Discuss massive supply cable volt drop in the Australia area at ElectriciansForums.net

R

rosewood

a customer has asked us to wire up a caravan park thats he's building on some of his land but we're struggling to decide on the size of the sub main to power it all.
he has 2 fields which will each have 20 caravans in them. The plan is to supply a busbar chamber in a mains room at the start of the first field, which will supply a distribution board for the first 20 caravans. the supply then needs to get to the second field with another board for the next 20 caravans. The caravans are fed by purpose made hook-up points which supply 2 caravans, so there will be 10 circuits from each fuseboard, each supplying 2 caravans. For once the load isnt the problem as it should only be 100A per phase on a 4 core SWA, but the volt drop is another matter. the first field is 180m from the origin, and the second field is another 120m from that.

it looks like we need a 95mm to get to the first field (dropping 6.39v along the way) and a 70mm from there to the second field (dropping another 2.86v) for a combined volt drop of 9.25v, allowing a little tiny bit of volt drop in the final circuits.

then we hit another problem, the furthest caravan in the first field is 160m from where the customer was planning to have the supply. even on a 6mm armoured we are talking something like another 20v dropped.

so, if we supply the fields with 95mm 4 core SWA we will struggle to terminate it into anything, and even if we managed that we'd need to feed each caravan with maybe 16mm 2 core SWA, which wouldnt terminate into the hook ups. add to that our customer would need the income of a small country to pay for all that copper, we need a better idea.

:dizzy2:
 
Now try calculating parallel cables for your sub-main cables, ...you may be pleasantly surprised!! lol!!!

EDIT.... First try 2 X 35mm then 2 X 50mm for that 95mm cable... the rest i'll leave to you ...:rolleyes4:
 
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I'm not going to do the calc for you, but basically you add the current carrying capacity and the VD/m of the two cables... You end up with 2 smaller cables being able to carry more current with less VD than with the larger cable. Not having anything here in front of me i can't tell you which of the 2 sizes i proposed will suit your needs... besides i'm tired!!! lol!!

EDIT... Don't dismiss it until you have done the calculations for yourself, then get back to me and tell me i'm wrong!! lol!!
 
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sorry bud im sure im missing something here, but if you add the mV/A/m of two 35mm 4 core SWAs you get 2.2mV/A/m.

2.2x180mx50a/1000= 19.8v, on a 95mm it ends up 0.41x180mx100a/1000 = 7.38v

what am i doing wrong? i tihnk im getting a nose bleed...
 
your 2,2,is wrong. should be 1.1/2 = 0.55. so VD = 4.95V. or am i having a blonde moment.
 
your 2,2,is wrong. should be 1.1/2 = 0.55. so VD = 4.95V. or am i having a blonde moment.

Tel, why would you half the mV drop?

These are the numbers I'm getting...using 100A/P & 300m...

Single 95mm^2 cable mV/A/m 0.43
VD = 0.00043*100*300 = 12.9V

Double (2 x 50A) 35mm^2 cable mV/A/m 1.10
VD = 0.0011*50*300 = 16.5V


Double (2 x 50A) 50mm^2 cable mV/A/m 0.81
VD = 0.00081*50*300 = 12.15V

So, it's at best, only marginally better.

Or am I having a blonde moment as well! :confused5::rolleyes2::rolleyes2::rolleyes2:

Think I'll retrain as a brickie.
 
lol im not sure who, but i think someone is. the smaller the cable gets the higher the VD, so surely 2 small cables would have a higher combined vd than a large cable?

id have thought each cable would have a vd of 1.1mV/A/m meaning each cable would drop 9.9v.

i starting to think it might be necessary to send this to a consultant and have them design something, that or get the DNO to put a supply in down the field, at least cutting off the first 180m of any run. unfortunatly that still leaves a 120m run to the second field and a 160m run to the last caravan
 
Well that's life!
You could feed both separately from the origin?
That would reduce the load on your first sub main in half thus "roughly" halving your volt drop.
If you parallel up 2 cables you effectively share the current equally, though it is not quite as easy as stuffing the 2 wires in the same holes!
Thus in reducing the current you proportionately reduce the volt drop.
If you client wants this install this way then he is gonna have to stump up the costs.
How much diversity have you applied?
 
Parallel dist circuits with RFC's supplying the caravans.

Do the calcs, and you will be surprised.

E.G, a 16mm 3c SWA RFC, with an assumed (Ib) of 60A comes out at a max of 319 metres.

lower the (Ib) after exact calculations and you will be able to reduce the cable size considerably.
 
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sorry bud im sure im missing something here, but if you add the mV/A/m of two 35mm 4 core SWAs you get 2.2mV/A/m.

2.2x180mx50a/1000= 19.8v, on a 95mm it ends up 0.41x180mx100a/1000 = 7.38v

what am i doing wrong? i tihnk im getting a nose bleed...
You're doubling the vd, it's still only 1.1mV/A/m. So you have that as the VD with the combined CCC of both cables.
 
Havent got the books with me but how about wiring it in a big sub mains ring?
the caravan supply boxes would then be your D.Bs.

As it is a ring the rules for ring circuits apply so total volt drop (Idx mvAmx L)/4
 
Has anyone ran this past planning,I think you'll find they will insist on a pole mounted tranny supplied by the DNO at the outset, and thats before HSE and the insurance company has a go. A client of mine is proposing something similar and a lorry load of hoops has arrived
Pict
 

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