Overvoltage

An overvoltage is whenever power circuits are raised beyond their desired levels. The conditions of an overvoltage are sometimes hazardous. Incidents that may lead to an overvoltage may include a solar flare or lightning.

Overvoltage Media

Line chart created by myself using OpenOffice.org Calc.
A 3-phase, star-connected electric system with a broken neutral wire. A fault caused the neutral voltage to be no longer clamped to ground and the wire can float as high as the line voltage. This can create overvoltage conditions for small appliances connected to a single phase (as the line voltage is much higher than the phase voltage)

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