Yes! Call them. The 1 -800 number in the phone book. They can change a tap in the transformer to your house and all that are on the drop side. Larry Taylor KF6JBG ----- Original Message ----- From: "Philip Stortz" To: "Microcontroller discussion list - Public." Sent: Saturday, August 28, 2004 7:28 PM Subject: [EE:] terribly unstable line voltages my house, in addition to having a high line voltage, between 127 and 130V most of the time, also seems to have a very, very unstable line voltage. in only a few seconds it can vary from 124V to 130V and seems to be constantly fluctuating in that range (i've checked at several outlets and the breaker box fearing a wiring problem at first). i think this is unusual, my question is does it indicate a problem with the power companies equipment? we also seem to randomly though rarely get tv interference in 2 horizontal bands like you do from something arcing, and the neighbor is not arc welding and it only occurs for seconds at a time and then stops for a considerable time. we have underground power lines. given the 2 oddities above i'm wondering if the insulation on the higher voltage lines or a transformer is failing? there are 2 large switch boxes in front of the neighbors house (they added a backup line a couple of years ago, i think it's an alternate cable they can switch to but i'm not sure). also, where do they put the transformers when the power is underground? if it's in those green boxes there's only one for several dozen houses, in which case i suppose that would explain the power abnormalities. it's been this way for at least 5 years, as long as we've been here. i remember an old popular electronics article about tracking down interference sources that mentioned arcing in transformers producing that type of interference and it makes me wonder, especially since it would easily explain the fluctuations in power. of course it could just be the age of the equipment, i've seen the substation from the street and it's not terribly new though not as old as some i've seen, but i suspect the underground wiring and the substation are from the '50's (at least most of it, they did have to replace a transformer a couple of years ago when an antelope managed to jump the fence, i'm sure it wasn't pretty...). it's been something i've wondered about for a long time, and i wish it would go away as it obviously has a bad effect on precision analog electronics. at the same time, i don't want to harass the power company if it's nothing unusual for the age of the equipment (and the likely large increase in power usage since it was installed, we are at the edge of town, and it has been growing unfortunately, as towns tend to). -- _______________________________________________ http://www.piclist.com View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist _______________________________________________ http://www.piclist.com View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist