House Voltage

[Art Todesco]

I have been having a problem with my computer speakers. They, for no apparent reason, start buzzing very loudly. I've determined that, if the speakers are powered with a slightly high power line voltage, they will indeed buzz. I tested this by plugging the wall wart into a Variac and monitoring the voltage with a DMM, not true RMS, actually a Fluke 8020A.. At about 126 volts, the buzzing starts. Today I came into the house and noticed beeping from my computer's UPS. It was definitely in the "power out of range, use the batteries" mode. The inverter was humming and there was some heat coming from the heat vents on the UPS. After checking around I measured the line voltage at 127 volts. I thought this was a bit high so I called the power company. They indicated that this was NOT considered high, but are sending out a tech anyway. So, my question to all you experts out there, what is considered high? My UPS thinks it's high. My speakers don't work, but, I know they are cheapies.

[rlz]

I'm not an electrician, but I was always told AC power should be 117 VAC + or - 10%, which is 106 V to 128V. So 126 V is definitely on the high side, but within tolerances. Of course, the tolerances percentages may be different for the UPS. I would check the operating specs for the UPS to verify that.

Rob

[Peter]

If you are ambitious, check the voltage at the wall receptacles in every room in your home. If they all read the same, the cause is more likely to be the power company. However, if you find any that read substantially less, especially if some are below 110V, you are likely to have a bad neutral - probably where your service is connected to the lines that service your neighbors. That usually will cause an imbalance between the 2 115V arms of your 230V service.

I had such a problem several years ago. My kitchen appliances were overjuiced and my bedroom lights were dim. My power company refused to consider a visit until I spent over $100 to get an electrician to check out my home wiring first. His diagnosis, bad neutral before my service line entered my distribution panel. When I told this to the power company, they came, they checked, they agreed, they dug, they repaired.

Good luck! P.S. They refused to reimburse me the electrician's fee, even though I thought that I was entitled to it.

[Art Todesco]

Well, I'll post an update to my original post. The tech came out from Duke Energy and said that the voltage wasn't that high, but as the above answer said, it was on the high side. He called into his office. They had him make some checks of the power at the transformer on the edge of my property. This transformer serves 2 houses. A few minutes later I got a call from Duke saying that they had a problem at the substation and were dispatching a crew there to fix it. I continued to monitor the voltage. I saw a maximum of 129 volts and shortly thereafter is went down. It's now hovering at about 115-117. And my UPS is now happy and I guess I am too.

[Twayne]

Residential Voltages are specced to be: a.. Voltage, including tolerance (usually +10 or -15 percentage) and 120/240 Vac nominals. These are the voltages that must arrive at your residential meter. Many places online give this spec; just look for them.

HTH,

Twayne`

[Molly Brown]

One possibility is that you have a loose neutral (neutral line not making full and complete contact) someplace. For that matter do you have a grounding rod installed to your service panel?

[Ed Pawlowski]

"Art Todesco" wrote

After checking around I

Barely, but within tolerance. I had a problem with bulbs burning out and they seem bright in the morning. Checked my power and had 140 volts in the morning. They said the voltage is kicked up in the morning as industry comes on line. They made adjustments and no problems since.

[Pete C.]

127V is or was considered the top end of the allowable voltage range. When I had my UPS beeping and displaying 136V which I verified with my Fluke 87 as 135.6V the utility was remarkably quick in responding. The CSR I talked to had no idea what I was talking about but promised to relay it to a tech. Sure enough within 10 min I got a call back from a tech and gave him the report. Another 10 min later there was a truck in my driveway and by the time I got out he had already checked and was on the radio to another tech heading to the regulator bank up the street. A short while later I had a nice 126V. Less than an hour from call to resolution, pretty impressive really. No problems since then either.

[HeyBub]

Of course your power company cheerfully offered to replace all your ruined bulbs, TVs, computers, and your toaster. Right?