Sorry. I meant to say 0.7 cm.
Hard to tell the size of the main breaker. The amp of breakers in the US are clearly marked. On the switch it tells you 15A, 20A, etc. Here, I can't find such thing. When compare different breakers, I see C10, C16, C20, C32. I guess these numbers have to be amperage rating. If that's the case, the main breaker is 32 amp.
I studied the main panel and this is what I found. The incoming wires go to the main breaker which is rated 32A (if my guess is correct). From the breaker, the wires go to a switch. The switch is to switch between power from grid and from generator. From the switch, wires go to two breaker panels.
The wires between the main breaker and the switch are two 4mm wires. Instead of using one bigger wire, the person who set it up use two smaller wires. (There is a total of 4 wires, two for hot, two for neutral.) This 4mm is not diameter but cross section. So, actually, it should be 4 mm2. These wires are warm and the switch is hot, estimated
60 oC.I have a spare switch with larger capacity and 10 mm2 wires. I'll replace the switch and wires first and see if the situation is improved.
32 A is s weird rating, but I'm only familair with U.S. equipment. Either way, that is a really small Service. Heck, I have a 30A breaker just on my elec water heater, and another on my clothes dryer.
No wonder you have so much voltage drop. You are way underrated, dn if that stuff is getting warm and hot, you better do something soon, before you end up with a fire. Even if it costs some money, I thik you should replace the entire service entrance from the transformer to at least those two sub panels, and maybe more. Your meter is too small, the wires are too small, and the main breaker is too small. At least get a
100A main in there and upgrade all the wiring to match. And if possible, get rid of those two sub panels and put it all in one box. A breaker panel with a 100A main, and slots for at least 12 small breakers are under $100 (U.S.). You'll probably have to replace the meter socket. The power company supplies the meter. The rest of the cost is the wire itself.If you intend to add any other larger power tools, I'd suggest a 150A or
200A main. (Assuming those are rated the same. You might have 108A or something???? Actually, I always thought breakers and fuses were rated the same, worldwide. I guess not!Regardless, you really need to upgrade even if it costs some money. A fire will cost much more, and that saw motor wont last long running at
20 or 30 volts below its rating. The computers may lose power supplies too, and who knows what else.Unless you rewire everything, I think I'd run a dedicated separate cable to that saw from your new main. It sounds like those wires are also too small, because you have a considerable voltage drop at the saw, IN ADDITION to the main dropping already.
Yea, that switch must be way too small to be getting that hot. You know that you're paying money on your electric bill, just to make those wires hot. That's a waste of $$$$.
Maybe someone else on here knows more about foreign breaker ratings, but it sounds like you're probably correct. C10 = 10 (US) C16 = 15 C20 = 20 C32 = 30
Roughly!!!
I guess a C16 (for example) gives just a tad bit more amperage, than a (US) 15A. But that makes me wonder if you'd still use #14 gauge wire? I really dont know????
I've done lots of wiring, in the US, but I'd be confused in other countries. But I normally just use #12 gauge on everything regardless if the breaker is a 15A or 20A. For the samll amount of difference in cost, I dont have to stock two different cable sizes.` I normally use
20A breakers on all outlets, and only use 15A on lighting, or a dedicated circuit for something like a furnace or sump pump.I just googled "C32 circuit breaker". Yes, that is a common rating, lots of websites are selling them. It looks like the letter "C" has something to do with the tripping delay too. (they also have "A" "B" "D" and "E.).
Consider it uses 220V here, maybe 32 A is equivalent to 64A in the US.
I have 30 lights each rated at 85 w. That is 2550 W. I have a 2000 w saw. I have three air coolers, each 250 w. I have two computers and two laptops. I have two water dispensers. That's it for now. And most of the time, no more than 5 lights are on. The total wattage should be less than 7,000 W if everything is on.
Power company installs a meter in the landlord's office. The landlord installed a submeter in the building I rent so he knows how much electricity we use and charges us accordingly. At that time, I had a choice of installing a single phase meter of 10,000 W, the maximum capacity, or a 3 phase meter which has higher capacity. Since the service is single phase, it doesn't make sense to install a 3 phase meter and according to my calculation, I'll use no more than 7000 W. A meter of 10,000 W is enough. That's why I went for a single phase meter.
I plan to replace the switch and wires first. It can be done in one hour but I'll have to wait till after work so not to interrupt other people's work.
The two most commonly used wires here are 2.5 and 4 mm. Before, I thought the unit is in millimeter but now I think it is mm2 because a wire of 4mm in diameter is close to #8 gauge. The 4mm wires I see here are not that big. I just googled 2.5 mm wire. There are many hits.j
So a 4mm2 wire is slightly smaller than #13 gauge.
I have worked with both #12 and #14 wires. #12 is stiffer, somewhat more difficult to work with.
I see ABB on the breaker. It probably is a brand name.
Would it be possible to do a soft start box for the saw?
It still doesn't affect the physics. If the total load is within that limit, the conductors are properly sized, then turning on or off an 8A load shouldn't cause a 5V voltage drop.
I know he talked about how it was wired up, but it wasn't clear to me that the house was also served by the one meter, that it wasn't a separate meter for the business, but you may be right. In which case, I agree, it makes it worse. But curiously, if the service is really that small and serves a house and business, there is no mention of other problems, eg main breaker tripping. Maybe there are no large loads, eg water heater, electric cooking, AC, etc. If all you have are lights and some small appliances in a small house/business,
40A will go a lot farther.
And I guess we never got an answer.
Agree, that's typical.
Agree, that's pretty amazing. But I guess the total load must be under that, as I don't hear anything about the main breaker tripping. Also agree with the comments about 32A.
I'd start with an analysis of what all the loads are now, what they may be in the future.
(There is a total of 4 wires, two for hot, two for
4 mm2 is between 11 and 12 gauge. 12g would be rated for 20A. They have them doubled up, so there's your 40A capacity and the breaker is only 32A. In the US, you wouldn't be allowed to use doubled conductors like that. But from the physics, it's capable of carrying the current, within the breaker protection limit, etc. Assuming it's normal copper wire that is. If it's some cheap crap from God knows where, then who knows what it's resistance is. The fact that the switch is hot suggests something is wrong with it, possibly it's going bad. That could certainly cause your measured 5V drop. Try measuring the voltage drop across the switch.
Where did you see that? The wire gauge tables I looked at put 4 mm2 between 10 and 12 gauge. And he says they doubled the conductors up. The breaker is 32A, so, from what I see, he has sufficient ampacity in those, ie about 50A capacity.
I was looking for something like that when I first posted but now I think I had better fix the electric system first.
I checked this site -
- and it says a 4 mm2 wire is between #13 and #14 gauge which is quite small.
I'll just replace the switch with one of bigger capacity.
I looked at several online tables, and they all say 4 mm2 is between
10 and 12 gauge.
Not sure what's wrong with the site I checked. It is good that 4 mm2 is between 10 and 12 gauge.
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