the link between flickering lights and meter

current property.

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

Sylvia.

"Art Vanderlay"

** 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

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.

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