[rajeshsundaram]

Originally Posted by Gansan

^^ I saw it at Rathna Fan House when I went to buy a second AC for my home. But since the voltage in my area is good, did not buy it.

Gansan, go with the Double booster stabilizers. They are efficient and can provide sufficient juice for your AC. I've got a temporary locally sourced one in my home now. But it is getting hot like anything after 3 hours. My AC mech said, he will get a replacement today. Will update the status later.

[Gansan]

I have installed the Premier stabilizers that come as a package with the AC units, and both ACs are performing well, one of them for more than 4 years. There is no need for the double boost stabilizers in our area as of now. Either the voltage is correct, or the power goes off!

[Mr_Bean]

Originally Posted by barathvajan

Guys,

Now I have heard of something called double booster which will help the compressor to run even in voltage as low as 140 V.
Is that true?
If so, where can I get it in chennai
Thanks in advance
Barath

I stay in Narayanapuram near Palikaranai. I too face the same problem & sometime it would make sense to stop the AC & open the windows. I went for a normal stabilizer initially but later got it exchanged for double stage, the brand was guardian for 3k. As of now even the double booster don't seem to be working, time to shell out 6k for a triple booster

The places around velachery is a case of bad planning by the Govt, rental are too high, place is over-hyped and just not worth the money.

My house in Annanagar does not have any voltage problem, the AC's in all the 3 bedrooms cools efficiently inspite of a running parallely with normal stabilizer.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Even with single booster Premier stabilisers, our ACs just about always function --- and our voltage can be below 200.

Last week, we had a technician come to service the stabiliser for our fridge (actually we use AC stabilisers for fridge, microwave and washing machines) and the voltage was so low, on one phase, that he could not get his soldering iron hot.

[khoj]

Never knew Madras gets Brown outs.

What you guys are talking about are the no. of step up coils in Automatic voltage transformers such as these http://www.logicstat.com/automatic_v...stabilizer.htm.
Logicstat is a highly rated manufacturer provided you can find them in Madras.

However what you really need is a servo stabilizer. This is the ideal thing to have if you live in an independent house as it will take care of the quality of power right at the mains of your house. Not that it will not work for an apartment it is just that it needs space and some amount of wiring which may not be convenient to do in a shared power panel.

http://www.logicstat.com/servo_autom...stabilizer.htm
Lots of other manufacturers too such as Burji Electronics,Vener7 and Elent etc.
http://www.servostabilizer.co.in/servo-stabilizer.html
http://www.elent.in/servo-voltage-stabilizers.htm

[Thad E Ginathom]

Brown-outs? At least out here on the outskirts, we celebrate if the voltage reaches 220!

A three-phase servo stabilizer for whole house would be a wonderful thing, but at a high price. I seem to remember sums like thirty to forty thousand being mentioned when I last asked.

Another thing, which the technicians can explain in formulas containing Vs, Ws and As: the lower the voltage, the higher the current that will be drawn to do the same amount of work. The house supply cable had better be able to take it!

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by sanjayc

Thanks ARoy/Esteem_Lover for the inputs.
BTW, is there some inexpensive equipment avlbl which I can install to accurately measure the total power consumption for each aircon on an ongoing basis - some kind of digital meter which can be connected to the power line feeding each of the aircons.

Depends on how inexpensive is inexpensive. The easiest route would be to contact BSES or other utility who are replacing mechanical meters with electronic meters. They may be willing to sell the old mechanical KWH meters at rock bottom price. You can also find out the price of these meters in the market - contact an electrical contractor they will know.

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Brown-outs? At least out here on the outskirts, we celebrate if the voltage reaches 220!

A three-phase servo stabilizer for whole house would be a wonderful thing, but at a high price. I seem to remember sums like thirty to forty thousand being mentioned when I last asked.

Twenty years ago, when our house had only three rooms, we had a single phase 5KVA servo, wired after the meter. It served the whole house AC included, till we extended the house to two floors and got a 3 phase supply. The servo was good down to 160V and up to 300 volts. Now that BSES has installed a line transformer in our locality, the voltage is stable in the 230-245V range.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Green with envy!

I just installed some new (to me) software to monitor my APC UPS and give me the same information (in fact, more!) in Linux that the APC software used to give under Windows. I'm seeing 194 volts just now.

[sanjayc]

While on AC hunt, seems like my 4+yrs old York MasterGold @home pulled a fast hot one upon me. Kind of thought it is due to low voltage (~190) but even a double-booster stabilizer doze failed.

So now while I am on the lookout for upto 6-7 nos of splits for my office, need to get hold of 1 @home as well.

Going by some comprehensive BTU requirement calculation for 10x11 room, seems like my tonnage requirement is appx 1.2. Was keen on trying out the Daikin Inverter model. Problem is they have only 1 / 1.5 and nothing in between. Further, the R410A model (FTKS35, EER/COP @ 3.43/11.67) is @37500/- whereas R22 model(FTKE35 @3.35/11.41) is @28000/-.

Advice required based on following parameters
1. 2nd floor, 11x10x8.5 room, 70% time occupied by 1 person, 42" LCD+STB+AVR+Laptop+1KVA UPS+2KVA Servo+Stepdown Transformer always on.

