Whole House Voltage Regulators

cobraboy

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Jul 24, 2004
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After a year of poor/low voltage power coming into Camp Moto, we're exploring a whole house voltage regulator. Our 3.6kw inverter (Inverluz, a fine product) is set to trip at 98v, and often it trips back and forth for a couple of hours, the voltage coming in right at 98v. And 98v is really bad for appliances.

With "regular" low voltage the microwave, water heater, fridge and everything electrical just doesn't work that well. For instance, I notice the wifi loses range with low voltage, and when the inverter kicks in to deliver 120 appliances seems supercharged along with the microwave, etc.

We have pool pumps and one a/c unit on 240. We have 120v water heaters (don't ask) and a water pump (from cistern to tinaco) not connected to the inverter. Everythng else is on the inverter.

I've never wired a regulator and really don't understand the in's and outs. We had our electrician, a nice, efficient young guy with good knowledge out to ask questions, but I'm not clear exactly what he said because of the technical nature of the situation, and Alida isn't a technician.

He's suggesting we install a 2.5kw regulator upline from the inverter. First of all that seems small. Inverluz has a 2.5kw and 5kw 120v regulator. The 5kw is under RD$9000 so the price is no big deal. Their 240v regulator is even less expensive.

I tried to ask about installing a 240v regulator inline before the street power connects to the panel so all appliances would have proper voltage, seeing how it's split after coming into the house. I *assume* a 240v inverter has two 120v lines and a neutral in, and two 120v and neutral line out but don't know 100% and could be wrong. The electrician says this is not possible, and I never understood his answer as to why.

Can any of you engineer types or experienced users shed some light on the best way to put a house on a voltage regulator, both 120v and 240v? I'm all ears...
 

AlterEgo

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Jan 9, 2009
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We had the same problem - our GE washer wouldn't agitate or spin when the voltage was too low. We had a whole house voltage regulator put in a few years ago, and this year we had it replaced with a larger one. He also ran an outlet straight from the street power, bypassing the inverters, for the washer, and what a big difference that made.

It only works, in our house, for the regular lines, we don't have the 220 lines connected to it.

By the way, Dominican electricians call them "onions" - una cebolla.
 

Fulano2

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Jun 5, 2011
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Be carefull with the homemade regulators. We have a 5 kw inverter and had the same problem, low voltage.
Our electricien sold us a homemade, I think it was a 5 kw. Worked a couple of weeks then the bloody thing got on fire!
Luckely my young brother in law was having a drink with me and acted fast and took it out of the Place were also the inverter
was.
So be carefull. Afterthis I decided to leave it as it was....low voltage.
 

cobraboy

Pro-Bono Demolition Hobbyist
Jul 24, 2004
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Be carefull with the homemade regulators. We have a 5 kw inverter and had the same problem, low voltage.
Our electricien sold us a homemade, I think it was a 5 kw. Worked a couple of weeks then the bloody thing got on fire!
Luckely my young brother in law was having a drink with me and acted fast and took it out of the Place were also the inverter
was.
So be carefull. Afterthis I decided to leave it as it was....low voltage.
We have an excellent inverter made by Inverluz in Moca, as good as any inverter available at a nice price and hardly a "homemade" unit.

Inverluz also has a line of voltage regulators.

Our electrician said he knows of a guy who can make one, but we passed.
 

Fulano2

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Jun 5, 2011
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Sorry I didn't explain well CB. I was reffering to a homemade regulator not to the inverter. Ours is a 5kw some American brand not homemade. Let us know how it worked out please.

Trace, the name of the inverter brand.
 
