electricity in the Philippines

[David690]

Well apparently some of us home owners here have a different voltage supply set up. I can only speak for myself and what i have here in our home in North Luzon. We have the two wire system and 220 VAC. only. This consist of one bare wire and one insulated wire coming from the pole. The bare wire is also grounded at the pole on the street. We have no option to lower the voltage except by utilising a step down transformer. That is if we want to use 110 VAC in side our home to power 110 VAC appliances.
We have to work with what what the utility company supply.
What i did was added one extra ground wire by inserting a six foot grounded rod into the earth. Actually two six foot ground rods.
This grounded wire was added to a ground buss inside the main breaker box. I used all three pin outlets and the whole house is wired with the extra ground wire. With this set up i could use ground faults GFI. inside the kitchen and bathrooms.
Also no more tingling (mini shocks) when i touch the refrigerator or the range if i am barefooted, which is how i walk inside the house. Everyone else use fit flop inside the house.
When we were building the house the roofers who did the steel trusts complained about the welder not working because of the low supply voltage, voltage was from 180 to 200 VAC. So we purchased our own transformer from Novelco which they installed on the pole and we got a steady supply of 230VAC. Over here in the province one transformer supply many homes, resulting in a voltage drop.

Hi Trevor

That is the same set up as I am planning for my house.  Thought it was clear until I read the post from Doctor M.  I can only assume that there are some old wiring system around in some areas, that were maybe set up in order to be able to arrange for 110v supply into the house.  That is not my intention at all.  I am looking to install a system that for all intents and purposes complies with the 17th Edition of the UK Regulations.  That is with a neutral connected as the return conductor and grounded in the mains panel which is fitted with single pole MCB's, (i.e. switching only the live/hot & no switching of the neutral), RCD's and no ELCB's.

[trevor]

David.. I understand what you are looking for. The three wire set up, two hot and one neutral. The two hot supply 220VAC. One hot and the neutral supply 110VAC. I understand that in Baguio and Subic Bay where the U.S. military bases were, there is the three wire set up. Not sure of any place else on Luzon.
I would think it is possible to get what you want but that may be very costly and a big hassle. All appliances here use 220 VAC.  So i just went along with the flow. Here in the province everything is just lax.
One example is we wanted to install a door bell or a gate bell with the press button outside our gate. The ones i could buy here all use 220 VAC. No way i would install a 220 volt push button outside my gate or front door. Sooner or later with use and from personal experiences i know the Push button will deteriorate and fall apart most likely exposing bare wires. Someone press that on a rainy day and standing in a wet fit flop and you know what will happen.
I imported a nice chime from the U.S. along with a 18 volts supply transformer. The primary voltage for the transformer was 110 volts. So i used a 110 volts output step down transformer. 220 to 110. So now i could install my 18 volts house chime. Quite legal and safe. Some day i will try and read up on the electrical code here, if there is one available.
Well good luck with your project and feel free to contact me if you think i can help in anyway. Cheers.

[David690]

David.. I understand what you are looking for. The three wire set up, two hot and one neutral. The two hot supply 220VAC. One hot and the neutral supply 110VAC. I understand that in Baguio and Subic Bay where the U.S. military bases were, there is the three wire set up. Not sure of any place else on Luzon.
I would think it is possible to get what you want but that may be very costly and a big hassle. All appliances here use 220 VAC.  So i just went along with the flow. Here in the province everything is just lax.
One example is we wanted to install a door bell or a gate bell with the press button outside our gate. The ones i could buy here all use 220 VAC. No way i would install a 220 volt push button outside my gate or front door. Sooner or later with use and from personal experiences i know the Push button will deteriorate and fall apart most likely exposing bare wires. Someone press that on a rainy day and standing in a wet fit flop and you know what will happen.
I imported a nice chime from the U.S. along with a 18 volts supply transformer. The primary voltage for the transformer was 110 volts. So i used a 110 volts output step down transformer. 220 to 110. So now i could install my 18 volts house chime. Quite legal and safe. Some day i will try and read up on the electrical code here, if there is one available.
Well good luck with your project and feel free to contact me if you think i can help in anyway. Cheers.

Hi Trevor, sorry I confused you.  I am not looking for that at all, I am installing a 2 wire 220v system, i.e. Live plus Neutral, same as yours.

