While at the Boomershoot site one of the visitors asked Joe what voltage the transmission lines are over head. He guessed around 50 or 100kV then noticed I was there and said well there’s the person to ask. I have the disclaimer and will adhere to it. All I will say is I know a lot about embedded systems, power systems, protective relays, and communication systems involving power and industrial controls. I had looked at the lines before but never bothered to really figure it out. I took a look at it and let my instincts take over. My estimate was around 230kV but I would count the insulators at home and come up with the actual number. So from the photo you can see there’s 20 insulator discs. Three discs are approximately 35kV. Crunching the numbers comes out to be 233.3kV. 230kV is a standard transmission voltage so the approximation is reasonable since it’s not sitting in between two standard voltages and isn’t way off in the weeds either. Continue reading →