8/12/2020 Calculate Cable Voltage Drop for Street Light Pole | Electrical Notes & Articles

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Calculate Cable Voltage Drop for Street Light Pole

FEBRUARY 8, 2016 20 COMMENTS

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DROP-FOR-STREET-LIGHT-POLE-2/#COMMENTS)

Example: Calculate Voltage drop of Cable for Street Light Pole. System Voltage is 230V (P-N), Power
Factor=0.75. Allowable Voltage Drop = 4% .The Detail of Pole & cable are

Pole Detail:

Section feeder Pillar is 50 meter away from Pole-1

Distance between each Pole is 50 Meter Distance
Luminar of Each Pole Fi ing = 2 No’s
Luminar Wa =250 Wa

Cable Detail:

Size of Cable= 4CX10 Sq.mm.

First Pole is connected in R Phase Next Pole is connected in Y Phase Than Next Pole is connected in B
Phase. Next Pole is connected again R Phase.
Resistance of Cable=3.7 Ω/Km
Reactant of Cable=0.1 Ω/Km

Calculation:
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Load of Each Pole

Load of Each Pole = (Wa of Each Luminar X No of Luminar ) / Volt X P.F

Load of Each Pole = (250X2) /(230X0.75)
Load of Each Pole = 2.9 Amp

For Pole Pole-1:

Pole Connected on “R” Phase

Total Distance of Pole for “R” Phase =50 Meter ,
% Voltage drop of Cable= (Current X (Rcosᴓ + JSinnᴓ) X Distance ) / (Volt X No of Cable X 1000)
% Voltage drop of Cable= (2.9x(3.7×0.75+0.1×0.66)X50 / (230x1x1000)
% Voltage drop of Cable= 0.18% ———————————(1)

For Pole Pole-2:

Pole Connected on “Y” Phase

Total Distance of Pole for “Y” Phase =50+50=100 Meter ,
% Voltage drop of Cable= (Current X (Rcosᴓ + JSinnᴓ) X Distance ) / (Volt X No of Cable X 1000)
% Voltage drop of Cable= (2.9x(3.7×0.75+0.1×0.66)X100 / (230x1x1000)
% Voltage drop of Cable= 0.36% ———————————(2)

For Pole Pole-3:

Pole Connected on “B” Phase

Total Distance of Pole for “B” Phase =50+50+50=150 Meter ,
% Voltage drop of Cable= (Current X (Rcosᴓ + JSinnᴓ) X Distance ) / (Volt X No of Cable X 1000)
% Voltage drop of Cable= (2.9x(3.7×0.75+0.1×0.66)X150 / (230x1x1000)
% Voltage drop of Cable= 0.54% ———————————(3)

For Pole Pole-4:

Pole Connected on “R” Phase

Total Distance of Pole for “R” Phase =150+50=200 Meter ,
% Voltage drop of Cable= (Current X (Rcosᴓ + JSinnᴓ) X Distance ) / (Volt X No of Cable X 1000)
% Voltage drop of Cable= (2.9x(3.7×0.75+0.1×0.66)X200 / (230x1x1000)
% Voltage drop of Cable= 0.72% ———————————(4)

For Pole Pole-5:

Pole Connected on “Y” Phase

Total Distance of Pole for “Y” Phase =200+50=250 Meter ,
% Voltage drop of Cable= (Current X (Rcosᴓ + JSinnᴓ) X Distance ) / (Volt X No of Cable X 1000)
% Voltage drop of Cable= (2.9x(3.7×0.75+0.1×0.66)X250 / (230x1x1000)
% Voltage drop of Cable= 0.9% ———————————(5)

For Pole Pole-6:

Pole Connected on “B” Phase

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8/12/2020 Calculate Cable Voltage Drop for Street Light Pole | Electrical Notes & Articles

