Does anyone know what my next step might be? I have a SYNCEV charger which kept going into fault mode. SYNCEV said that according to their logs this was due to an over voltage of more than 253 volts for more than 3 minutes. I contacted my DNO who came a week later and fitted a monitor. On collecting it a week later they said there was a problem and they would let me know when they had sorted it. Almost 6 weeks later I emailed for an update and was told this had been passed on to the relevant department to lower a transformer tap. After a couple more weeks I emailed this new department and to date have had no reply. I have monitored the voltage myself with a FLUKE multimeter and have got readings of 258.9. I realise this is a peak reading but I also have videos of the meter showing constantly over 254 volts in a socket in my garage. My charger is showing a RED fault LED mode on a daily basis leading to failed charges. Is there any way I can apply more leverage to my DNO?
Supply Overvoltage ignored by DNO
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Ian Miilroy
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We had experience with UKPN when we had a big solar install+ battery at our parents house in London. Came to upgrade the house fuse to 100amp before the install. And investigated immediately a suspected “Over Voltage “ warning picked up by the newly installed Zappi. They turned up the next morning and tested various sockets and fuse board.
Communication was excellent as well. It all came as a bit of a shock, in a good way, how good the customer service was!
You are wasting your time getting either the EV charger supplier or the DNO to help you. The reason for this is because they all have tolerance they need to work to I have this happen a lot especially with Proteus who are a Uk company and should know better but the same applies to them all to be on the safe side I think they all fault out at significantly less that 253 volts and they all use cheap electronics which will measure an AC voltage to +/- 1 % so I have seen switch out as low as 243 Volts so they have to switch out well below 253 to make them complaint. I have a good work around using a fluke calibrated multi meter Last week a came across one which had been in for a couple of years and started with this fault with an ac supply on 245 volts. so i installed a transformer British General Fortress 8-24V AC 8VA Bell Transformer Module (8707P) under £10 from screw fix or a
VEMER VN316600 model TMC 15/12 Just make sure its double insulated and does not require an earth
I used the 8 volt output to subtract 8 volts from the 245 volts just for the VMD01F voltage module making it 237 volts and the problem whent away So long as you are sure your voltmeter is reading correctly you can be sure the unit will still cut out with less than 253 volts so all is safe The VMD01F does not consume enough power to overload either the primary or the secondary of the transformer ,
With this solution its not even worth complaining to anyone as you will get no help so I get on with it and the customer is very happy and wont believe you anyway when you try to blame someone else while he is suffering
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VEMER VN316600 model TMC 15/12 Just make sure its double insulated and does not require an earth
I used the 8 volt output to subtract 8 volts from the 245 volts just for the VMD01F voltage module making it 237 volts and the problem whent away So long as you are sure your voltmeter is reading correctly you can be sure the unit will still cut out with less than 253 volts so all is safe The VMD01F does not consume enough power to overload either the primary or the secondary of the transformer ,
With this solution its not even worth complaining to anyone as you will get no help so I get on with it and the customer is very happy and wont believe you anyway when you try to blame someone else while he is suffering
They used to be adjustable but not any more
nobody is considered competent enough to make such adjustments any more for example the Proteus VMD01f used to have adjustments but they have been removed
Its still the same cheep circularity which must detect over-voltage of 253 to be compliant so is set to about 245 The only way round this is my auto transformer described in other replies
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Boy this is indeed frustrating. I think after reading this string I have all the issues noted!! Our over voltage was reported by my neighbour last year when his car charger stopped working. They fixed his issue by moving his supply point from the grid. It would require a lot of cable to do the same for us being in a rural area. Our over voltage seems to fluctuate along with solar panel generation as well as early mornings when the use is generally low. They cant easily change our transformer tapping as it will lower the voltage to houses up the street.
Since they were notified of the issue by my neighbour last year they have not solved the general issue just a sticky plaster on the single house case. We are holding off on our EV charger instal as our heat pump inverter fried during commissioning due to the over voltage. Its been 6 weeks now since they confirmed they still have an over voltage issue and now they are quoting the 6month clause to me before a fix! I am holding up two lots of installers at my cost and am looking at what I can do to regulate the supply correctly although nothing is cheap. I have contacted the Consumer protection agency and am awaiting a reply. If I treated customers with this cavalier attitude when I was working it would have been a short career.