Last edited:

jimbobo

Member
Feb 9, 2014
170
4
18
Regulator

Hi,

I had a similar low voltage problem, only worse... current would come in at 70 volts, and then through the night would eventually rise up to 100 volts. We also have a 220 volts swimmingpool pump running, so this was a challenge. I managed to get it all working properly through the use of regulators 110v and 220 volts 7,5 kilo and 10 kilo, i also used some elevators, anyway

Last month current started coming in at 60 volts and would not go higher than 75 volts, that's when i decided to go solar. I now run my house on 8 325 watt panels and my swimmingpool pump on 6 325 watt panels. If your interested you can take over my regulators, i can install them for you. I studied civil engineering at the Technical University of Delft (in Holland), so these kind of things are a cookie for me...

Just let me know....

After a year of poor/low voltage power coming into Camp Moto, we're exploring a whole house voltage regulator. Our 3.6kw inverter (Inverluz, a fine product) is set to trip at 98v, and often it trips back and forth for a couple of hours, the voltage coming in right at 98v. And 98v is really bad for appliances.

With "regular" low voltage the microwave, water heater, fridge and everything electrical just doesn't work that well. For instance, I notice the wifi loses range with low voltage, and when the inverter kicks in to deliver 120 appliances seems supercharged along with the microwave, etc.

We have pool pumps and one a/c unit on 240. We have 120v water heaters (don't ask) and a water pump (from cistern to tinaco) not connected to the inverter. Everythng else is on the inverter.

I've never wired a regulator and really don't understand the in's and outs. We had our electrician, a nice, efficient young guy with good knowledge out to ask questions, but I'm not clear exactly what he said because of the technical nature of the situation, and Alida isn't a technician.

He's suggesting we install a 2.5kw regulator upline from the inverter. First of all that seems small. Inverluz has a 2.5kw and 5kw 120v regulator. The 5kw is under RD$9000 so the price is no big deal. Their 240v regulator is even less expensive.

I tried to ask about installing a 240v regulator inline before the street power connects to the panel so all appliances would have proper voltage, seeing how it's split after coming into the house. I *assume* a 240v inverter has two 120v lines and a neutral in, and two 120v and neutral line out but don't know 100% and could be wrong. The electrician says this is not possible, and I never understood his answer as to why.

Can any of you engineer types or experienced users shed some light on the best way to put a house on a voltage regulator, both 120v and 240v? I'm all ears...
 
Jan 7, 2016
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If you plan on getting a regulator, also try to budget for a whole-house surge suppressor. Had one put on our house in the U.S. and it has prevented surges from shorting the compressors on the refrigerator and blowing-out the plasma screen (as both had happened before install). Works great and is in the wall right beside the circuit breaker panel. Cost about $200 US plus $100 US for the electrician to open the breaker and install it.
 

cobraboy

Pro-Bono Demolition Hobbyist
Jul 24, 2004
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If you plan on getting a regulator, also try to budget for a whole-house surge suppressor. Had one put on our house in the U.S. and it has prevented surges from shorting the compressors on the refrigerator and blowing-out the plasma screen (as both had happened before install). Works great and is in the wall right beside the circuit breaker panel. Cost about $200 US plus $100 US for the electrician to open the breaker and install it.
A good inverter also acts as a surge suppressor for most potential surges. A good ground takes care of lightning strikes.
 

bigbird

Gold
May 1, 2005
7,375
163
0
If you plan on getting a regulator, also try to budget for a whole-house surge suppressor. Had one put on our house in the U.S. and it has prevented surges from shorting the compressors on the refrigerator and blowing-out the plasma screen (as both had happened before install). Works great and is in the wall right beside the circuit breaker panel. Cost about $200 US plus $100 US for the electrician to open the breaker and install it.

A good inverter also acts as a surge suppressor for most potential surges. A good ground takes care of lightning strikes.

Take Tashi Siu's Dad's advice. You can order one from Amazon and install it yourself.
 

Olly

Bronze
Mar 12, 2007
1,914
104
63
Hi Cobraboy, You gave us some boxes some time ago so I owe you!

