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Whole House Voltage Regulators


eagles100

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I've been advised by 2 local electricians and 1 local contractor to buy NOB the voltage regulator and have it installed on our electrical panel but they don't know what brand to suggest or know pricing but they say it would be cheaper to buy it up north. We have already had to replace our security camera PVR, have 1 motherboard fixed on wine cooler and now the dishwasher is on the blink. I thought we had a voltage regulator on the security camera PVR but I guess hubby forgot about that one but there is one now. We don't have voltage regulators on the other 2 units. We do have some on the TVs and other electronics. We don't have regulators on the fridge or stove as they aren't fancy (no electronics) and bought in Mexico (local brands).

I'm trying to find pricing on Amazon and not seeing what I need. I'm typing in "whole house voltage regulator" and nothing populates on Amazon.ca and only one item on Amazon.com.  https://www.amazon.com/Panamax-Whole-Home-Service-Entrance-Protector/dp/B00271MIV4/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1478118069&sr=8-7&keywords=voltage+regulator+whole+house

What brand is the best and what price should I be expected to pay (Canadian or US $)? Anyone have experience with this, buying NOB and having one installed here? Is it working for you? Do you still need to have voltage regulators on everything you plug in with it? We'll definitely keep them on our electronics either way.

Thanks

 

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The Panamax unit you have a link to on Amazon is actually NOT a voltage regulator - it is a surge suppressor.  The surge suppressor is a protection device to prevent high energy, very short duration "spikes" or pulses from damaging your electrical equipment.  As a rough rule of thumb, the higher the number of "joules" (electrical energy) that can be dissipated by one of these devices, the better (and more costly) it is.

The standard CFE voltage specification here in Mexico for a single phase feed is a nominal 127V plus or minus 10%.  So the power delivered to your home can be in the range of between 114V and 140V and still be "in spec".  A "Voltage Regulator"  or "Voltage Stabilizer" is a device that can isolate your incoming power and try to deliver a constant voltage output to your house to use.  To regulate a 40A single phase leg of the power coming into your house, you will need a regulator of greater than 6000 Watt capability (40A x 125V + 20%).  So if you have two or three phases coming into your building, you would need one on each leg.  I have seen a few restaurants and small businesses in the area that  have these installed on their incoming power lines to help stabilize the voltage (Mom's Restaurant is one I can think of).  Any competent electrician in the area should be able to help you source these.

My personal opinion is that this approach is way overkill.  These devices have an operating efficiency so will use power even when everything connected to them is switched off.  I think the better approach for a home use is to cluster your sensitive electronics equipment onto one device of lower wattage (such as a device like the 1200W APC Line-R regulator) and don't worry about the lights and bigger items, etc.  These types of regulators are usually less than $100 CDN and I personally have 5 of them in my house to protect the electronics only.  If you want a higher wattage device for a refrigerator, dishwasher, etc, those are also available here but my old refrigerator and dishwasher don't have any electronics in them to worry about..

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Buying a North American will be a huge problem for you. If you understand voltage regulators you know  that when the voltage is low (very damaging jtji eletronics) the regulator will raise it to "normal". When the voltage is high the regulator will lower it to near correct levels. Here is the crux of your problem. The USA regulator will try to move the voltage to "normal"  which for the USA is 120 volts.  Normal in Mexico and for a Mexican regulator is 127 VAC so it will try to move the voltage to 127 volts. Think that won't be a problem? The whole house regulators will only accomodate a 04% deviation from normal. Your USA regulator will continously struggle to get that (Mexican normal) 127VAC to 120 volts and it will NEVER get there as it is out of the possible correction range. Only 4& correction is possible. Remember also that this effort is not silent. It will bang and chatter while trying and will self-destruct. It is the same problem with a North American generator on an auto switch. When the generator comes on it will only turn off when it sees normal 120 VAC. Actually i fell for the needing regulators 15 years ago. Since having them installed I have lost many electronics. The biggest problem has to do with parts that have transformers on or in them. (circuit boards at a replacement cost of $398). The transformer tries to get the output to a known voltage like 9 volts. It keeps trying until the low voltage burns up the transformer. The 4% difference is never the destructive force you think. It is the brown outs with 90 volts for hours that we see that kill transformers and switches like on a TV for remote off and on. Don't expect that the regulator will save you, it won't. You need a whole house surge protector and individual surge protectors as well and good grounding. But the real damage is not from a surge but an increase to 147 volts or a gradual decline to 87 volts. 

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The relatively low cost voltage regulators do have sensitivity and reaction time limitations since they are basically an isolation transformer with multiple taps that are switched in and out by relays.  This is what the "clicking" noises are that you hear.  The one I mentioned above (APC Line-R) does have a Mexico setting for 127V so is about the best one I have found that can be purchased cheaply from Amazon or eBay NOB and will work here.  I have only had one failure and that was due to a faulty neutral that took out an internal varistor.  Easily repaired.  Whole house voltage regulators or stabilizers are not needed or widely used to protect a home NOB since the power utilities are much more controlled.  You will have great difficulty finding anything that doesn't cost a small fortune NOB.  Most of the units available NOB are industrial/commercial products and are very expensive.

There is a new type of overload relay I have been looking at to protect larger 3 phase motors operating on CFE power here (10-20 HP water well pumps) from Schneider Electric called the ESP-200.  When used in conjunction with a 3 phase contactor, these devices monitor the current draw on all 3 legs and will shut down the system if there is a load imbalance between any of the phases (current draw), low or no voltage on one or more legs, a ground fault, etc.  As a poster above mentions, proper grounding is the first step in any protection circuitry.  These units are of course designed to be used for a 3 phase balanced load but perhaps there is some type of device out there that can do a similar task for an individual phase?  I'll keep looking.

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1 hour ago, geeser said:

The New digital meters seem to have protection. If the voltage falls by ?% (unkown spec)  the meter cuts off the power. I am unsure if there is an over-voltage cut off. 

I have noticed the same. I have two meters-one old and one new. Last month there was low voltage 4 times and each time the new meter shut off the electricity. 

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Thinking about this - the best investment would be a solar panel ready inverter and CFE digital meter which credits input. With a couple of backup batteries you would have several hours with no CFE power. The big plus of this is that the inverter will pump out pure sine wave AC, perfect power, much cleaner than CFE juice, and therefore much better for sensitive electronics. The second big plus, if you are an owner, is that a "solar ready" house would be an attraction for resale. I have a 20 watt marine inverter that produces enough power for a 40 foot yacht (for example)*. You can add the panels one piece at a time, or an automatic backup generator, or more batteries, if you need this. Having the reliable backbone in place is the key. Ask the solar power people for an estimate, or do it yourself, getting someone in to install solar collectors. Let them do the rooftop and ladder work.

*I am thinking of selling this unit. PM if you are interested in details. Reason for selling? Living in a place built in 1961, and now another built in 1978, there is a lack of power outlets and light fixtures. The way they cut conduit channels here (hammer and chisel) is extremely disruptive, noisy and dusty. In hindsight, I should have brought down a double bladed, dry diamond saw, attached to a very effective dust hood/collector/vacuum. I didn't, and it would probably cost a fortune to import because of weight alone.

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