[RE-wrenches] AC voltage in North America

benn kilburn benn at daystarsolar.ca
Tue Oct 19 14:33:20 PDT 2010


Darryl,thank you for that! i've often wondered myself where the 110/220 and other random voltages mentioned from time to time came from (as opposed to 120/240 which is all i've worked with in my electrical career).  i've often assumed that the other numbers were grandfathered in from other systems, but was never really sure.
If the change to 120/240 was in the 60's then why do some appliances still reference 110-115V?
i'm impressed, it must have been something working your electrical career thru, among other things, the change from DC utility systems to AC systems

benn
DayStar Renewable Energy Inc. benn at daystarsolar.ca780-906-7807 HAVE A SUNNY DAY







Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2010 10:49:26 -0700
From: daryl_solar at yahoo.com
To: re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] AC voltage in North America

Thanks Joel
When I first started working most of the city was DC and we had a lot of work tearing out DC motors and putting in AC motors.  

--- On Tue, 10/19/10, Joel Davidson <joel.davidson at sbcglobal.net> wrote:


From: Joel Davidson <joel.davidson at sbcglobal.net>
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] AC voltage in North America
To: "RE-wrenches" <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
Date: Tuesday, October 19, 2010, 11:24 AM


 
Hello Darryl,
 
I tip my hat in honor to your many years working with electricity. 110 volts was Edison's choice for direct current. Then Tesla/Westinghouse chose higher voltage alternating current stepped down to 120 volts. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_Currents 115-volt AC/DC universal motors in drills and other tools were fairly common until low-cost induction motors became widespread.
 
Best regards,
Joel Davidson
 

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Darryl Thayer 
To: RE-wrenches 
Sent: Monday, October 18, 2010 7:18 PM
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] AC voltage in North America






When I was an electrical apprentus back in the late 40's we called it 110/220 then in the fifties the voltage was reised to 115/230  and some time in the 1960 it was raised to 120 240 
 
Darryl

--- On Mon, 10/18/10, Marco Mangelsdorf <marco at pvthawaii.com> wrote:


From: Marco Mangelsdorf <marco at pvthawaii.com>
Subject: [RE-wrenches] AC voltage in North America
To: "'RE-wrenches'" <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
Date: Monday, October 18, 2010, 8:27 PM






I just don’t understand it.
 
Lots of people—from reporters to homeowners—consistently refer to the AC voltage in their homes as “110/220.” 

  

Where does this come from? 

  

If North American utilities were putting out power at that voltage range, they would be in serious trouble. 

  

Anyone able to educate me on this matter? 

  

marco 

  



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