Overvoltage.

[zophas]

So I discovered that my voltage at home is at 275 to 281 volts. I think I have blown my brand new UPS and my deep freeze is making strange noises. We checked the house next door and they are also overvoltage. My electrician is going to report it tomorrow. I just hope nothing else blows up until then.

 

[Alacrity]

UPS usually protects you against this?!

 

[Gnome]

Haha, UPS blew up due to over voltage??

Maybe you should invest in a better brand

EDIT: Sorry not making fun of you, just laughing at the situation.

 

[Segg]

Sounds like 2 phases are shorting or something, it happened to my cousin a few months ago, difference is their voltage spiked to above 300v and almost burnt the house down, City Power found that two phases were shorting out at the power line just outside their property

 

[zophas]

It is an RCT 2000va. Bought it on Friday after many people on this forum recommended it. It did not seem to like having 280V on it's input and started acting strange like it kept saving there was no AC but the AC was in fact on. It did this two or three times and then shut down. There was no smoke or fire or any electrical smells. Hoping it can be repaired.

 

[Segg]

It is an RCT 2000va. Bought it on Friday after many people on this forum recommended it. It did not seem to like having 280V on it's input and started acting strange like it kept saving there was no AC but the AC was in fact on. It did this two or three times and then shut down. There was no smoke or fire or any electrical smells. Hoping it can be repaired.

I think most UPS's cut out at 265v have you tried testing it at a friend's place?

 

[reactor_sa]

That's way out of spec, make them pay for whatever they damage

 

[BigEars]

Memorable morning here about 3 years ago....described perfectly by a customer (who was insured for this kind of stuff)..

"I was sitting here and all of a sudden my light bulbs started getting very bright and blowing. Smoke came out of my TV. Heater got white hot...unbelievable. By the time I made it to the front door my neighbor was frantically jumping up and down and running around trying to switch off pool pumps and everything electrical....too late".

Yah, somehow 220VAC became 400VAC for a little while, and fried stuff. Properly.

Many, many, houses in that area were hit that day.

Still never really found out what happened :wtf:

 

[Dan C]

It is an RCT 2000va. Bought it on Friday after many people on this forum recommended it. It did not seem to like having 280V on it's input and started acting strange like it kept saving there was no AC but the AC was in fact on. It did this two or three times and then shut down. There was no smoke or fire or any electrical smells. Hoping it can be repaired.

The RCT is a good UPS, but 280v... yikes !!!

 

[zophas]

Just tested my UPS at a friends house as suggested here and it works just fine on his normal 230v supply. Gonna have to claim for my deep freeze tho'.

 

[Dan C]

Glad the UPS is fine.. RIP freezer

 

[Sonic2k]

Memorable morning here about 3 years ago....described perfectly by a customer (who was insured for this kind of stuff)..

"I was sitting here and all of a sudden my light bulbs started getting very bright and blowing. Smoke came out of my TV. Heater got white hot...unbelievable. By the time I made it to the front door my neighbor was frantically jumping up and down and running around trying to switch off pool pumps and everything electrical....too late".

Yah, somehow 220VAC became 400VAC for a little while, and fried stuff. Properly.

Many, many, houses in that area were hit that day.

Still never really found out what happened :wtf:

The neutral lead "came off" the transformer probably

 

[Goobie]

The neutral lead "came off" the transformer probably

Noob question, but how does that cause the voltage to increase?

 

[Sonic2k]

Noob question, but how does that cause the voltage to increase?

Depends how you are connected to the transformer, but, if the neutral "falls off" you get the phase voltage which is 230 x 1.7320508 = 398V

Transformer in the street outputs 3 phase 230V in a star configuration. Each phase to neutral is 230V RMS.
Across each phase you will get 398V i.e. one phase leg to another. If the neutral "falls-off" somewhere, it can happen you get the full phase voltage on your live and neutral hence spectacular bangs in your appliances and 400V AC on your mains.

 

[Gnome]

The neutral lead "came off" the transformer probably

Yep, floating neutral. Likely due to copper theft.

The RCT is a good UPS, but 280v... yikes !!!

That really isn't something that should kill a UPS.

 

[mmacleod]

We had something like this year ago, can't remember exact voltage any more but know it was insanely high.
Some of our circuit breakers actually fused closed, the first I knew about it was when I turned the kitchen lights on and they blew, and when I say blew I mean they literally exploded into tiny little pieces... Scary stuff.

 

[ProAsm]

An interesting situation happened here a few months ago, our electricity ran low for 2 days at 160 volts.
Surprisingly most things worked quite normally.
The lights were a little dim, some energy saving lamps flickered a bit.
The fridge motor made a strange noise but worked ok.
The TV, our computers, dvd, home theatre and all other electronic devices worked 100%
Only things with elements did not work well, like the kettle, the iron, the geyser and the stove.

It makes one think that if you ran your voltage down a little, say 180 or 200 volts, you will probably use less power, globes will last much longer, inverter batteries would last longer etc

 

[Rickster]

When the crooks stole the neutralizer from the substation, lights started to blow.

Luckily I caught it in time.