Total Distance of Pole for “B” Phase =250+50=300 Meter ,

% Voltage drop of Cable= (Current X (Rcosᴓ + JSinnᴓ) X Distance ) / (Volt X No of Cable X 1000)
% Voltage drop of Cable= (2.9x(3.7×0.75+0.1×0.66)X300 / (230x1x1000)
% Voltage drop of Cable= 1.07% ———————————(6)

For Pole Pole-7:

Pole Connected on “R” Phase

Total Distance of Pole for “R” Phase =300+50=350 Meter ,
% Voltage drop of Cable= (Current X (Rcosᴓ + JSinnᴓ) X Distance ) / (Volt X No of Cable X 1000)
% Voltage drop of Cable= (2.9x(3.7×0.75+0.1×0.66)X350 / (230x1x1000)
% Voltage drop of Cable= 1.25% ———————————(7)

For Pole Pole-8:

Pole Connected on “Y” Phase

Total Distance of Pole for “Y” Phase =350+50=400 Meter ,
% Voltage drop of Cable= (Current X (Rcosᴓ + JSinnᴓ) X Distance ) / (Volt X No of Cable X 1000)
% Voltage drop of Cable= (2.9x(3.7×0.75+0.1×0.66)X400 / (230x1x1000)
% Voltage drop of Cable= 1.43% ———————————(8)

For Pole Pole-9:

Pole Connected on “B” Phase

Total Distance of Pole for “B” Phase =400+50=450 Meter ,
% Voltage drop of Cable= (Current X (Rcosᴓ + JSinnᴓ) X Distance ) / (Volt X No of Cable X 1000)
% Voltage drop of Cable= (2.9x(3.7×0.75+0.1×0.66)X450 / (230x1x1000)
% Voltage drop of Cable= 1.61% ———————————(9)

Total Voltage Drop:

Voltage Drop in “R” Phase = 0.18+0.72+1.25 =2.15 %

Voltage Drop in “Y” Phase =0.36+0.90+1.43 =2.69 %
Voltage Drop in “B” Phase =0.54+1.07+1.61 =3.22 %
% Voltage drop in each Phase is Max 3.22% Which is less than 4%

Results:

Phase No of Pole Load (Amp) Voltage Drop

R 3 9 2.15 %
Y 3 9 2.69 %
B 3 9 3.22 %
Total 9 9 2.55 %
FILED UNDER UNCATEGORIZED
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8/12/2020 Calculate Cable Voltage Drop for Street Light Pole | Electrical Notes & Articles

About Jignesh.Parmar (B.E,Mtech,MIE,FIE,CEng)

Jignesh Parmar has completed M.Tech (Power System Control), B.E(Electrical). He is member of
Institution of Engineers (MIE) and CEng,India. Membership No:M-1473586.He has more than 16 years
experience in Transmission -Distribution-Electrical Energy theft detection-Electrical Maintenance-
Electrical Projects (Planning-Designing-Technical Review-coordination -Execution). He is Presently
associate with one of the leading business group as a Deputy Manager at Ahmedabad,India. He has
published numbers of Technical Articles in “Electrical Mirror”, “Electrical India”, “Lighting
India”,”Smart Energy”, “Industrial Electrix”(Australian Power Publications) Magazines. He is Freelancer
Programmer of Advance Excel and design useful Excel base Electrical Programs as per IS, NEC,
IEC,IEEE codes. He is Technical Blogger and Familiar with English, Hindi, Gujarati, French languages.
He wants to Share his experience & Knowledge and help technical enthusiasts to find suitable solutions
and updating themselves on various Engineering Topics.

