Hi Glen, and all,
it's funny to see how things develop differently, depending on the country!
> The ambient line voltage in this country has not been 110-volts for a
> long time. ?This voltage has been increased from 110-volts to
> 115-volts, then to 117-volts, then 120-volts, then 122-volts, and
> finally, today, 125-volts. ?The primary reason for increasing the
> voltage is that the customer pays by the kilowatt-hour. ?Modern
> appliances require more kilowatt-hours and the distribution lines
> (the lines supplying the power to your house) have a fixed resistance
> which drop the voltage as the current goes higher. ?
It's true that you can supply more power, and have lower loss, by
applying higher voltage to the grid. But I wonder how the appliances
cope with that? Sure, many electronic things take anything from 90 to
250V, and they will be fine. But stuff without this flexibility, like
motors, light bulbs, and tube type amps, rated for old 110V or slightly
less old 115V, will have a hard time coping with 125V.
Do the power companies reimburse customers for burnt appliances?
Or is the voltage increased by law, and every citizen is responsible for
updating all his appliances to the new and everchanging standard?
In Chile we are going the opposite way. Our "legal" line voltage is, and
has been for a very long time, 220V. The legally allowed tolerance is
plus/minus 7.5%. But in recent years our bright governments have decided
that by lowering the line voltage, the country becomes more
energy-efficient (don't ask them for a technical explanation, as they
are politicians, not engineers!), and several successive energy saving
decrees have been passed, that force the power companies to drop the
line voltage by 5 or even 10% from the nominal value! So, at this time
many Chileans have to make do with 200V or even less. In the evenings
that can drop to 190 or 185V, due to line losses. Given that most
appliances used in Chile are rated for 220-240V, which covers the Latin
American standard of 220V, the continental European one of 230V, and the
UK/Australian one of 240V, people here are running their appliances in
average about 15% or more below their optimal voltage. That's NOT good.
You can hear everyday on the HF bands how many hams transmit with a a
terrible frequency flutter, because their power supplies just can't
maintain regulation when the line voltage is that low, and the
oscillators in the radios are pulled around!
I'm happily unaffected by this, because I make my own power. Right now I
have 225V at my outlets.
As it looks, the line voltages in the US and in Chile seem to be
converging! Perhaps in 20 or 30 years we will share the same line
voltage, of around 160V or so...! ;-)
Manfred
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Visit my hobby homepage!
http://ludens.cl
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