You might try checking the two legs of your supply. Double monfascia is what it is called. The 220 Volts is between the two legs. Check the voltage. Then check each leg- 110volts should be on each ! If it is not then check the NEUTRAL - sometimes white - if it has a poor connection the two legs of 110 volts can go up and down depending on the load of each leg. You may have this problem. We did and what we did was bond our Neutral to the other meter on the pole and the problem was fixed. This is an easy and cheap test and fix.
With regard to the Whole house stabilisers - they only seem to come in 110volt here. A 5KVA one would be sufficient for most of the house less those 220 volt items you mentioned. It should be put in front of the invertor - ie between the street power and the invertor . A 3.5 KW inverter is a bit small for all the stuff you have. We have a 5.6 KW 220 volt with 12 batteries and it runs the whole house plus an AC or two.
Hope that helps and thanks for the boxes!
 

cobraboy

Pro-Bono Demolition Hobbyist
Jul 24, 2004
40,964
936
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Hi Cobraboy, You gave us some boxes some time ago so I owe you!

You might try checking the two legs of your supply. Double monfascia is what it is called. The 220 Volts is between the two legs. Check the voltage. Then check each leg- 110volts should be on each ! If it is not then check the NEUTRAL - sometimes white - if it has a poor connection the two legs of 110 volts can go up and down depending on the load of each leg. You may have this problem. We did and what we did was bond our Neutral to the other meter on the pole and the problem was fixed. This is an easy and cheap test and fix.
With regard to the Whole house stabilisers - they only seem to come in 110volt here. A 5KVA one would be sufficient for most of the house less those 220 volt items you mentioned. It should be put in front of the invertor - ie between the street power and the invertor . A 3.5 KW inverter is a bit small for all the stuff you have. We have a 5.6 KW 220 volt with 12 batteries and it runs the whole house plus an AC or two.
Hope that helps and thanks for the boxes!
Thanks.

I have a line on two 110 10kw and a 220 10kw unit (110 x 2), so they may work. 10kw should be plenty.

After many calls to EDENORTE, today we had the best power in months:

IMG_0005%20Small_zpssavsxzci.jpg


Of course it was under 98 this morning.

I'm still leaning strongly toward voltage regulators.
 

windeguy

Platinum
Jul 10, 2004
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Sorry I didn't explain well CB. I was reffering to a homemade regulator not to the inverter. Ours is a 5kw some American brand not homemade. Let us know how it worked out please.

Trace, the name of the inverter brand.

Trace was sold to Xantrex, so any Trace unit is new old stock or counterfeit. When my Trace inverters got expensive to repair, I switched over to the Inverluz/Megatone units that CB uses. A way better deal and cheaper to repair than comparable units from Zantrex.

I have not had to go to whole house voltage regulators, I had Edenorte change a tap on the transformer when we had low voltage.

The simple step up transformers sold by locals can be a problem if the voltage returns to normal levels and just scales up your voltage to one that is too high.

Better to have a voltage regulator that keeps a constant voltage output with a varying input than the simpler hand wound Dominican fire bomb.

It should be possible to get a 220 Volt whole house voltage regulator, I don't know of any technical reason why not.
 

beeza

Silver
Nov 2, 2006
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These home made units are not regulators, but custom made transformers. A transformer can step voltage up or down depending on how it's wound with copper wire. There are two coils in a transformer, primary and secondary. The voltages depend on what's called the "turns ratio"

To simplify if your primary coil has 1000 turns and you secondary coil has 1000 turns the turns ratio is 1:1 and the input voltage is 100v, then the output voltage will be 100 volts. Now if you increased your secondary coil windings by another 100 turns, making it 1100 turns, your turns ratio is now 10:11. Your secondary coil output will increase to 110 volts. So simple mathematics will determine how to wind your custom transformer.

But as Windy says, if your supply voltage goes up one day, so will your voltage, exponentially to the ratio of your custom transformer. Better of asking LadroNorte if they can adjust the tapping on your street transformer as your low voltage is more than likely down to transmission losses and were not calculated correctly for your house.
 