2. 25 sqft window North facing (direct sunlight), 20 sqft window East facing (with 4-5 ft balcony upfront hence no direct sunlight) - both covered with heavy curtain always.

3. Will be used virtually non-stop daily @ 25-26 deg C - with 2-4 hrs breaks max.

4. Windows never opened. Doors maybe some 10-12 times a day just to enter/exit - otherwise always shut.

5. East & North walls face the road/outside. West/South into non-airconditioned adjacent rooms.

Currently the York model used is 1.5T. As per my calculation based on above, it seems BTU requirement tops out at 1.2T. Can I gamble with 1T inverter type given that it will run almost non-stop as early as 8am in the morning? I do have the option of shifting this later to smaller office cabins/rooms just in case things are not cooling up adequately and go for a larger tonnage. Hopefully the 1T will not break much sweat given the conditions listed above;-}

Should I go for the R22 1T instead of the R410A - saves me a neat 10K at purchase point itself, considering R22 is here for at least 10 yrs or so!

What other options do I have? Hitachi seems to have only 1.5 in inverter. Any others? Keeping in mind that 6-7 nos more ac purchase going to there in the next 4-6 weeks, so planning for a hard bargain, something on the lines of buy-6-get-1-free.

[rajeshsundaram]

Alright.. here's my observation.

The faulty double booster stabilizer was replaced yesterday night and the new one coped up fine. Just fine. I had some decent sleep yday night. But I had to point my pedestal fan towards the stabilizer to keep it cool. Stabilizer was running fine without any overheating.

I've been living in chennai for nearly 10 years.. and this is the first time, I am facing such low voltage situation.

Thinking of adding up the old single-booster stabilizer in serial mode to the AC power supply to keep the voltages even better. Talking about servos, I think servos are a much better idea than opting for a new double/triple booster stabilizer. Why didn't I think of this before??

[raju2512]

I purchased a double booster from Everest for 4K yesterday and yet to fit it. It is not the voltage drop but the fluctuation which is more dangerous. The fan runs either like a grinder or like a mixer.

A servo is good idea but it will push up your power bill since it operates at around 70-80% eff. A good option will be to bye pass during day time and use only in he night when the voltage drops. 12 KVA industrial servos cost around 20K.

Good new for those in Vellacherry, Madipakkam , Nanganallur areas is that a new sub stations is going to be commissioned in a few days and may reduce the voltage drop problem

[rajeshsundaram]

Originally Posted by sanjayc

Should I go for the R22 1T instead of the R410A - saves me a neat 10K at purchase point itself, considering R22 is here for at least 10 yrs or so!

What other options do I have? Hitachi seems to have only 1.5 in inverter. Any others? Keeping in mind that 6-7 nos more ac purchase going to there in the next 4-6 weeks, so planning for a hard bargain, something on the lines of buy-6-get-1-free.

I seriously doubt you will get a free AC for the deal. But yes, you can get very good discounts.


For your room:
As the windows are in North and East walls, the sunlight will fall on top and the opposites sides (east / east-south) direction of the building after 11:30 am. 11pm to 5pm is the crucial time during which the intensity of the sun increases. So you are kind of saved here.

Go for R22. Going by specs and comparison you can save some money with that.

[Gansan]

@Sanjayc
Talk to Rathna Fan House. I caught their ad on some FM channel about a free 0.75 ton AC when you buy X no. of other ACs. Even otherwise, I have seen their rates are the most competent. A neighbor of mine, an ex-Voltas employee, once told me they get the best rates from all manufacturers as they lift at least 300 units at a time by paying CASH. They also deliver 250 - 300 (assorted) units a day, the highest in Chennai AFAIK.

[barathvajan]

Guys

(As someone rightly said, in my four years of chennai life, this is the first time am facing the issue of low voltage)

Researched for double booster and gathered few infos.

1. Premier stabilizer has one model called slimline excel double boost. As per the catalogue, it is supposed to work from 145 V. regular booster works only over 185V.
2. V guard has 3 ranges
regular one for voltage range > 185, If the voltage is at 165V go for the booster stabilizer, if the voltage is as low as 130v go for v guard big boost model and finally if you still need it they have a model which can work even if the voltage is at 110V.

Asked for the price and they said big boost is in the range of Rs 4500 and the final model (chap for 110V) is available from Rs. 7200 (Above prices are for 4KVA stabilisers used for 1.5T ACs)
Availability: Rathna fan house, Rathna electricals, Mercy electronics (Anna Nagar, Aminjikarai and Vadapalani)

Planning to get one big boost within this week. Will give you performance report once installed.

One more thing happened in my friends house. He was installing premier double boost in his house when the installers drilling machine got conked due to voltage fluctuations. Guy left without installing. (Probably he will now be on the lookout for a stabiliser for his drilling machine).

One small piece of infor. You can get computer replated accessoried from mercy electronics at a very cheap rate with bill and company warranty. 2 days back my friend bought a 4 gb microsd card for his mobile from mercy for Rs 270 (transcend make)

Barath