RRinNFla
Northeast Florida
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Just came back from a stay at an older state park. I have a simple volt meter, one that justs plugs into a standard two-prong outlet with a face plate that shows red and green ranges, with green being between 110 and 125. At this campground the meter stayed right on the low border of green (about 110). AC, microwave and television all worked fine.
How much danger was I in of damaging something?
Part 2 of the question: How does voltage protection work? Does it simply cut off the flow of electricity if the voltage is low, or does it compensate for the low voltage in some way?
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hershey
Albuquerque,(fulltime) NM, USA
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Many believe that 105 is the safe/unsafe voltage. But.... to determine this you do need an accurate meter. Most meters give you a "kinda" accurate reading. I have a nice quality digital meter, about $60 that I leave in line and its 4 volts low in its reading. So spending a lot of money doesn't provide accuracy. I have a very high quality Fluke digital meter that I depend on for accuracy.
After saying that, I also have a Kill-a-Watt that just happens to be very accurate compared to the Fluke...but the next Kill-a-Watt off the shelve might be 5 volts off.
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rvten
Crossville,TN
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Most surge protectors shut off power at 105 volts and turn back on as voltage comes above that.
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rk911
Wheaton IL
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general rule of thumb is +/- 5% of nominal voltage (but i've had electricians tell me that modern appliances can tolerate a 10% difference). a 5% variance would be a range of 114-126 volts from 120v. but is 120v considered 'nominal' or is it 110v, 115v???
this is from WikiPedia:
"In the United States[3] and Canada,[4] national standards specify that the nominal voltage at the source should be 120 V and allow a range of 114 to 126 V (?5% to +5%). Historically 110, 115 and 117 volts have been used at different times and places in North America. Main power is sometimes spoken of as 110; however, 120 is the nominal voltage."
but that's WikiPedia.
our Good Governor, which we leave plugged into an interior outlet 24/7 is curretly reading 118v at the park we're in. that's pretty normal for most parks that we visit.
but voltage is only part of the story. as voltage decreases the amperage pull for any given draw will increase and vice versa. that's where damage to appliances can occur. before i plug into *any* shore power post i always test the circuit for proper voltage and polarity and recommend that everyone do the same.
as voltage decreases, amperage increases and that's where damage can be done to electric appliances and motors.
73,
rich, n9dko
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CloudDriver
New Jersey Shore
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Our 30 amp Surge Guard cuts the power if the voltage falls below 108 volts or rises above 132 volts. Never had it cut off for low voltage but did have problems at a campground with high voltage. My digital meter confirmed the high voltage. The Surge Guard will turn the power back on after a few minutes of the voltage returning to the acceptable range.
I have read that low voltage will damage air conditioners. Not sure what high voltage would do, but don't want to take a chance of frying the electronics in the RV with either high or low voltage.
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fla-gypsy
North Florida
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I get nervous at 108 which I have seen a few times and so far no known damage has occurred.
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smkettner
Southern California
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110 is fine, 105 is time to pull out the booster or think about reducing usage.
IIRC Dometic says 103.5vac minimum (90% of 115v motor rating)
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Wayne Dohnal
Bend, OR.
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The standard device operating voltage is 115 +/-10%. If you have a high-current device like the air conditioner running you have to allow for a couple volt drop in the wiring unless you're measuring right at the high current device, so 105 is probably a good benchmark. I agree with the need to calibrate the plug-in meter against one known to be pretty close.
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Learjet
Louisiana
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smkettner wrote:110 is fine, 105 is time to pull out the booster or think about reducing usage.
IIRC Dometic says 103.5vac minimum (90% of 115v motor rating)
From my Coleman MachIII data sheet:
"Tested under the following conditions: Cooling A.R.I. Standard Conditioning 95° F. DB/71° F. WB Indoor, 115° F. DB Outdoor at 103.5 VAC"
I get worried if I see below 110v with my True RMS meter, I start shutting down unnecessary loads at 108v.
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skipnchar
Topeka or somewhere else
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All of my electrical appliances say plus or minus 10% from 120 volt AC. Gives a safe range of 107 to 132 volts.
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