[harry80020]

Yes, you can use double pole breakers & switches, so long as the switch or breaker dis-connects both the hot wire and the neutral at the same time, although it wouldn't be necessary on a properly installed system.  As your code reference attachment states you would never want to install a 3-way or 4-way switch in the neutral or grounded conductor, they are actually both single pole switches.  The ground/green wire is not a current carrying conductor, except in the event of a fault, and should never be switched.  One attachments didn't make much sense and I couldn't open 2 attachments.   

On Sunday, September 9, 2018, 2:11:54 AM MDT, peter bates <phugobates@gmail.com> wrote:


Hello Harry.
As a UK expat and retired to Leyte I found your article understandable and very much in line with the electricity (brown out periods not withstanding!!!) here in Leyte. Our house wiring includes the GREEN EARTH and 3 hole socket outlets (NOT switched) but the KOTEN Distribution Board (see attachment) comprises Double Pole Circuit Breakers for each circuit. With the installation electrician being local, I doubt if he was bought up on the AMERICAN style two hot 120V HOT WIRES =240v

1. In UK terms, the Philippines earthing is equivalent to our TT system (see earthing.pdf). Do you agree?
2. PEC/NEC (multipole switches1.png) 14.4.1.2(b) indicates multipole circuit breakers/switches are allowed. Would you consider the GREEN EARTH to be a circuit conductor?
3. There is a view in UK that DP Isolators should be fitted to fixed appliances (? airconn units).

You article advises "...There should NEVER be a fuse or breaker in the neutral white GROUNDED wire..." Are you really saying NEVER, even if the circuit breaker is connected to the HOT wire also?

Thank you.

Peter Bates


    multipole switches1.png
    763.7kB
    2 pole breaker opinions.png
    1.6MB
    KOTEN DISTRIB BOARD.png
    3.4MB
    Electricity | Electricity in the Philippines.webarchive
    2.5MB
    earthing.pdf
    428.5kB

[harry80020]

Yes, I would "ASSUME" the bare wire is the grounded neutral and the black insulated wire is hot.  But after having to deal with the town electrician in Sibonga, Jerry Silva, and his 2 helpers, I would never assume anything there.  Please please please check with a volt meter first.

On Thursday, November 22, 2018, 8:02:27 PM MST, chrissanchez0526@gmail.com <chrissanchez0526@gmail.com> wrote:


what I have is a 2 wire set up... 240v with a ground wire... I assume the Black insulated wire is the Hoy with the bare aluminum twisted wire is the ground. what's your thought

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

    On Fri, Nov 16, 2018 at 1:42, Harry Morgan
    <harry80020@yahoo.com> wrote:
    Chris,

        I have no doubt your breaker box isn't properly grounded, it's the way things were done in the USA years ago and the way Filipinos do things today,  Yes you can add a ground wire to your breaker box, but be very very careful.  Because of the way Filipinos do their electric, you don't know which wire is hot and which wire is neutral.  Chances are the neutral is grounded at the transformer and if you ground the wrong wire at your house it will spoil your day, even kill you.  Even then, installing a ground rod at your house will not help the power fluctuations or high electric bill.  As for your bill being too high, one of the neighbors or the landlord might be stealing electricity, not uncommon there.  You can shut everything off in the house and see if the meter is still turning.  Or turn your main breaker or all the breakers off in the evening and see if the meter is still turning or if the lights go off in one of the neighbor's houses. And if they are stealing electricity from a tap in the meter box, turning your breakers off won't disrupt the theft or stop your meter.  You can also look for a wire or extension cord that seems out of place.  It can be anywhere: your meter box, your breaker box, any plug-in, any switch, any light fixture, etc.  It can also be buried under ground so you can't see where it goes.

    Best always,
    Harry.

    On Wednesday, November 14, 2018, 9:00:44 PM MST, chrissanchez0526@gmail.com <chrissanchez0526@gmail.com> wrote:


    Thanks Harry.... one final question regarding the local power here.. I have noticed in my current small temp home,  I dont think it is properly grounded at the breaker box. Is it as simple as shutting off the main and running a ground from the box to a grounding rod? will this 0ize the neutral and stop the fluctuation? my bill is higher than it should be based of other I know with similar or more appliances running and frequency

    Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

        On Wed, Nov 14, 2018 at 22:36, Harry Morgan
        <harry80020@yahoo.com> wrote:
        It depends.  If you have one hot wire at 220 volts like most of the PI, you will need a transformer to get 110/120 volts.  If you have 2 hot wires each with 110/120 volts to ground and 220 volts between them, then you can.

