100W lamp and a 500mA fuse.

[winston1]

And here I frequently measure between 230 and 238 Volts (and typically nearer the 230V end of the spectrum).

I wonder what Winston makes of that?

What I make of it is that you are in a foreign country where things are different. So completely irreverent.

But we are still subject to the Electricity Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012.

But you keep insisting you are in Ireland, not NI. But either way still irrelevant as NI was always on 230 volts.

I am in Ireland.

I don't recognise any entity called "Northern Ireland" - but even if I did it wouldn't change the fact that I am in Ireland.

That is a geographical fact. It isn't actually a political statement.

As I told you in a prievous thread before you were born your ancestors voted to remain in the UK as Northern Ireland. You must learn to accept history. Northern Ireland DOES exist. Look in any modern atlas.

 

[Risteard]

As I told you in a prievous thread before you were born your ancestors voted to remain in the UK as Northern Ireland.

And as I told you, despite what you appear to believe to have happened there was never such a referendum held. And given that the Six Counties did not then exist as an entity why would it as a geographical area be entitled to vote in or out of anything?

 

[JohnD]

Perhaps he's right, and all of Ireland is still part of the UK.

 

[ericmark]

Yes whole of Ireland is still part of EU.
NI is on a different voltage to rest of UK. On the mainland we use 11kV and in NI they use 10kV. But the voltage at the domestic socket is still the same throughout the EU.

I have noted the voltage in my house stayed at 240 ~ 250 many years after the official drop to 230 volt, however within last two years it has dropped to around the 230 volt. It is likely due to need to keep the voltage down so the solar panels can work without locking out on over voltage.

Just 2 years ago I would have also said UK is really still at 240 volt, but today that is no longer true, also noted an increasing problem with caravan sites, the over voltage compensated for the undersized cables and volt drop as a result, but today I note old radios without switch mode power supplies hum with typical main hum where they did not on the same sites some years ago. As to if due to extra load or lower voltage can't be sure. But since also caravan off peak it would seem likely due to lower voltage. I have moved to using the 12 volt system now to remove the problem.

 

[winston1]

Well the voltage at RF Lightnings house and at mine are still over 240V.
On recent trips to Europe, Germany, Croatia, Sweden, Finland, and Estonia it has been around 235V.

Your old radios are getting ever older and perhaps the smoothing capacitors are dying causing the extra hum.

 

[JohnD]

240v at my house consistently.

But my commercial premises (supplied from a modern sub on a small industrial estate) is 230v single, and IIRC 400v between phases. I noticed it was down from the 415v I had expected during some fault testing. Supply was provisioned about 20 years ago.

 

[ericmark]

Well the voltage at RF Lightnings house and at mine are still over 240V.
On recent trips to Europe, Germany, Croatia, Sweden, Finland, and Estonia it has been around 235V.

Your old radios are getting ever older and perhaps the smoothing capacitors are dying causing the extra hum.

I am told one can now get switch mode power supplies which will take the alternating load when using a radio on side band? The problem is on receive the load is very low, but on transmit the load is high and is dependent on my voice being side band, I do try to keep the linear amplifier triggered by inserting umms and ares in though spaces in the speech but it is hard for switch mode power supplies to cope with the load. So I still use a old type power supply and the capacitors are A1. At home with 230 volt not a problem, but in the caravan where the supply can drop to 200 volt or less depending on the site we are on the old power supply starts to allow the ripple through which is of course only on transmit so easy not to realise. Lucky the caravan has a battery and the battery works as a very good capacitor so connecting the power supply and battery together the battery stops the ripple reaching the radio.

However it was the problem which promoted my measuring of the voltage, and finding the cause was low voltage, and I had transmitted on these sites many times in the past without problem. So I concluded like my own house the supply voltage had dropped. Can't remember the date when we changed from 240 volt to 230 somewhere around March 1993 I think but for the first 10 years or so after the change is seemed nothing happened we were still using 240 volt, it was not until the mass role out of micro generation that the new voltage seemed to be used.

From what I gather any micro generation system needs a safety device to stop it generating if the network power is lost or if generating would cause the supply voltage to exceed the limit. I am not sure if they auto reconnect or if it is manual? However it would seem they monitor both the minimum and maximum voltage and if limits are exceeded auto switch off and the voltage has to be stable for a length of time before they reconnect. So if the supply cable is hit and supply is lost to a street then the voltage will either exceed or go below the permitted value and one by one all the micro generators will switch off and the supply cable will become dead.

If the voltage is set to 240 volt then it is possible on a sunny day that the micro generation units will lift the voltage over the limits, if that happens they will all turn off, so now there is a reason why you don't set the transformer at 253 volt open circuit and know end of the supply line the voltage will be above 216.2 volt. Now the suppliers have to allow for the micro generation.

I have wondered how good the transformers are? If set at 230 volt output and the micro generation raised the voltage to 253 volt would the transformer actually pump power into the grid? Or does all the micro generation power need to be used local to that transformer?

