In the US a 3 kW appliance will run on 240 volts. We have 15 amp 120 volt circuits normally and you can have a 20 amp 120 volt circuit with a slightly different socket which will also accept the 15 amp plugs, but they are not common. If you need more than about 1.5 kW you use a 240 volt outlet with currents starting at 15 amp I believe.
-- Rick C
To balance the current draw on the two phases I have seen outlets run on both phases of the power line. Some will be wired on one phase and some on the other. I was very surprised to find 240 volts when measuring from one socket to another one day. I was reading something about this recently and it seems the two sockets in the same box are not to be wired on different phases of the 240 line. Who knew?
-- Rick C
Come to the UK or Ireland, most building contractors use 110v power tools with big weatherproof plugs and sockets and a hefty transformer.
-- Steve O'Hara-Smith | Directable Mirror Arrays C:>WIN | A better way to focus the sun The computer obeys and wins. | licences available see You lose and Bill collects. | http://www.sohara.org/
same here for big stuff
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Fair comment, but I still remember those hot (above blood heat) cables on vacuum cleaners and all the warnings about not leaving power cables coiled up.
-- martin@ | Martin Gregorie gregorie. | Essex, UK org |
the reason for not leaving cables coiled up is because if you do you have just created a large & inefficient transformer
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I think the makers of vacuum cleaners with spring-driven cable housings should be told (Dyson, I'm looking at you).
-- martin@ | Martin Gregorie gregorie. | Essex, UK org |
No. it is because they melt. got through about three building the house when people ran serious lights off them
Transformers with the return current in the same winding is the forward current do not work, even as inductors.
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On Thu, 6 Apr 2017 03:05:37 +0100, Mike Tomlinson declaimed the following:
Must I?
{I'm still using a pre-Android Blackberry Bold that doesn't even support SQLite}
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Wulfraed Dennis Lee Bieber AF6VN
wlfraed@ix.netcom.com HTTP://wlfraed.home.netcom.com/
On Thu, 6 Apr 2017 12:36:25 -0000 (UTC), Martin Gregorie declaimed the following:
Ah -- but a coiled cable may act a bit like an inductor. The same cable strung out probably didn't heat up as much.
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Wulfraed Dennis Lee Bieber AF6VN
wlfraed@ix.netcom.com HTTP://wlfraed.home.netcom.com/
2-3kW is common for things like chop saws.
It is currently a UK government (Health and Safety Executive) recommendation that all tools on a building site run at 110v through isolating, centre-earthed, transformers to minimise the chances of people electrocuting themselves in an environment that is often wet, dirty and populated with sharp things. While it's not a legal requirement protecting workers from electrocution is and insurance companies are likely to insist.
More detail here:
Also see the "Portable electrical equipment" section here:
-- Steve O'Hara-Smith | Directable Mirror Arrays C:>WIN | A better way to focus the sun The computer obeys and wins. | licences available see You lose and Bill collects. | http://www.sohara.org/
ve
No. Look up "bifilar". It's because the innerwindings can't shed heat.
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Because it is safer to run a non earth referenced 110V on a building site than raw mains at 240V.
Now serious power can be had from compact battery powered portable kit, the practice is somewhat less.
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Ayn Rand.
Staggering incomprehesnion of basic electrical theory.
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Because some brands have quite a cult following.
DeWalt circular saws and other power tools are a good example.
-- martin@ | Martin Gregorie gregorie. | Essex, UK org |
They can be had in 240V and 110V versions with otherwise identical specs - SOP it's a safety thing.
-- Steve O'Hara-Smith | Directable Mirror Arrays C:>WIN | A better way to focus the sun The computer obeys and wins. | licences available see You lose and Bill collects. | http://www.sohara.org/
Well the second sentence is correct.
-- Steve O'Hara-Smith | Directable Mirror Arrays C:>WIN | A better way to focus the sun The computer obeys and wins. | licences available see You lose and Bill collects. | http://www.sohara.org/
I wondered about that, but it isn't mentioned on their main (US) site, which only mentions 110v even for their battery-driven models. Disclaimer: I don't use DeWalt stuff but I know men who do.
-- martin@ | Martin Gregorie gregorie. | Essex, UK org |
Winding a pair of wires that carry current in opposite directions will not make a transformer. It may make a common mode choke, but that's not a problem.
-- Rick C
but for the wrong reasons...
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