Oh don’t worry about that, just plug in your 110V appliances and watch them run twice as fast
Comment on The clueless people are out there among us
DmMacniel@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
Not do we need a “special adapter” but a converter as well, as Households in the US use 110V opposed to the usual 230V.
bampop@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
amateurcrastinator@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
When I was 17 my father brought back a stereo from Japan. I was too eager to use it and plugged that directly to 220. It worked for a glorious 2 minutes. We got it working again after we replaced the transformer. Still have it and it still works fine to this day. Learned a lesson too!
vaionko@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
It’s less of a problem nowadays where most things have switching power supplies that can handle either just fine
MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
Oh this gets stranger.
It’s usually 120v, but I’m not going to split hairs over 10v.
So, 120v is not a voltage that is delivered from the grid… Technically speaking. Each home is given one circuit of 240v, which is usually part of one leg of a three phase, coming off of the Transformers… 120v is there because they center-tap the transformer. This halves the voltage by consequence. Inside the house the circuits are generally laid out to try to balance the load between each half of the 240v phase.
The idea is that two 120v loads, put in series, will total 240v. So power will ideally go from L1 to a 120v load, to “neutral”, then over to another 120v load, then finally back on L2.
More or Less.
120v is basically just half of what you should be loading the system with.
The center tap neutral from the transformer is to collect any load imbalance between L1 and L2 to allow for the two “sides” of the phase to be out of balance and still work.
The US “plug” ( aka receptacle ) is a NEMA 5-15R, or NEMA 5-20R (for 20A); these are designed for 120v operation using the half phase described above. Of course, you can mis-wire it and make all kinds of dangerous abominations if you so choose. There is, however, a less known NEMA 6-15R and NEMA 6-20R that is basically the same, but for 240v operation, replacing the neutral wire with L2 instead (and 15/20A respectively).
So it is entirely possible to have 240v outlets in a North American home, while still being compliant with code.
It’s actually really fascinating information when your dig into it.
pupbiru@aussie.zone 3 weeks ago
i hate that that’s a thing for you
MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
Fair enough.
If you’re not an EE or a nerd (like me), then it might as well be black magic.
Powerline adapters are fun here tho. They work great if you’re not crossing the split phase, otherwise they suck… A lot.
slingstone@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
What’s a good resource for learning about electrical engineering for people starting from nearly zero knowledge? I’d love to learn more so I don’t burn my house down if I want to, say, replace a light fixture in my house.
MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
I’m not an EE. I apologize if I gave that impression. I just have an obsession with understanding anything I use on a regular basis, whether computers, smartphones, electricity, vehicles… Anything that does stuff, and I use it, I want to know how it does the thing that it does.
I’m weird like that.
I learned a lot from “Electrician U” on YouTube, along with a few others. Maybe worth a look. The scientific/physics side of things was more from watching other YouTubers (as to why it behaves the way it does), along with a fundamental knowledge that I learned from doing amateur radio stuff. Working in IT and having to deal with the power requirements of systems and making sure that we won’t blow a breaker under load… That helped motivate me to learn.
It all came to a head when we were deploying a network and server for a business that was still in construction of the facility. The electrician was going to run a temp line for our stuff so we could set up and be ready for opening day, and he asked how many amps we needed… I did a bit of a deep dive to figure out an answer for him, and I’ve been learning more and more since then.
slingstone@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Cool. Thanks for the direction. I’m curious about electrical stuff, and I’d like to be able to do some things around my house. There’s some DIY stuff online, too, involving building projects from old parts of appliances that interest me, but I realized quickly that I’d need some very good knowledge about electrical work to stay safe. It’s unlikely I’ll actually pursue the latter, but I’d like to at least know the how and why of my home wiring.
SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
For most things people bring on vacation it wouldn’t be a problem since chargers and power supplies can run on multiple voltages. It’s for things like hairdryers where you need converter. Since they are calibrated for a specific voltage to create heat. Though you could probably run them at half settings on the double voltage.
ryannathans@aussie.zone 3 weeks ago
Houses in the US generally have 220v too but not at ordinary wall outlets
There’s a technology connections video on it if you’re interested in the specifics
Spezi@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
A few years ago there was the possibility of me moving to the US from Germany and if I would have bought a house there, I would probably have installed additional Schuko-outlets all over the place.
Zwiebel@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
Yes and in Europe houses generally have 400V too but not at ordinary wall outlets
DmMacniel@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
Exactly :)
toynbee@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
See also any ElectroBOOM video where he travels. Though they’re a very different kind of content.
Woht24@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Why?
slappypantsgo@lemm.ee 3 weeks ago
Because he makes videos about technical details like this.
Randelung@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
And don’t call me Shirley.