Single phase or 3 phase power, that is the question.
Well, at least if you're browsing our range of energy monitors.
Here are two simple ways to check if your home or business has one, two, or three phases connected.
1) Single Phase or 3 Phase Power - Service Fuses
Single phase sites have one 'service fuse' and three phase site have three.
A service fuse is a large black rectangular fuse. They're generally quite easy to spot at your main switch board or meter board.
A household with a 3 phase power supply & 3 phase smart meter. Note the 3 x service fuses at the top left of the board. Single phase sites have only one of these.
2) Single Phase or 3 Phase Power - Main Switch
Another way to identify three phase from single phase is the width of the main switch. Single phase switches are 'one pole' wide, whereas 3 phase switches are 'three poles' wide. See the picture below for what I mean.
Single phase / single pole main switch (on left) vs. three phase / three pole main switch (on right).
These 'Main Switches' are usually found at your meter board. In larger premises or unit blocks you can also find main switches at each sub board or distribution board.
What About Single or 3 Phase Solar Power?
Our solar energy monitor also requires you to select whether your PV system is single or three phase. Like above, you can work this out by observing the 'Solar Main Switch' as per the examples below.
Single phase solar (on left) vs 3 phase solar (on right).
What About 2 Phase Power?
Two phase power supplies are actually also quite common in Australia. Two phase power is best identified using the 'Service Fuse' method outlined above. There will be two service fuses present for two phase, rather than one or three.