Line voltage north-eastern Australia?

I had a customer in Adelaide (more central), but I'll ask. ...Jim Thompson

I think if you look at a map, you would call that Southern

Thanks. From inland areas I've heard some horror stories. Huge surges, people having several PC power supplies on the shelf as spares, UPSes blowing up and all that.

From my Aussie buddy...

"I'd suggest aus.electronics newsgroup.

I asked a local guy that makes a power meter that sells into Australia, he wasn't sure of what to expect. Best bet would be to try talk to someone in that area, I don't know anyone in that area for power, all of our equipment is battery/solar.

However it is not uncommon to see 250V surges in Australia in general.

Also note that North east Australia has high humidity and lightning storms like Florida.

Regards, Mike" ...Jim Thompson

You'd have to verify this with engineers from AUS, but one of the features of their rural primary distribution systems is single wire, earth return. That doen't result in very good voltage regulation.

Done.

I've heard of 270V, sparks flying and all, but not near the coast.

Yep, and we've already ruggedized the stuff pretty well when it comes to that. Just the transformer is the problem. 90-260VAC primary switchers aren't that good because most affordable ones peter out above 60C and that doesn't fly in such areas when inside a box.

Ouch. That must be pretty uncomfortable for all those little critters living in the ground.

Why do you think the kangaroos are always hopping?

Aha! But wait, what did the Aborigines do a few hundred years ago to make them hop back then?

To stay away from Phil?

Can you give a city reference? I've quite a few friends there who may know.

It's actually the whole NE coastline in Queensland, from Brisbane all the way up north to Cooktown.

For verification::

For validation, I'm not sure I would rely on anecdotal comments from NGs. If this is a significant concern, and it were me, I would talk to some linemen and/or electricians in the target area to get some data.

================================

Greg Neff VP Engineering

Actually, one guy on the Australian group corroborated the numbers in the links. 216V min and 264V max, scary. Queensland is supposedly better where it's served by Energex but even if you asked a lineman in Brisbane it might be all nice and dandy there while it's very different up north. However, I did ask my client to request info via their Australian people.

BTW, the poster in the AU group measured the current voltage and got a reading of nearly 258V (!).

Well, 240 volts, +/- 10% would be 216 to 264, which does sound reasonable, and certainly not that scary.

OK, I'm in NH (USA). Nominal voltage is supposed to be 240 volts. I'm reading 233 to 234 volts, so it is a bit low right now. Evening time, so higher demand I'm sure.

Ironically, I measure 122.4V in the labs here at school, *and* at home at my Bench.

Tim

They threw boomerangs at them! The non-returning variety of course. The ones that come back are for the Yankee tourists :->

Dave.

I suppose I should clarify I was measuring the 240 power input to my big Eaton UPS... (and not the power outlets.)

and 122.4 (or 244.8) isn't bad at all. I've found that generally in the US the regulation is rather good.

Dave, Dave--don't tell me that stunt of Crocodile Dundee's with the limo antenna wasn't for real! I always thought the unique Aussie outlook was due to being brained repeatedly while learning to catch boomerangs. ;)

Cheers

Phil Hobbs