We see on a small scale today how we use 5 volt with USB connectors, I have a pack which will charge from the 5 volt supply and also charge other items with a 5 volt output, it must have something to either boost the output or input voltage to be able to do that. Can't see supply companies fitting inverters to pump power back into the national grid at each transformer to keep the micro generators working may be I am wrong?

Things change and it is easy to jump in with both feet and make statements which would have been true 10 years ago, but are not true today, I made an error with caravan charging while being towed, I had no idea that modern cars switch off the alternator when using power and switch it back on when on over run. The result is the old split charging relay and blocking diodes no longer work. Today one needs a 12 volt to 12 volt inverter to charge the caravan battery and the whole concept has changed, no longer do we need to add bits to the car, we can just as easy add the bits to the caravan. We using BS7671 wiring recommendation have two 12 volt supplies into the caravan one switched the other on all the time when car is plugged in, using habitation relays and inverters these two supplies can work fridge, charge battery, and power the reversing/rear view camera with just two supplies. The problem as ever is with old caravans which use the old system. I still remember in 1960's how we argued how to wire a 7 pin plug, Pin 2 blue wire was vacuum warning on some trailers, it was reversing light on others, it was interior light on caravans, and when the rear guard fog lamp reversed from being illegal to being a legal requirement then that used pin 2. At that point we got the second S socket for caravans. Now the second plug BS AU 177a is also filling up, and the single plug BS EN ISO 11446 with 13 pins is already full with pin 12 being argued over like the pin 2 was in years gone by.

My point is things change and we need to adapt, it does not matter if we could use knife switches in 1930 we can't use them today. The whole idea of a bit of wire from a flex as a fuse has gone. We use fuses with glass or ceramic bodies which have gas, or sand or other methods to control how they rupture some even have springs inside. From the slow blow to semi conductor fuse there is a huge leap, for some we have charts to show how they respond to over current, one only has to open BS7671 to see how a 5A fuse will rupture in 0.2 seconds with 25A, or 32A depending if to BS 1361 or BS 3036 so fact that a 500 mA fuse does not rupture is only true for the type tested, I could select a different 100W bulb and a different type of 500 mA fuse and get very different results.

There are two words which it seems are often mixed up. "Will" and "May" to say a 100W bulb may rupture a 500 mA fuse is correct, but to say a 100W bulb will rupture a 500 mA fuse is incorrect. It will be a nice day to day is incorrect, it may be a nice day today is correct. We do it all the time. We all use words incorrectly I had a work mate who was certain that you could have worst, worster and worstest? And I have said very end of the street, clearly the end is the end no need for the word "very" yet I still say it.

I have just written this using text, I have not texted it, but that it seems is used a lot today, but I am old, my phone still sends ... -- ... the Morse code for SMS when I get a message. Seems in some countries like South Africa they call it SMS'ed? I have had a small message serviced does not sound right?

 

[Taylortwocities]

Literally speaking? Quite!

 

[EFLImpudence]

It will be a nice day to day is incorrect,

Not if you know it is going to be a nice day - difficult in Britain but not elsewhere.

it may be a nice day today is correct.

Only if you don't know if it is going to be a nice day.

We do it all the time. We all use words incorrectly

Some of us try not to and are chastised for pointing out that others have which, if observed, will lead to an ever-worsening situation.

I had a work mate who was certain that you could have worst, worster and worstest?

Ignorance abounds.

And I have said very end of the street, clearly the end is the end no need for the word "very" yet I still say it.

There is nothing wrong with that.
Your house may be at the end of a road but clearly all of it cannot be at the very end.

 

[ericmark]

OK you can have "The very last of the summer wine" it was the name of the last program made. But I ask my wife "You don't want any coffee do you?" answer is "Yes please" so does that mean she doesn't want coffee or that she does. If I assume the former I get in trouble.

What time in the summer months is 12:30 pm? PM stands for post meridian which is related to the position of the sun not any government day light saving system. So 12:30 is before midday so it is AM so 12:30 am is during daylight and 12:30 pm is in the night. Until we return to UTC (Unified time constant not called GMT any more) when 12:30 pm goes to being in daylight again. In real terms I am sure most think of 12:30 pm to be in daylight be it summer or winter, and still say good afternoon at 12:30 and don't wait until 13:00 hours before saying good afternoon. Neither do people think of 13:00 hours as being midday, but really it is.

 

[bernardgreen]

Ignorance abounds

Ignorance does nothing, it cannot abound or bound. There is an abundance of ignorance ( I think )

 

[EFLImpudence]

Duly noted - still thinking about it.

 

[EFLImpudence]

Mmm. One of the definitions of abounds is "exists in abundance".

I don't think ignorance has to do anything so I think I'll stick with abounds.

 

[Risteard]

they use 10kV.

11kV.

 

[securespark]

It's a 240v bulb as can be seen 15 seconds in on the video.

His mains is 248.2v not 230v as many would like to tell us.

I know which way you are voting tomorrow...