audio-talk

Grumble grumble.

You try your best, do everything right, then find the utility provider is just awful.

Sounds about par for the course Nick.

I recently switched from EDF: their prices were good but when it came to checking out the market their website won't provide you any infomation on your usage to feed into comparisons (I use MoneySavingExpert) - it's just a cynical way of detering people from switching but it just made me more determined to switch from them!

Have you tried Octopus Ray ?

I use them via the Co op.

It's not the provider (we use Bulb), it's those responsible for historical infrastructure, nominally UK Power Networks.

Basically, we are supposed to have 100A 3phase here.

I just tried drawing 35A on one of the phases and the voltage dropped 9% at the utility input. This is not an "unbalanced phases" or neutral current issue... It's that the cable to our house, which is 100s of metres long and buried, is not up to spec. At 100A the voltage should only drop 5%, so we're way off that.

The main part of the cable was probably laid in the 1950s...

Just another problem, but a serious one as the sauna I've been building from scratch won't get up to temperature correctly as the 9KW heater is getting confused by the voltage drop - it's seeing a 32V drop, mostly from the feeble utility feed. All the intra-site drop is within spec, but that doesn't help when there's simply not enough juice being delivered to the house. Just pathetic and will probably take months to resolve.

Have you tried each phase? It may be that one of them has dodgy contacts somewhere, the others could be better.

Nick wrote: ↑Tue Aug 31, 2021 8:54 pm Have you tried each phase? It may be that one of them has dodgy contacts somewhere, the others could be better.

Yep. All three are the same.

Speaking to a mate who was very senior in the LEB and really understands 3phase distribution, he's asked me to put a thermocouple on the neutral point at the utility entry to check for excessive current there to check the phase imbalance.

pre65 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 31, 2021 7:49 pm Have you tried Octopus Ray ?

Yes, but I don't think it was cooked as well as it might have been and was a bit tougher than I expected and not particularly flavoursome - some friends tell me it can be fantastic when cooked well.

On utility provision, I've already done a switch from EdF and we're now with Bulb, but I have no tie ins so, as prices are rising, I'll probably have a a scout of the MSE site again.

Line of unrelated context demarcation.

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Champing at St Leonard's

jack wrote: ↑Tue Aug 31, 2021 9:00 pm

Nick wrote: ↑Tue Aug 31, 2021 8:54 pm Have you tried each phase? It may be that one of them has dodgy contacts somewhere, the others could be better.

Yep. All three are the same.

Speaking to a mate who was very senior in the LEB and really understands 3phase distribution, he's asked me to put a thermocouple on the neutral point at the utility entry to check for excessive current there to check the phase imbalance.

Have you a clamp meter? If not want to borrow one?

Nick wrote: ↑Tue Aug 31, 2021 10:23 pm Have you a clamp meter? If not want to borrow one?

Thanks for the offer but I've just ordered a Uni-T UT210E, which whilst not a Fluke/Agilent/Keysight/Keithley etc. should be more than adequate. For around 40 quid, it seems a good bit of kit and has a lot of good reviews..

UT210E UNI-T Mini True Rms Clamp Meter Ac/DC Current W/ Capacitance Auto Range https://g.co/kgs/mnm4Bg

Big Clive and EEVBLOG etc. love it as does Mark Hennessy who is a BBC senior engineer who I know and who did a detailed review.

Can't believe I didn't already have a clamp meter in the toolbag...

Also, my ex-LEB friend is a bit concerned about harmonics if phases are not matched (all sorts of weird stuff can happen). He's lending me a Fluke 435 (which I've used before in data centres) but which is probably huge overkill for this.

Seems Photobucket are getting a bit more serious.

"Your account is over storage, either purchase a premium plan or delete your account."

Mind you, it's ages since I got the last message from them.

If anyone knows of a good & reliable LED equivalent of a 500W halogen security flood , that would be great!

BTW. I can use Google just fine, but I'm hoping for actually experience with one!

Not that big, We use 800 Lumin ones in the barn, and the first set only asted about 3 years, but the replacements (fingers crossed) seem better, so I think they are generally more reliable than they were. Not much help though.

Nick wrote: ↑Fri Sep 10, 2021 10:14 am Not that big, We use 800 Lumin ones in the barn, and the first set only asted about 3 years, but the replacements (fingers crossed) seem better, so I think they are generally more reliable than they were. Not much help though.

Ta. a 500W Halogen is about 10-11,000lm and the 50W LED "equivalents" are generally only 4,000lm, so I just don't see the comparison.

Our halogen one has been up there (just below the guttering, about 20ft up) for 16 years and never had a bulb change, though the glass is crazed.

In the winter, the badgers set it off a lot, so it's time for change... (everything being moved to LED).

Nick wrote: ↑Fri Sep 10, 2021 10:14 am Not that big, We use 800 Lumin ones in the barn, and the first set only asted about 3 years, but the replacements (fingers crossed) seem better, so I think they are generally more reliable than they were. Not much help though.

800 lumins, isn't that about 60watts equiv??. how many do you use???
I use 2 x 1550 lumins in the kitchen and that just about cuts it....

sorry, posts overlapped

my understanding is that 100w equiv is anywhere between 1200 and 1500 lumins.....I beleive 4000 lumins is way above 50w.
ah.. I begin to see what you mean now.....60watss led is 4000 lumins
the ones I use are 13watts led and I beleive they are 100watts incandescent equiv.....it gets trixy doesn't it..