Enough.
I come here to get a break from work [:)]
Hey there,
Yes…but a 20A breaker requires 12 gauge wire instead of the usual 14 / 2. The new plug needs to go in anyways so I may as well do the 240V. No big deal. Later eh…Brian.
An interesting thing; I think moving coil metres measure RMS and Moving iron measure average voltages and currents and watts even.
I have no idea why we have such high voltages or the histroy behind this I would be interested to hear.
I understood that when WA (Western Australia) had 254 / 480 V it was because of the long distances involved and they expected to get a certain amount of voltage drop , possibly John can help us outr here. I am not evebn 100 % certain that they don’t still have it!
But what I would like to explore is the effect of higher frequency, which i think is a good thing and why more countrieds do not go for higher frequencies. I think it is safer and i think fluorescent lighting works a lot better and all inductive devices are much smaller and simpler. ie motors, transformers and chokes. I think the American 60 hz is better than our 50 hz but our 240 V is better than the 117 V in USA etc.
I don’t even knwo who uses 117 V except , North America and Japan?
Please advise.
Rgds ian
More importantly that all that lab theory stuff is what does a nice 100 trillion gigawatt solar flare do to the ociliscope readings, especialy with that nice big ozone hole over the outback?[}:)][B)]
[oX)]
Jack,
Good question, but more importantly will the GRR trains still run?[:0][:0]
Ooooh, good point, HJ. Maybe we can link this over to the UV thread, sounds like we’re touching on the Universal Theorum here by linking all physical laws. Wow, an age old question solved in the garden! Do you suppose we should all go live-steam just in case?[:P][;)]
[oX)]
[:D][:D][:D]
Going Live Steam would get us out of the loop of the loopy electrons,[;)]
the worrying will start all-over.
So while the Universe - including various laws - gets re-jigged; I keep beavering on my projects. [;)][:)]
Pro’s and cons:
Higher voltages transmit power further with less power loss and less voltage drop.
Lower voltages require less insulation (a factor in motors), are cheaper to build ight bulbs, and is safer for leakage currents (fewer problems when insulation goes bad).
Higher frequencies require smaller transformers to handle the same amount of power.
Lower frequencies require slower moving equipment, which means it’ll last longer, and makes standard single pole motors run slower.
A “standard” single-pole AC motor will operate just under 3600 RPM at 60 Hz, and just under 3000 RPM for 50 Hz.
220 volts will bounce you off the wall harder.
Mark in Utah
You are right Mark 240 v will knock you around more.
In my time I have had many electrical shocks but the worst one I ever had was from 50 V DC. I had to go to hospital for observation. However it wasn’r one shock i had about three one after the othr. I still think I may have got a capacitor discharge as well.
It was to do with a Sola UPS in Sydney CBD.
With regard to the solar flares if you have a radio link involved as does MTS it will make your trains run backward and cause reversing loops to run anti clockwise when they should be clockwise.
Rgds Ian
All’s I know is when I was stationed in Japan back in the 70’s, the power was 100 volt/ 50 Hz. Incandescant lights flickered horribly. The naked eye could almost be trained to to count a sub-harmonic in the flicker. It was like staring at a very low powered strobe light.
In all honesty, though, for residences in North America, the average distance run at 110 volts is only a hundred feet or less, since voltage coming into the residence is 220/240V and then the 110 lines are tapped off in the main panel.
Mark
Hey Ian, does your loo flush anti-clockwise also during a solar flare???[:D]
[oX)]
No
From what I’ve heard, 220 and above will throw you away while 120 will grab you. I know 120 will grab you from experience, but have not done anything w/ 220 to see.
220 may be a “safer” voltage if electrocution is a consideration…
We have 230v - not sure I’m inclined to check it for its ability to throw me across the room! I would say that it’s just as safe as 110v in normal use, both are going to do you harm if you attempt to rewire the house without knocking the circuit breaker off first. What annoys me is that I have so many devices that have to take the domestic mains power then put it through a transformer (most electronics work like this). How about a 12v or 24v DC ring main for houses that would use one big transformer to provide a stabilised output? Would this have any benefit in terms of saving energy? It just seems daft to me that everything has a seperate transformer rather than having a single unit and a ring main supply. Waste heat from a single transformer could be used to help heat water too.
Not so good mate, the I 2 R (eye squared R) losses are horrific.
Rgds Ian
Ah - I was wondering if it might have that sort of problem. I have some experience of dealing with 12v electrics in a camper but always assumed the voltage sag was due to the battery not being able to keep up. Ah well, back to the proverbial drawing board!
That business about 220 V throwing you is quite wrong. DC may expel you but AC causes your muscles to contract hence you appear to be holding on wether you want to or not.
Rgds ian
Ian’s quite right about that, remember the Tesla vs. Edison battle way back when?
“DC is dangerous, look I’ll prove it by building an electric chair to execute people with, whereas my AC is quite safe so I will build a 250,000 volt coil and you can touch it safely”
Well, it went something like that anyway…
[oX)]
The 220 volts for use in stoves, pumps, etc is available because of the 3 wire feed to the house. The red wire is 110 meaured from the white (the neutral) and the black wire is also 110 meaured from neutral.
But from red wire to black wire, there is a 220 volt difference; the red and black feeds are 180 degrees out of phase.
I’ve rented houses where the kitchen’s two socket outlets would have one wired to the black and the other wired to the red. If two appliances connected to this outlet both had a ‘live’ spot on them, you could really get shocked touching both at the same time. Not good practice.
George Westinghouse was also in on the electric chair thing. He was adamantly against it as he thought it would make the public reluctant to switch from gas lighting to electric lighting.
And after much reading through the years, I am quite convinced that it is DC that locks one’s muscles but the altenating aspect of AC does not cause a lock up. But I will happily let some one else verify this.
I’ve been to England where 50 cycles is in use and was not bothered by flicker (motion pictures have a 48 cycle flicker rate) but way back when visiting Canada, the 25 cycle AC in use at that time had a decided flicker.
Art
Art
There’s an interesting story related to the 50hz - apparently the WW2-era “Chain Home” RDF (later radar) network used a pulse rate derived from it. Result being that an attempt by Germany to take a closer look (using a Zeppellin airship stuffed with recievers) was a complete flop - they either looked in the wrong frequencies or thought the pulses they were picking up were some weird electrical noise from the mains power supply!