Overvoltage
When voltage across/within a circuit is raised beyond the design limit / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about a concept in electrical engineering. For use in electrochemistry, see overpotential.
In electrical engineering, overvoltage is the raising of voltage beyond the design limit of a circuit or circuit element. The conditions may be hazardous. Depending on its duration, the overvoltage event can be transient—a voltage spike—or permanent, leading to a power surge.
![Thumb image](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/Voltage_spike.png)