        On Tuesday, November 13, 2018, 5:46:59 PM MST, Chris Sanchez <chrissanchez0526@gmail.com> wrote:


        sorry I meant one of the 120v (not 110)

        On Wed, Nov 14, 2018, 08:45 Chris Sanchez <chrissanchez0526@gmail.com wrote:

            a friend of our family had it done to his house in Davao. So I am hoping it's possible to do here. Would it be possible to run 1 of the 110 to the box and run two grounds, 1 in ground, 1 on bus?

            On Wed, Nov 14, 2018, 05:34 Harry Morgan <harry80020@yahoo.com wrote:

                I doubt you have American style 220 (+110/-110) at your house in the Philippines, although I've heard of it around the old Clark air base and I've also heard they are starting to switch to it on a limited basis.  You'll just have to check what you have or ask the power company.

                On Thursday, November 8, 2018, 1:21:38 AM MST, Chris Sanchez <chrissanchez0526@gmail.com> wrote:


                Harry.. im building a house and would like to install an American electrical panel in my workshop area to run my 120v tools and such. How do i properly connect the 220 at the service connection in order to use the single pole breakers for 120?

[spin]

Good read,  thanks to all who contributed to this topic.

[harry80020]

I don't know who is running the Living in the Philippines group now, but I was removed as a member a few years back by Jack Bishop, Gary McMurrain, and someone named Gerlie Lirasan when they were running things.  Sorry I can't help you.

Best always,
Harry.

 

On Monday, December 21, 2020, 12:24:49 AM MST, Rudy De Volder <rudy@devolder.be> wrote:


I read your interesting article about electricity here in the Philippines and I was wondering if you could help me out with the following. I would appreciate if you know what I mean 😉

I really want to put grounding rods next to my house mainly to use as protection for lightning strikes. Last week we had one very near and my AVR was broke.

We are building a new house in the mountains at 1200 meters above sea-level. With a nice view.

I graduated electronics many years ago and making small PCB’s with microprocessors and programming is my hobby now.

In my new house I plan to put a 64 volts battery-pack with a 26KwHours capacity. With LiFePo4 batteries from China. Most of the power I need for my cable cart I am constructing with 2x 5 kW BLDC motors. ( Brushless DC motors on 60v ). Same motors from a golf cart. The power is going to be partially Solar (4900 Watt) and partially from the mains.

But the power in that mountainous area there’s especially very bad. Much fluctuation because neighbors using welding and there’s often brownout for a long period. So the batteries are a more than a good backup 😉

Tomorrow I’m going to my place to check if there’s a grounding wire connected to the transformer near me. Because, they didn’t use any white wire.

If there’s none can I write a letter of complaint to Davao Electric?

Because I really want to put some lightning protection in my system. I’ve put a datasheet of a new hybrid protector from Bourns in attachment.

But I also wonder how to connect this one with my single phase only? Can you help me out? You can see there is 2 hot wires, a neutral and a ground.

 

You can also find me on messenger, just with my email address: rudy@devolder.be

 

 

Kind regards,

Rudy De Volder

 

 

 

 

 
Edit By Steve: I removed a duplicate post.

[Gray Wolf]

Harry,

All Yahoo Groups were shut down Dec 15, 2020. Not just the LinP groups, but all Yahoo groups. And I can assure you that Gerlie is completely innocent of that which you accuse her. She works behind the scenes to keep the website current which is the base for this forum.

You obviously have the ability to post here, where the original question was posted. Why not simply help the member? I have no axe to grind.

Merry Christmas
Jack

[Peter]

Rudy,

Here in the Bataan, which may not be wired the same as Davao, NAPOLCOR use a "phantom" earth (ground) system.
This essentially means they earth/ground the transformers at the electricity distribution sub-station and deliver electricity via a 2 wire - live and neutral - system. The consumers if they so want, and the majority do not, can then install a 3 wire system in their residences.

An earthing rod can be connected between the earth bus in the incoming breaker box and outside. This then makes a 'phantom' connection through the ground to the earth side of the sub-station transformers. Just make sure you have a proper earth rod and it is is connected by heavy duty cable or preferably an earthing strip and is buried in good conductive earth.

Then a 3 wire live/neutral/earth system may be installed in the house.

This, of course means that the 'normal' 2 pin Filipino wall sockets are of no use.
Ace Hardware, Robinsons Handyman, and others, have double, multiway wall sockets available, along with the matching pattresses, which have 3 terminals to accept the L/N/E wires from the fused breaker outlets.

