Best Posts in Thread: Brown Out

Pretty interesting here, power outages are hit and miss here in Tanjay with mostly no explanation. We've gotten to know a number of the workers and they all seem to be pretty good guys just trying to do their job, infrastructure in my opinion (I did do 20 years as an electrician) is the biggest problem. Transformers are grossly overloaded. We have our own transformer and the great thing about our meter is that it shows voltage, kW and amperage as it cycles through. Even though I do not have the meter at the house, I still tend to walk by the meter a few times a day. Voltage is pretty consistent around 240, under 2 amps when I check; obviously when I'm using power tools or when some welding is going on it will be higher.

The electric rates are pretty high here but our bills have been between 3,000 to 3,300 a month for the past 3 months, should get the next bill this week but I expect it to be about the same. We do not use A/C (though it is roughed in) and that has not been an issue so far. All the rooms (short of kitchen and CR's) have ceiling fans as well as large windows so I've slept well, I do wish we would get some rain pretty soon to cool things down and help my struggling garden.

Like I said, I look at the meter often and the voltage fluctuates maybe 5 volts on average throughout the day, so I would say that overloaded transformers are more often the culprit than what they are sending from the substations. I would love to check out one of the substations but not sure how welcomed a random white guy may be...

In my opinion, if you are renting you will probably see low voltages and fluctuations (which will hit you in the pocket) if you are building I strongly recommend spending a bit more to get your own transformer, put in the correct size wire and enjoy less issues than your neighbors. Solar lights are also great for the perimeter lighting and we are almost completely LED lamps inside and at the doors.

Shawn