I have an lntermittent open neutral. There is only 67VAC in my computer roo m. The Dell Optiplex powers up, along with my monitor but the Arris cable m odem won't boot at that voltage. I just found an open hotspot, so this is m y first time online in weeks. Even email would crash before I could send mo st messages.
oom. The Dell Optiplex powers up, along with my monitor but the Arris cable modem won't boot at that voltage. I just found an open hotspot, so this is my first time online in weeks. Even email would crash before I could send most messages.
Maybe next time you could jury-rig a TDR? Or, alternatively, one of those Fox-and-Hound a.c. line tracers (Harbor Freight), or even a noisy brush-motor as a load, and an AM radio to find the fault? IR thermometer to check the temps?
Anyway, whatever it is, glad you're back!
Cheers, James Arthur
The open is overhead, not where you can work without a bucket truck.
I'm not very familiar with the odd electrical system used in your country, but from what little I know of it, it seems like if the utility refuses to fix the problem, you might benefit from obtaining a large
240V:120V transformer (not autotransformer) and using that to power your 120V loads. I mean by hooking the 240V primary to the two incoming live wires and then ignoring the utility's neutral wire, and running your house from the 120V secondary. Occasionally I have seen such large transformers disposed of as scrap metal and you might be able to get one for a reasonable price under those circumstances. Otherwise you could get by with a smaller transformer if you only use it for the low-power, sensitive loads like computers, TVs, lighting etc.
I don't know how power distribution is done over there. Here each locality is served by an 11kV-to-230V transformer and the neutral is grounded at the substation. A good house ground can substitute for neutral. I've never had a reason to use that to solve a neutral problem but I've known some people who did.
(That probably violates some codes but regulations are not strictly enforced here).
On a sunny day (Thu, 25 Jun 2020 12:33:36 -0700 (PDT)) it happened Michael Terrell wrote in :
The utility should fix it.. but do not know if in your country there is an alarm number for that (we have here, and they came within an hour). Anyways I have a large solar panel, and as far as computing goes among other things a Raspberry Pi4 with a few TB USB drive as backup, (10 W or so) for the main PC, plus laptop of course.. Monitors.. Some batteries of all sorts and with the weather we have here atm 33 degrees C and no clouds to be seen, enough power backup.
If society collapses, as it will according to Murphy, I can still receive the calls for help from your country via satellite or short wave.
;-)
Also I am on 4G with a Raspberry Pi 1 as router for the LAN, Huawei USB stick. LED light strips...
Get ready!
I gave up on cable last year, the cable modem took so much power you could bake an egg on it, and it was endless problems with bad pictures and out time for maintenance... Having a sat dish here gives me hundreds of free channels...
5G has been enabled in part of the country. You could add a cheap Honda generator charge a battery buffer too.If you are in US you can probably sue the utility if they do not fix it, suffered stress, from the money buy all that nice solar stuff :-)
My only 240VAC load is the well pump and clothes dryer.
No electric hot water then?
-- Rick C. - Get 1,000 miles of free Supercharging - Tesla referral code - https://ts.la/richard11209
I have it, but i haven't turned it on for about 10 years.
Our system isn't "odd". Residences just get two phases and neutral. Businesses generally get three phases and neutral. Three is odd!
Bad things also happen in a three-phase system if neutral opens.
I mean by hooking the 240V primary to the two incoming live
Here in SF, if you call the local utility about a problem with electricity or gas, a truck full of guys will show up really fast. My open neutral got me a PG&E crew in about 30 minutes, and it was fixed soon after.
If you say "I smell gas" they show up even faster.
-- John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc Science teaches us to doubt. Claude Bernard
They will fix it. I will get a TV reporter to investigate. I will file a written complaint with the PUCO. I could care less about your toys. The power used for that crap is just noise when you need AC most of the year.
My open neutral was high on a pole across the street, apparently an old, corroded bolted connection. We have a lot of fog here, with some salt off the ocean, so things corrode.
My old Vic still had the piping for gas lights to every ceiling fixture, still live gas, and the wiring was knob-and-tube. Terrifying. I replaced most of it with romex and capped off the gas.
-- John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc Science teaches us to doubt. Claude Bernard
You don't have/use an oven?
-- Rick C. + Get 1,000 miles of free Supercharging + Tesla referral code - https://ts.la/richard11209
That is 240VAC
Power was finally restored. Still unable to connect to the Internet. It also looks like my air conditioner has died. The bare neutral was burnt in two.
lso looks like my air conditioner has died. The bare neutral was burnt in t wo.
I had a fault in aluminum wiring installed many years ago. It led to the d eath of an A/C unit by one of the hot lines dropping out... or so the insta llers of the replacement unit said. I don't have much confidence in their opinions now that I have dealt with more of them. Many blue collar workers learn on the job picking up whatever nonsense they hear and not being able to analyze it properly, they accept many ideas they shouldn't.
Anyway, that's what they said. The thing is not many 240 volt devices actu ally connect to the neutral wire, so they don't care if it is bad. Then th ere are often 120 volt internals that do use the neutral wire which may hav e fried when the voltage suddenly jumped up to 160+ volts. So your A/C may not work, but it might not be the compressor, etc. Could it be just a fus e or similar? Do they put any fuses inside A/C units?
It is nice having a civil conversation with you. I'll try to refrain from being insulting in the future.
-- Rick C. -- Get 1,000 miles of free Supercharging -- Tesla referral code - https://ts.la/richard11209
On a sunny day (Fri, 26 Jun 2020 09:43:49 -0700 (PDT)) it happened Michael Terrell wrote in :
Your quoting is absent, fix it.
Good point about the neutral-ground equivalence. A ground at the entrance is required, perhaps several. That ground is tied to neutral in the panel. Therefore a good ground will substitute for a missing neutral. Since it did not in the OP's case, the OP should check out his ground(s).
Bite me. I am using a cell phone. It looks like my cable tv and internet was fried when the AC neutral current was diverted to it as a secondary neutral.
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