Audio Precision System One Dual Domani Measuirement Systems

That explains Lucas.

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You can't have a sense of humor, if you have no sense.

"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@srv1.howhill.co.uk... : On Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:35:24 -0500, JW wrote: : : >>> Yeah, but we're smart enough to not put them in our living room. : >>

: >> What makes you think we do? : >

: > Why else would you care what it looks like? : : Because we don't like heavy industrial looking stuff in our homes, : even in the boiler or utility room. :

Actually it is just what one is used to, a bit like driving on the right or left, anything else looks or feels weird...

Anyway, looking at the average sized UK consumer panel these days (12 way + plus incoming main switch and such circuit switches [1]) they are starting to look very heavy and 'industrial' anyway (if one looks beyond the magnolia self coloured plastic cases), gone are the days when one could get away with a slim-lined 4 or

6 way consumer unit... [1] with the prospect of even more dedicated radials being specified in the next few years

"Jerry" wrote

Which is why I was suprised by the consumer unit in the Italian house that I mentioned. Just 4 MCBs for a modern, 3 story house. But according to you this was much safer than UK wiring because the plugs were unfused and they don't use ring mains!

David.

Much the same as Spain - again new build.

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*Time is what keeps everything from happening at once.

    Dave Plowman        dave@davenoise.co.uk           London SW
                  To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Seen in a hotel room in Scotland:

Andy

Hmm, a distro panel that can handle up to 96 circuits and includes the main breakers.

Where's the problem?

Seems like a lot of wiring and separate little boxes to handle not so many circuits.

I presume that it provides service for more than just one little hotel room.

"Arny Krueger" wrote

Yes, that's the main incoming supply to the building. The grey unit at the bottom left is the supply company's terminating unit that inludes their fuses. Above that is the meter, to the right of it is a neutral block, and beyond that an isolator (looks like a three-phase + neutral one). I'm not sure what the unit above the isolator is, but at the top of the wardrobe are three consumer units, each, apparently, fed from a different phase. The one on the right seems to feed just one, high-current, load.

David.

In article , Andy Champ writes

it's in a cupboard, out of sight. Mind you, whoever did that obviously took pride in his work. Nice neat job (except the incoming cable, maybe, it can't be touched anyway)

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In article , Arny Krueger writes

It's massive, ugly and looks like it came out of the Queen Mary rather than a domestic premises. Apart from that, it's great :-)

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In article , Arny Krueger writes

Yes, it'll feed the entire building. Note the wiring includes the supplier's meter, unlike those ugly external meters used in North America. The meter is read remotely.

As another poster said, this is a 3-phase supply. Notice how thin the main incomer is, yet that'll be supplying 100A per phase.

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Ah, So *now* it doesn't matter how ugly it is. Which was my point exactly.

Heh.

In article , JW writes

But you're the tit that thought we put them on open view in our living rooms.

Heh.

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Now and again one has to apply the Ruler of Reason to the Knuckles of Stupidity. I never said you did. I only stated that at *we* weren't stupid enough to put them in our living rooms. If you thought I was implying that

*you* were, perhaps the shoe fits after all.

Doh.

Anyway, I'm glad to see you've flip-flopped on the issue. Doesn't matter what the f*ck it looks like if it's not out in the open living space.

I've seen US TV shows where they are in a public space in an apartment block. Is this the norm?

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*You sound reasonable......time to up my medication 

    Dave Plowman        dave@davenoise.co.uk           London SW
                  To e-mail, change noise into sound.

I wouldn't go there. SWMBO'd town house in St Albans had the meter and CU in the bin cupboard outside the front door. Simple through door latch gave access to anybody. All the same type houses on the estate were the same, I don't think any had even so much as a hasp and padlock on the cupboard door...

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Cheers
Dave.

In article , JW writes

No idea what 'flip flopping' you're boring on about, but if you're unable to understand my posts, I suggest you take some classes in remedial English.

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In the US even fairly large homes and retail stores generally have just two boxes - a meter box and a distribution panel box. 120 volt and 240 volt circuits are distributed from there.

There are exceptions. For historical reasons, my ca. 1933 home has 2 subpanels and should have 3. It also has a safety switch in a separate box outside by the meter because the run to the main distribution panel in the basement is so long. This place is really gerrymandered as its needs increased dramatically over the years.

Intermediate-size buildings such as a large factory, apartment building or superstore have a central meter and a few large breakers in just two boxes, and additional subpanels as needed.

Really large buildings distribute HV (e.g. 4,800 volts) inside the building and have transformer substations in various locations. The metering is generally still centralized.

If there are multiple paying accounts within a building there will be multiple meters and each has its own distribution infrastructure.

Do the 120V and 240V system share the same high voltage distribution lines? I mean is the transformation done per house, per street or per district? It just strikes me that with 240V available the requirement for 120V should be dwindling. It really is too low for even distribution within a house. I have experienced lights dimming significantly when appliances are turned on in many American homes.

d

It doesn't belong in a closet for a rented room!

Remotely read meters have been in the US for a long time, but there is an immense backlog of old work. Ours was converted in the past few years. It's still large, ugly and outside, by the side door.

We did not have the "cleansing" effects of a world war fought in our country to push us along. Also, electrical distribution had a very rapid and early introduction so we have a ton of very old work that is still in use.

It's not binding on the rest of the world but the town I lived in in Germany looked like it had been reworked from top to bottom *after* WW2. We had

416 3 phase in our apartment for heating water.

AFAIK the nearest three phase distribution point here to my house here in Grosse Pointe is about a half mile away. Our church here in town has a number of 3 phase motors and it has its own 3 phase line and separate pole transformer for just that phase. The electric company can't figure out how to size that transformer, and it fails about every 5 years.

Yes, the salutary effects of higher voltages on conductor size are very apparent. U.S. standards for wiring are getting to be excessively expensive to implement. Aluminum was tried and rejected for general house wiring, but is being used for distribution up to the breaker box and for large loads downstream of it.

You have to remember that when most of our standards were developed and widely implemented, copper was a cheap byproduct of mining silver. ;-)