VOLTS Software

[Bjenks]

Has anyone consistanly used the VOLTS software program by Dolphin Software? I have been evaluating it and love what it does. However, after doing several conductor and OCPD calculations for different loads and feeder taps it seems to have some accuracy problems ( or it could be me). I am wondering if any of you technical guys have check it and feel it can be trusted.

For a program that does almost everything I don't hear a lot from the engineering community on it or this forum and wanted to know it's reputation. The professional version is 2500 dollars and money is tight.

 

[Snorks]

Hi Bjenks,

I use Volts a lot and have validated its voltage drop values with site measurements and found Volts to be right on. So, I think the accuracy problems are probably coming either from you or a misunderstanding of what Volts is computing.

 

[Bjenks]

VD looks good and is pretty straight forward to calculate. I am concerned about Feeder and OCPD for tapped loads. Like a motor feeder that taps off to 4 motors. It seems to assume all loads are balanced across all phases even though they might be single phase loads. I am not sure if it is looking at the largest current per phase for sizing the OCPD/Conductor or if it is looking for the highest overall kw load, which would be incorrect.