Since they were notified of the issue by my neighbour last year they have not solved the general issue just a sticky plaster on the single house case. We are holding off on our EV charger instal as our heat pump inverter fried during commissioning due to the over voltage. Its been 6 weeks now since they confirmed they still have an over voltage issue and now they are quoting the 6month clause to me before a fix! I am holding up two lots of installers at my cost and am looking at what I can do to regulate the supply correctly although nothing is cheap. I have contacted the Consumer protection agency and am awaiting a reply. If I treated customers with this cavalier attitude when I was working it would have been a short career.
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Sounds like you might take the advice of those who turned the screw a bit harder by contacting ofgem or threatening to do so. If the overvoltage is caused by solar... who's is it? Ours was set up to respect the 253V limit. I know others will push their limit higher to allow them to use more of their solar, but that will just cause problems for everyone else on the same phase.
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it takes rather a long time for a massive organisation like a DNO to react to new situations and change. There are even fewer ‘Vol rise savvy” executives and managers” than there are engineer specialists and network analysts within the DNO’s. And it’s NOT about money; There’s colossal funding available to reinforce circuits for Low Carbon Tech, but there are also old fashioned mentalities and approval processes to get at the funding. There’s all sorts of established resistance to gear up to change, but it’s not about lack of capital funds, there’s plenty of that already stumped up by UK government.The bottleneck or restriction is getting DNO’s up to speed to identify circuit problems, then devise a future proof solution, then actually get the job scheduled against societal pressures like “you’re not digging our street up again are you” But public disruption is just one factor. At the moment, understanding, manpower and skills are probably the primary obstacle.
It's my understanding that one of the methods for open PEN protection requires an EV charger to measure incoming voltage and cut out if the voltage exceeds 253V or falls below 216V. It's unclear to me why the upper threshold is important but in any case if you do change that voltage you are potentially disabling a safety function.
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At the previous house, an old railway station on the end of a rural farm type supply the voltage was ~250v. This meant that every so often the PV inverter would shut off so had to devise a method of monitoring. Things did improve over time but that was down to local infrastructure/lines being replaced. Cheers!
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In an Open PEN situation where the neutral conductor is open circuit between you and the substation a high voltage can occur if your phase is not taking as much current as the other two phases. The opposite occurs when your phase is taking more than the other two.
In an ideal world the load on each of the three phases is equal and no neutral current needs to flow back to the substation. When its out of balance with an Open PEN your neutral/earth voltage (the body of the car) is not the same as the local earth voltage giving rise to a shock risk with someone coming into conact with your car. Its a RIDDOR reportable fault and there were 400 of these in 2019 resulting in about 40 cases where injury was caused if I remember correctly.
In an ideal world the load on each of the three phases is equal and no neutral current needs to flow back to the substation. When its out of balance with an Open PEN your neutral/earth voltage (the body of the car) is not the same as the local earth voltage giving rise to a shock risk with someone coming into conact with your car. Its a RIDDOR reportable fault and there were 400 of these in 2019 resulting in about 40 cases where injury was caused if I remember correctly.
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Suppliers and customers are protected under certain responsibilitie. A DNO’s licence to operate is watched by the OFGEM regulator. Because of the complex agreement between supplier and consumer, policies and engineering guidelines have to be in place behind every transaction.
each electric supply has conditions to be upheld by both the consumer and supplier. For example, a consumer must not exceed the limitations of his supply agrrement , nor cause disruption to neighbour consumers or the DNO.
within several responsibilities of the DNO, the Volts need to sit within 216V & 253V.
each electric supply has conditions to be upheld by both the consumer and supplier. For example, a consumer must not exceed the limitations of his supply agrrement , nor cause disruption to neighbour consumers or the DNO.
within several responsibilities of the DNO, the Volts need to sit within 216V & 253V.
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