A little backstory for the curious: When I moved to my current house, my audio quality decreased substantially. I spent a great deal of time investigating this and believe I’ve narrowed it down to the AC main. Multiple electricians have failed to find anything wrong with my electrical system or electrical panel. At this point, I believe the power quality from the city may be poor but I’m not sure how best to measure it. I also have a hunch that there is a loose connection somewhere between the utility transformer and my breaker panel. Before I bug the city, I would like to be able to provide measurements that something is wrong, but I don’t know how best to do that. Also, from a recent utility locate, it looks like the underground power goes from the transformer to my neighbors house and then to my house. Is that standard wiring procedure?
How To Do You Measure the Quality of Your AC Power?
What is the best way to measure the quality of the AC power feeding your listening room? Is there a device you can plug into an outlet that will give you the voltage, frequency, the total amount of distortion relative to a perfect sine wave, etc.? Furthermore, how would you measure the ability of your AC main to deliver transient currents?
It seems like there may be a scenario where you could measure your power quality to be excellent but somewhere in the line you could have a loose or poorly made wiring connection which under heavy load (such as powerful bass notes) you could run into trouble with power delivery. In this scenario, an AC regenerator would not help you, or would help very little.
Just curious what methods people have come up with to systematically analyze their power and how they use those measurements to drive buying decisions or repair work, if needed.
Edit: My apologies for the title typo.
It seems like there may be a scenario where you could measure your power quality to be excellent but somewhere in the line you could have a loose or poorly made wiring connection which under heavy load (such as powerful bass notes) you could run into trouble with power delivery. In this scenario, an AC regenerator would not help you, or would help very little.
Just curious what methods people have come up with to systematically analyze their power and how they use those measurements to drive buying decisions or repair work, if needed.
Edit: My apologies for the title typo.
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- 70 posts total
Hire a Power Quality Testing Company. Cost per hour $150 - $250. A heck of a lot cheaper than buying a Power Quality Analyzer. Example of a Power Quality Analzer: You would only need one for single phase power. https://www.myflukestore.com/category/fluke_power_quality_analyzers At this point, I believe the power quality from the city may be poor but I’m not sure how best to measure it. I also have a hunch that there is a loose connection somewhere between the utility transformer and my breaker panel. Before I bug the city, I would like to be able to provide measurements that something is wrong,Bug the Utility Power Company first. Call them and ask who you can talk to about your power problem. Usually it will be an EE. Nicely ask him/her if a tech could come to your home and check for a problem(s) from the load side of their meter to their utility power transformer. Again, nicely ask for their help. The tech will pull the meter and visually inspect the meter socket electrical connections for corrosion and for any evidence of a loose connection. He may even check the mechanical lugs for tightness. Loose and or corroded terminations can cause harmonic distortion on the mains. If everything looks good in the meter socket hopefully he will plug in a device that will allow the tech to test for power quality. He will plug the meter back in to the device and will return after a couple of days to review the collected data. The tech should supply you with a hard copy test report. Sometimes the tech will connect the power quality analyzer at the main electrical service panel ahead of the main breaker. It just depends on the Power Company’s testing policy. FWIW. A single phase 240/120V electrical service fed by an overhead power line will have a minimum of 18 to 22 electrical connections from the transformer to the Line side of the service equipment main breaker and service entrance neutral conductor connection in the service equipment enclosure/ panel. Most of the electrical connections exposed to the elements, harsh conditions, of mother nature. Wind, heat, cold, rain, high humidity, snow, and ice. . |
What a freaking waste of time and money. None of these people will find anything wrong, because from their point of view there is nothing wrong. Multiple electricians have failed to find anything wrong with my electrical system or electrical panel. Exactly. There is nothing wrong. Sorry, but there just isn't. Only thing wrong is your approach. You heard a difference and assume this means there is some glaring fault somewhere to be fixed. There isn't. Instead there is just the normal problem of noise coming into the line. The kind of noise we are talking about is endemic, and involves everything from RFI from radio, cell phones, and appliances, to EMF from everything connected to power everywhere. It is what it is. What you do is what everyone does. Make all your connections from the panel to your room as clean and tight AND FEW as possible. This is where the "dedicated" (which really means direct) line comes in. Then from there you use as good quality outlet, power cords, and conditioner as you can. The better the quality, the better the results. Results which are by the way determined by ear, not by meter. Unless your system goal is to sit in the dark looking at a meter? |
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- 70 posts total