[time-nuts] Thunderbolt power supply open heart surgery

[SAIDJACK at aol.com]

Hi there,
 
my Watts Up? power meter showed a reading of 130V+ one day coming from  PG&E 
here in NorCal. I confirmed this with another meter.
 
   _https://www.wattsupmeters.com/secure/products.php_ 
(https://www.wattsupmeters.com/secure/products.php) 
 
I called PG&E, and they were surprised that I had this capability, and  said 
one other customer in the entire town complained as well.
 
Turns out the auto-transformer voltage regulator in the main  power central 
hub was busted. They said it takes months to get a new unit  from Germany, so 
they manually set the tap to -5V.
 
We are now getting 120 - 125V from the grid, but PG&E has to  manually adjust 
for load changes now (air-conditioning loading during the  summer etc).
 
The technician also said that if anything blows that PG&E would pay for  
repairs or replacement, I would just have to reference my service call.
 
Remember that a 10% increase in voltage will reduce bulb lifetime by 50%  
typically...
 
bye,
Said
 
 
In a message dated 2/17/2009 09:01:24 Pacific Standard Time,  
hmurray at megapathdsl.net writes:

> As  another matter, at light loads in your house/neighborhood, the
>  voltages will rise, since the distribution voltage is usually set up
>  so that at nominal load, it's correct, and that allows for some IR
>  drop in the lines.

I got interested in this area a while ago.   PG&E replaced the transformer on 
the pole right outside my  house.  It seems as though my light bulbs don't 
last as long as they  used to, but I don't have any real data to back that  
up.