20 Responses to Calculate Cable Voltage Drop for Street Light Pole

Atiku Muiz says:

February 8, 2016 at 3:28 pm
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Jignesh.Parmar posted: “Example: Calculate Voltage drop of Cable for Street Light Pole. System
Voltage is 230V (P-N), Power Factor=0.75. Allowable Voltage Drop = 4% .The Detail of Pole & cable
are

Pole Detail:

Section feeder Pillar is 50 meter away from Pole-1 Distance b”

Reply
ayman zaher says:
February 13, 2016 at 5:15 am
dear engineer Jignesh.Parmar

I really appreciate that so much knowledge and experience you gave for all the follower

only i have 1 confuse about the equation of ( r cos phi + j xsin phi ) actually i found some website use
the direct summation not vectorial i mean they use rcos phi + xsin phi

instead of sqrt ( (rcos phi) ^2 + ( x sin phi ^2) even the values you used in the example is like that
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8/12/2020 Calculate Cable Voltage Drop for Street Light Pole | Electrical Notes & Articles

is it an approximation or what because I think the right is using the vectorial formula
pls advice
best regards
ayman zaher

Reply
Abdul Kalam says:
February 14, 2016 at 10:40 am
As more and more number of poles gets connected to each phase, load on the previous sections of the
cable also will increase…. it is not reflected here…only cable length increase is noted.

Reply
Amit Gupta says:
February 15, 2016 at 6:22 am
Dear Sir the value of current that you have used for calculating voltage drop is the current that an
individual fixture required but before first pole the value of current should be 2.9*3=8.7 amps.
Correct me if I’m wrong pls.
Thank you

Reply
shantilal parmar says:
February 22, 2016 at 6:01 am
Dear Jignesh sir
what should be the resistance & capacitance between a motor to earth. how it is measured

Reply
md.rahmat ullah says:
April 3, 2016 at 11:19 am
calculation is not perfect please specify at the end how did you calculate because at end it comes
411.945/230000=0.0017910652 % how i find it 18% for 1st pole pleasereply

Reply
md.rahmat ullah says:
April 3, 2016 at 11:24 am
Calculation is not perfect please specify at the end how did you calculate because at end it comes
411.945/230000=0.0017910652 % how i find it 18% for 1st pole please reply

Reply
Engr. B. M. Rashad says:
June 2, 2016 at 2:22 pm
Referring to %VD for the street lighting, 2.9A current per pole is a single phase current. In this case,
you have to multiply the %VD by 2 to comply with single phase VD formula.
Commented by:
Engr. B. M. Rashad
Electrical Section Head
B.Sc.pk., B.Sc.Engg.phil., M.Sc.Engg.phil.
Sr. Electrical Design Engineer
for Building Services & Infrastructure Networks (23 years of experience with US Army Corps of
Engineers Design Consultants and European Design Consultants
Contact email: [email protected]
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8/12/2020 Calculate Cable Voltage Drop for Street Light Pole | Electrical Notes & Articles

Reply
ayman zaher says:
June 17, 2016 at 6:45 pm
Hello mr B? M.Rashed
Mo current suposed to pass in neutral because its 3 phase balanced load up to the fuse box of the
lighting pole

Reply
Engr. B. M. Rashad says:
June 19, 2016 at 6:19 am
JUN.19, 2016
Dear Engr. Ayman Zaher

It is understood that for 3-phase balanced circuits, the neutral current turns out to be zero, but
the issue is not that at all. Since your %VD is based on single phase, so going back to IEC-
60364, you have to use single phase formula for calculating the single phase %VD. So, do
revise your single phase %VD calculation accordingly to meet with the code requirements of
IEC-60364 for the 1-phase %VD of street lighting poles. You cannot change the 1-phase %VD
formula.

Awaiting for your feedback.

Engr. BMR

Engr. B. M. Rashad says:

June 5, 2016 at 5:48 am
JUNE 05, 2016
Dear Engr. Jignesh,

I am a Sr. Electrical Design Engineer. I am into the design of building services and infrastructure
networks having 23 years of electrical design experience with international foreign design
consultants. The design is based on CIE, IESNA, NFPA, IEEE, IEC standards and codes.

I have gone through your calculations for %VD and my comment is that you have to multiply the
%VD by 2 based on VD formula for single phase.

Awaiting for your feedback.

