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What is the voltage at your receptacle?

Hello, My electrician measured my dedicated wall receptacles at 124 volts each. I know that the proper range should be about 117-120 volts (USA). I was wondering what some of you have measured your wall power at and also if you think that 124 volts is too much? There is an electric company's power transformer on the back side of the half acre of property that our home is on. Our house could very well be the first house in line past that transformer. Thanks! Stan
talon4

Showing 2 responses by aball

aball
2,018 posts
 
Mine are consistently 124V true RMS unloaded.

Arthur
aball
2,018 posts
 
True RMS takes time-varying and nonsinusoidal waves into account. This isn't a big deal when you are measuring line voltage because the 60Hz cycles are very regular but when you measure frequency-varying or complex waveforms, you need a much smaller calcualtion window - which is casually called "true RMS."

If you are getting a digital multimeter (DMM is the common abbreviation), I would recommend Fluke or Tektronix. I am partial to Fluke but the difference between the two is about like the difference between Ford and Chevrolet. Higher priced versions have better resolution and bandwidth (sound familiar?) and so they are "true RMS" capable, and clearly labeled as such. It just means they are more accurate but is the difference worth the extra cost? Well, you know what an audiophile would say.... :)

Arthur
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