We installed a 3 way sytem when we built the extension to the wife's old house. At that time 2003, I had to "balakbayan box" all the necesssary kit in.

I then rewired the old part to the same standard.

Two things stood out.

One, and this is very important you should only have one earthing rod in your property. There are exceptions, aren't there always, but 99% of installations should only have one, located as close as possible to your incoming circuit breaker box.

If you have more than one, eddy currents WILL occur between them and that is definitely injurious to your health.
 
Secondly. The average Filipino 'sparky' does not understand what a "Ring" main is (unless they have worked abroad, or been exposed to overseas practises) and also have no idea that the live/neutral wires should be connected to their respective marked terminals, not any-old-how as the standard 2 black wires they are acustomed to.

As part of our planning I also shipped in 800 metres each of yellow/green, red and black (KISS at work) wire, as I didn't want any confusion by using standard Filipino, 2 black wires that seems to be the norm.
Even so, it was lucky (or maybe proper planning LOL!) that I brought with us a mains system tester. When the 'sparkies' had finished wiring in the extension, I went around and checked every outlet (21 of them, plus two 3 wire water heaters) and corrected about 50% which had crossovers from live (red) to earth (yellow/green) to neutral (black) and any combination thereof.
This was despite sitting with the foreman(?), explaining what each wire was, demonstrating by doing the first cable run and connections and producing a drawing of what colour goes where.

It was worth it in the end and we sleep safely at night.

Hope this helps.

Stay safe all.

Peter

[Gray Wolf]

Thank you Peter 

[David690]

Rudy,

Here in the Bataan, which may not be wired the same as Davao, NAPOLCOR use a "phantom" earth (ground) system.
This essentially means they earth/ground the transformers at the electricity distribution sub-station and deliver electricity via a 2 wire - live and neutral - system. The consumers if they so want, and the majority do not, can then install a 3 wire system in their residences.

An earthing rod can be connected between the earth bus in the incoming breaker box and outside. This then makes a 'phantom' connection through the ground to the earth side of the sub-station transformers. Just make sure you have a proper earth rod and it is is connected by heavy duty cable or preferably an earthing strip and is buried in good conductive earth.

Then a 3 wire live/neutral/earth system may be installed in the house.

This, of course means that the 'normal' 2 pin Filipino wall sockets are of no use.
Ace Hardware, Robinsons Handyman, and others, have double, multiway wall sockets available, along with the matching pattresses, which have 3 terminals to accept the L/N/E wires from the fused breaker outlets.

We installed a 3 way sytem when we built the extension to the wife's old house. At that time 2003, I had to "balakbayan box" all the necesssary kit in.

I then rewired the old part to the same standard.

Two things stood out.

One, and this is very important you should only have one earthing rod in your property. There are exceptions, aren't there always, but 99% of installations should only have one, located as close as possible to your incoming circuit breaker box.

If you have more than one, eddy currents WILL occur between them and that is definitely injurious to your health.
 
Secondly. The average Filipino 'sparky' does not understand what a "Ring" main is (unless they have worked abroad, or been exposed to overseas practises) and also have no idea that the live/neutral wires should be connected to their respective marked terminals, not any-old-how as the standard 2 black wires they are acustomed to.

As part of our planning I also shipped in 800 metres each of yellow/green, red and black (KISS at work) wire, as I didn't want any confusion by using standard Filipino, 2 black wires that seems to be the norm.
Even so, it was lucky (or maybe proper planning LOL!) that I brought with us a mains system tester. When the 'sparkies' had finished wiring in the extension, I went around and checked every outlet (21 of them, plus two 3 wire water heaters) and corrected about 50% which had crossovers from live (red) to earth (yellow/green) to neutral (black) and any combination thereof.
This was despite sitting with the foreman(?), explaining what each wire was, demonstrating by doing the first cable run and connections and producing a drawing of what colour goes where.

It was worth it in the end and we sleep safely at night.

Hope this helps.

Stay safe all.

Peter

This is not the case in Davao, at least not with our supply from Davao Light.
The transformer is grounded at the pole, and the supply is via 2 insulated cables.  These are 110v each in opposite phase forming 220v between them.

Cheers,

[Peter]

David.

As I said < .... in the Bataan, which may not be wired the same as Davao,....  >

Our mains incoming is 220v 60Hz, delivered on one "live" insulated cable, with a non-insulated "neutral", which doubles up as the catenary.

Makes me tremble each time I see it, but it works. LOL!

Merry Christmas to one and all.

Stay safe.

Peter