JD Jones

Moderator:North Coast,Santo Domingo,SW Coast,Covid
Jan 7, 2016
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These home made units are not regulators, but custom made transformers. A transformer can step voltage up or down depending on how it's wound with copper wire. There are two coils in a transformer, primary and secondary. The voltages depend on what's called the "turns ratio"

To simplify if your primary coil has 1000 turns and you secondary coil has 1000 turns the turns ratio is 1:1 and the input voltage is 100v, then the output voltage will be 100 volts. Now if you increased your secondary coil windings by another 100 turns, making it 1100 turns, your turns ratio is now 10:11. Your secondary coil output will increase to 110 volts. So simple mathematics will determine how to wind your custom transformer.

But as Windy says, if your supply voltage goes up one day, so will your voltage, exponentially to the ratio of your custom transformer. Better of asking LadroNorte if they can adjust the tapping on your street transformer as your low voltage is more than likely down to transmission losses and were not calculated correctly for your house.

The safest bet is to have your own transformer and have Edenorte hook you up to the primary circuit. The problem with low voltage that rises during the evening is due to too many folks hooking up to a transformer. As the night goes by, more and more lights are turned off, and the voltage rises with it.

When you're hooked up to a primary circuit, you won't have that problem.

Note: Buying a pole and a transformer and getting it connected will cost a couple of grand, but the result is worth it.


I went through the whole "voltage regulator-inverter-transformer" thing with the farm in Puerto Plata. I went through a lot of money/repairs before I figured out the right way.
 

AlterEgo

Administrator
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Jan 9, 2009
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The safest bet is to have your own transformer and have Edenorte hook you up to the primary circuit. The problem with low voltage that rises during the evening is due to too many folks hooking up to a transformer. As the night goes by, more and more lights are turned off, and the voltage rises with it.

When you're hooked up to a primary circuit, you won't have that problem.

Note: Buying a pole and a transformer and getting it connected will cost a couple of grand, but the result is worth it.


I went through the whole "voltage regulator-inverter-transformer" thing with the farm in Puerto Plata. I went through a lot of money/repairs before I figured out the right way.

We started looking into that, but never actually did anything :)

Anyway, that's probably only appropriate for those who own their homes, a renter might not want to spend that kind of money for someone else's property.
 

jimbobo

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Feb 9, 2014
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We started looking into that, but never actually did anything :)

Anyway, that's probably only appropriate for those who own their homes, a renter might not want to spend that kind of money for someone else's property.

Ok
But lets agree on the following: if you do have your own place, go solar! Solar panels are not that expensive anymore, and they do deliver. It's just stupid that people who live here, and have some money to spent, don't have solar panels. I studied at Technical University of Delft. I see a lot of people talking that dominicans are way behind because of lack of education. Well.... if you don't have solar panels allready... then YOU are way behind!
 

AlterEgo

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Ok
But lets agree on the following: if you do have your own place, go solar! Solar panels are not that expensive anymore, and they do deliver. It's just stupid that people who live here, and have some money to spent, don't have solar panels. I studied at Technical University of Delft. I see a lot of people talking that dominicans are way behind because of lack of education. Well.... if you don't have solar panels allready... then YOU are way behind!

We actually did ship down both solar panels and two Outback controllers [we have two inverters, one for house, and one just for the refrigerator/freezer and stand alone freezer], but ended up selling them. Why? We have horrible neighbors. When we bought the property, there was one house next door on their lot. Over the past 30 years, about 10 houses have sprung up, several right against our wall. I can't begin to count how many kids are in there, but it's a LOT. All along the wall on their side are mango trees, and because they can't reach the fruit they throw rather large rocks at the trees. Many, many of the rocks end up on our roof, in various places. So many of our tejas tiles are broken.

If we had installed those solar panels, they'd have been cracked by the rocks. Believe me when I say we've talked to the family until we're blue in the face. We sold the whole solar setup at a loss, still in the boxes we shipped them down in.

For someone else with different circumstances ....... I agree with you 100%, but it's not a one-size-fits-all.