Regards

Engr. B. M. Rashad
Electrical Section Head
B.Sc.(pk.), B.Sc.Engg.(phil.), M.Sc.Engg.(phil.)
Sr. Electrical Design Engineer
for Building Services and Infrastructure Networks

Contact email: [email protected]

Reply
AYMAN ZAHER says:
June 19, 2016 at 7:07 am

https://electricalnotes.wordpress.com/2016/02/08/calculate-cable-voltage-drop-for-street-light-pole-2/#:~:text=Section feeder Pillar is 50,Luminar Watt … 6/9

8/12/2020 Calculate Cable Voltage Drop for Street Light Pole | Electrical Notes & Articles

thanks for nice reply

no one can change the formula of voltage drop calculation at single phase
BUT IF IT REALLY THE CASE FOR SINGLE PHASE

why vd for single phase is 2*I *L (RCOS PHI + X SIN PHI ) ?

BECAUSE THE CURRENT GO IN LINE AND RETURN IN NEUTRAL SO THE TOTAL PATH IS
DOUBLE LENGTH AND WE USE 2 ,
NOTHE THIS IS NOT THE CASE WE DISCUSS

SUPPOSE WE HAVE BALANCED 3 PHASE (NO AMPERS IN NEUTRAL )

THE PATH WILL ONLY BE LINE AND VOLTAGE DROP WILL BE I*L (RCOS PHI + X SIN PHI )
FOR 1 PHASE AS PHASE VALUE

FOR LINE VALUE VOLTAGE DROP = SQRT3 * I * L ( R COS PHI + X SIN PHI)

AND AS YOU CAN NOTICE THIS IS THE FORMULA FOR THREE PHASE ALSO
SO THERE IS NO CONTRADICTION THE CASE OF SINGLE PHASE IN OUR EXAMPLE IS NOT
AS IT APPEARS SINGLE PHASE ITS ACTUALLY HALF SINGLE PHASE

YOU CAN SEE THEY ARE IDENTICAL AND THAT IS THE LOGIC

[email protected]

SENIOR ELECTRICAL ENGINEER

KHATIB ALAMI CONSULTANTS

Reply
Eng.Rashad Bha i says:
June 19, 2016 at 8:07 am
Dear Engr. Ayman Zaher

Pls. refer to the a ached VD calculation sheets for your info. and further discussions, if any.

Regards

Engr. BMR

Reply
Helmy nizad ismail says:
August 22, 2016 at 4:11 am
Fyi,Three-phase system with neutral point completely unbalanced is considered single-phase
system…thanks.

Reply
Pavan Kumar says:
September 29, 2016 at 6:32 am
Dear Sir,
How to calculate the power Losses in Transmission Line. For Ex. i am running 12MVA at 132KV
transmission line for 25KM using ACSR Panther Conductor. What will be losses. Is there any
Calculation

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Reply
isaac says:
October 12, 2016 at 9:12 am
Going through a document, I discover that the cable used on a circuit for street light were varied; i.e 4
x 25mmsq, 4 x 16mmsq…. Is that standard? at what point do we have to varied the cable if it is a
standard

Reply
Gamal says:
January 5, 2017 at 12:18 pm
dear Mr. Jingesh,
How to calculate voltage drop for each pole individually without considering the total current
entering the cable for the remaining phase poles? regards

Reply
Gokul Gopi says:
August 18, 2017 at 1:58 pm
thank you very much for your effort here MR. Jignesh .

Reply
GAJENDRA SINGH says:
May 17, 2019 at 10:53 am
Dear Mr. Jignesh,

You are considering the 2.9A Load on pole 1 to calculate the voltage drop from feeder pillar to first
pole. If you see that on this cable (Feeder Pillar to first pole), load will be come for all the 9 nos. poles.

Regards,
Gajendra Singh
Mob: 8130282606

Reply
NITEESH says:
May 20, 2019 at 5:07 pm
Sir please help me

Reply

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