North America Voltages

[danielf]

Originally posted by yesman
This is normally the case with 110 volt circuits, which means 55 volts up each "leg" of the circuit, e.g. a 55 volt shock won't kill you, or in most peoples cases you wont feel it.

Now you are going to ask me why the uk is not on that system aren't you ?

Well, I think its a question of £ÃÆ ’‚£Ãà¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚£Ãƒââ‚ ¬Å¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚£Ãƒâ€š £ÂÃâ €šÃ‚£Ãƒâ€šÃ‚à ƒâ€šÃ‚£ÃƒÆ’‚ £ÃƒÆ’‚£Ã ƒâ€šÃ‚£ amongst other things, which I won't go into here

Well, I would be most interested, but instead I will point out that it's 220 Volts on the continent. Or 230, actually, as the UK and Europe decided to converge on that, rather than having 220 and 240.

Still, a contintal plug can be plugged in either way, at 230 volts or so...

Originally posted by yesman
OK, time to get technical..............

The voltage in the UK is 240 Volts AC + or - 6% tolerance
Assuming the tolerance is the same in europe we still come into line with the euro voltages anyway, that has always been the case.

As for neutral having a smaller resistance than the phase conductor is incorrect, they are both identical...
I needed to present my case as some people are guessing about most of their answers.

Since 1995 the voltage in the UK has changed to 230v -6%/+10% (as altis said). From http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Book/1.1.htm

"For many years the supply voltage for single-phase supplies in the UK has been 240V +/- 6%, giving a possible spread of voltage from 226V to 254 V. For three-phase supplies the voltage was 415 V +/- 6%, the spread being from 390 V to 440V. Most continental voltage levels have been 220/380V.

In 1988 an agreement was reached that voltage levels across Europe should be unified at 230V single phase and 400V three-phase with effect from January 1st, 1995. In both cases the tolerance levels have become -6% to +10%, giving a single-phase voltage spread of 216 V to 253 V, with three-phase values between 376V and 440 V. It is proposed that on January 1st, 2003 the tolerance levels will be widened to +/- 10%."
I believe this information is also in the latest IEE Wiring Regulations.

Also altis didn't say that the neutral wire had a smaller resistance than the 'phase' wire, he just said that it had a small resistance when compared to the local earth since it is earthed at the substation.