Port Douglas · Douglas Shire · Cairns Northern Beaches
Power quality logging that settles the argument with data
We log voltage, current and harmonics over days or weeks to prove what is actually happening on a site. Useful for intermittent faults nobody can catch, for disputes with the distributor, and for sizing before a big install.
- 5.0 on Google
- 24/7 emergency callout
- Licence 82270
What does a fortnight of logged data tell you that a meter reading never will?
Most sites never need power logging. You need it when the fault is intermittent, when two parties are blaming each other, or when you are about to spend serious money on plant and want to know what the supply is really doing first. If your problem happens every time you switch something on, a logger is overkill and we will tell you that.
The honest numbers
We have logged 40 jobs. Over the same period we have done 8,840 fault finding, no power and tripping jobs. That ratio is the point. Most faults get solved on the day with a meter, a clamp and a look through the switchboard. The logger comes out when the normal approach has already failed, or when the answer needs to be a document rather than an opinion.
When it is worth doing
- Intermittent faults nobody can catch. Nuisance tripping at 2am. Lights dipping when the kitchen fires up. Equipment resetting itself with no pattern anyone can see. The logger sits there while you go about your business and catches the event with a timestamp.
- Disputes with the distributor. If you think incoming supply is out of tolerance, saying so gets you nowhere. Two weeks of recorded voltage does not.
- Sizing before a big install. Before a switchboard upgrade, a new chiller, a generator or another bank of air conditioning, we log the existing load and work from real maximum demand instead of a guess off the nameplates.
- Harmonics. Variable speed drives, LED drivers and inverter air conditioning all put distortion back on the system. Hot neutrals and transformers that hum for no obvious reason usually trace back to this.
The wet season makes it worse
Up here the load profile swings hard. Everything runs at once in the build-up is flat out and the pool and bore pumps are cycling. A resort can hit its yearly peak in the same fortnight the storms are knocking supply around. A logger left over that period tells a very different story to one left over a quiet week in July. If you have equipment that only misbehaves in the wet, that is exactly when we want the instrument on site.
What actually happens on site
We turn up, fit the logger in or beside your switchboard, clamp flexible current probes around the phases and connect voltage references. On most boards that is a short attendance with no shutdown. On some older gear we will want a brief isolation to do it safely. It then records for anywhere from a few days to a month, depending on what we are chasing. We come back, pull the data, and give you a report with the events marked, what they mean, and what we recommend doing about it. Plain English, not a 60 page instrument dump.
Who does it
Pumps, motors and switchboards are where most power quality problems end up living, and they are a big part of our week. We hold QLD Electrical Contractor Licence 82270 and we are fully insured. That matters here, because Queensland treats testing, including locating faults and verifying compliance, as energised electrical work in its own right. It is not a job for a facilities manager with a borrowed clamp meter.
If logging shows the fault is on your side of the point of supply, we fix it. If it shows the problem is upstream, you have the evidence to take it further. Either way you stop guessing.
Source: WorkSafe Queensland, Testing.
What we install
We run Fluke and Chauvin Arnoux loggers, because when the data has to stand up in front of a distributor or an equipment supplier, the instrument behind it has to be one they already respect.
- Fluke
- Chauvin Arnoux
Who we do it for
We do this work for businesses, resorts and body corporates.
Finding an intermittent fault
Log it, read it, prove it
An intermittent fault is the one that is never happening when the electrician is there. A logger is how you stop guessing.
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01Put it on the board
Logger connected at the supply or the affected circuit, left in place for as long as it takes. Days, usually, not hours.
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02Record what actually happens
Voltage, current, sags, swells and harmonics, timestamped. Most of the time the cause turns out to be a load nobody mentioned.
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03You get the graph
The data, not our opinion. It is also the evidence you need if the cause turns out to be on the supply side rather than yours.
Straight answers
Power Quality Logging: your questions
How long does a power quality logger need to stay on site?
Usually one to two weeks. Long enough to catch a full working cycle including weekends, and long enough that an intermittent fault has a fair chance of happening while we are recording. For load sizing before an install, a week is often plenty. For a fault that only shows up every month or so, we will talk about a longer run before we start, so you are not paying for an attendance that was always going to come back empty.
What does power logging cost?
Three things drive the cost of power logging: how long the instrument is on site, how many boards or circuits we are logging at once, and how far we are travelling to fit and retrieve it. Craiglie and Port Douglas is a short run. Cape Tribulation or a site past the Daintree ferry is not. We do not publish rates, because the job varies too much. Ring us with the symptom and we will scope it properly before you commit.
Can I just plug in one of those energy monitors from the hardware shop?
For rough energy use, sure. For fault finding, no. Consumer monitors sample too slowly to catch a voltage sag that lasts a few cycles, which is exactly the event that resets your equipment. They do not measure harmonics at all, and they will not record per phase on a three phase board. They also produce nothing a distributor or an insurer will accept. If you only want to know what your air conditioning costs to run, a cheap monitor is fine.
Do you have to shut the power off to fit a power logger?
Usually not. On most boards we can fit the current probes and voltage references without interrupting supply. On older or crowded switchboards, or where there is no safe access to the terminals, we will want a short isolation to do it properly. We book that in with you rather than surprise you on the day. Retrieval at the end is quick. For hotels and restaurants we work around service times, same as every other job.
Will power logging data actually prove the problem is not mine?
It will show what happened and when, which is what any dispute turns on. If your voltage is sitting outside tolerance at the point of supply, the log shows it with timestamps and you have something concrete to submit. If the log shows the sags line up perfectly with your own compressor starting, that is worth knowing too, and it is cheaper to find out now than after months of arguing. We report what the instrument recorded either way.
Where
We do this from Cape Tribulation down to Smithfield
Anywhere on our patch. Every area we cover has its own page with the access and the local conditions on it.
Need a licensed electrician who turns up?
Leave us a number and we will ring you back, or send the whole job through and we will quote it.