Line voltage is 116 not 120 why?


I measured my line voltage with a volt meter it stayed steady at 116 shouldn't it be 120.Will this effect the sound of my amp since the voltage is lower?Can anything be done to bring it up to 120?
Mike
hiendmmoe
Kij, Yes there are many SMPS which run at a wide range of voltage. My charger for my Canon camera will run on anything it'll plug into. anywhere. NO DC.

But, in general, is it true that lower voltage makes for higher current draw? If your PS draws 1 amp at anything from 85 to 265 volts, that would make it 85 to 265 watts, if it was a pure resistive load (I'm sure it isn't)
But, for 100 watts, the current would vary from 1.2a to 0.4a for the same 'power' in watts.
I don't know the answer.
Magfan - No, lower voltage doesn't make for higher current draw (it happens in SMPS) but only limits max peak power. Amp in a sense is a regulated supply that delivers required (at given moment) voltage to the load (speaker). If it runs out of available supply voltage it will start clipping. If you don't use whole available power then line supply voltage change won't affect you.

What amp takes from mains is completely different story and depends on type of amps. For class A amps it will be constant current while for class B it will be just a few percent of max rated power of an amp. The reason for that is that music has very low average value and scale is logarithmic. When sound level is at 1/2 of max loudness amp takes 1/10 of max power.

Linear power supply takes current from the mains in very narrow spikes of high amplitude. It is in a sense SMPS that operates at 120Hz. Width of the spike depends on the current demand but also on output impedance of transformer and ESR of capacitors (Schaffer diagrams). It is called conduction angle. Because of that transformer has to be oversized (RMS power required is much higher than average power taken + high frequency content is heating the core) and power supply wiring and cords have to be oversized to avoid drops.

Linear power supply is therefore pretty noisy outside and using shielded power cables is needed.
Yes, power factor.
Same thing happens with speakers where people insist on saying bad load=low impedance when really it is hi phase angle AND low impedance at around the same frequency that makes for a bad load. For speakers a Smith Chart tells the whole story. Phase and impedance as 2 lines always confuses me. Smith Chart is easier to read, after a small learning curve.

I will measure the PF of my gear. I suspect no worse than 30"=0.86 pf.
This is within reason and not unexpected. Remember, we may get billed for WATTS, but consume va. That's why transformers are always rated in VA and not in watts. And, as an aside, some factories get billed a 'premium' for low PF load. Your stereo can be the same way.

'A' amps are always on, so at 100% all the time.

Agreed about average draw. If the power factor is reasonable, no need to overdo it too much. 14ga should still be good up to what......1000va?
Magfan - power factor is on the top of it but I was talking about current that linear power supply takes from mains - it is not sinewave but series of high amplitude spikes.

Power factor in my system is corrected by Power Conditioner - I'm not sure how.
PF, at least on an industrial scale can be corrected. Capacitor banks for sure will work, and maybe an inductor bank. Depends on if current is ahead or behind voltage. Using iron core inductors with the core being 'movable' will vary inductance. I don't know what technology is used on that scale.

Why do you bother with PF correction? Your amp PS will still have the same electrical characteristics. Only what the power line 'sees' will change, and if you aren't being billed a low PF surcharge, why bother? PF correction is used on big scale factories so they don't get dunned an additional electric bill....a 'weird load' penalty. My company, for example, was getting tagged for 600$ monthly and PF correction would have a payback measured in decades. I haven't looked up your system, but if as I suspect, you have at least a dedicated line to anything short of a couple KW of A/B amp, than you should be ok with a 20 amp service!

Better results, (just an OPIN) could be obtained if speaker designers quit messing around. Some speaker loads are AWFUL and since they are tough to drive, IMPEDANCE gets (mostly) wrongly blamed.

As a Power Supply aside, my now ancient Carver Cube used an early version of what became his 'tracking' powersupply. I think this PS was voltage driven, since I could cause the lights in my house to flicker in time with the music.