scroll power and our earth

[lucky788scroller]

Ok, somebody fill me in here....... Why does every country use diffrent power? Why cant one take his big yella saw to another country and plug it in the socket on the wall and use it? How is the juice in each country decided upon, and whats really the sense of it anyways????/?/ Somebody on here has to know, maybe Phil, hes full of this kind of knowlege, or Sharon, shes full ([of something) too.But whats the story behind this? Dale

[CanadianScroller]

Not only do different countries use different voltages they use diferent frequencies too.
Some use 6o cycles per second, some use 50
Some use 120 volts, some 110, some 230 some 220 and some 240. The list is huge.

I suspect standards were developed after different countries had established power grids.

There are some work arounds. There are adapters, sometimes you can switch motors, sometimes you can use a power illiminator, like the ones you get for RVs. With a power inverter you could charge from a car for limited sawing

[Greenfield_Bob]

Boy Dale is Sharon going to be after you. I can't wait for her reply to this.

Bob

[SharonW0111]

HUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM - I just had a V-8 does that count?
The Full of It Sharon --

[GrayBeard Phil]

Sorry, don't know the exact reason, I wasn't invited to the meetings where they made the decisions.

But I can tell you a few things I have picked up:

- When each country developed their electrical industry, they had several problems to overcome. Each problem had money as the root cause. In short the cost of copper wire to transmit the power, the cost of manpower to string the copper wire, and the cost of building the generating plant.

- Different countries have different legal systems and insurance industries. The US has a strong fire insurance underwriter industry group which support an electrical installation standard which helps prevent fires (which cost a lot $$$ to the underwriters) started by electrical malfunctions.

- The US electrical household wiring started in earnest during the 1920's and 1930's in this country. At this same time, Hollywood movies were being made at a frantic rate to feed the need for cheap Saturday movies. These "B" movies were mostly cowboy and Indian westerns; you know, bad guys wear the black hat stuff.

Well the Electrical wires at this time had a cloth like covering and some color either dye or paint on the one of the two wires. Well now, the neutral wire was OK, but that other wire, well that was the BAD wire to touch. Since most of the guys who installed electric wires at the time also went to movies on Saturday, you can guess the rest. The 'BAD' wire wears a black hat; the Good wire wears the white hat.

BTW: today that still holds true, the Hot wire has black insulation (black hat), and the Neutral wire is white (the Good guy). That third wire, the ground, is either bare, as in bare-ass back to nature ground hugging hippy; or that third wire has a green insulation cover just like a tree hugging environmentalist is call a 'green'. To some union electricians both hippies and tree-huggers are 'ZERO' people. (a 'zero' is a slang term of denigration, less than useless.)

Phil

[SharonW0111]

Thought of a new saying for us -- "PISS OFF A ELECTRICAN-- HUG A TREE"

there you go Dale-- My full of it shines again --
Sharon

[lucky788scroller]

I can ALWAYS count on you to come through for me Sharon!!!! and just think....I coulda had a V-8 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !

Phil, thanks as well, I knew you had to have some sort of knowlege on this.It would seem that making one standard electrical voltage (and all that other electrical term thingys), would benefit everyone, especially big business and us little guys (even though Im not so little!). Or maybe this was thought about, like another standard/metric fiasco !!!!!!!! What the heck is a cm anyways to a woodworker? How many on here use the metric system with their scrolling? Dale

[SharonW0111]

Dale-- Tell your wife I said to give you a vacum to play with --your thinking is getting you in deep do...

Sharon

Pissss -- if you don't tell her you can vacum -- I just may unless you make her a purdy

[Neal Moore]

I believe as far as conservation of power goes, 230 VAC is more efficient than 115VAC. The transformers that feed our homes here in the U.S. provide us with two single phase 115VAC lines which are 180 degrees out of phase. When one of these lines is connected to a load, such as a lamp, with a neutral return, 115VAC is applied to the lamp. If both of the "hot" wires are connected to a load , such as a hot water heater, 230 VAC is applied to the heater. Transformers that step 230VAC down to 115VAC are 2 to 1 ratio transformers, therefore the current drawn in the primary winding is 2 times that drawn in the secondary. I don't know if the transformers used in Europe are 1 to 1 ratio transformers providing 230VAC to the households. If so, the current in the primary and secondary are the same, thus a conservation of energy as compared to wiring here in the U.S.. Also most devices that operate from 230VAC are more energy efficient than those which operate from 115VAC. This I'm reasonably sure of.

[CanadianScroller]

Long live treadle saws!

4000 strokes per burger.
Usable anywhere.
You can pick the treadle scroller out in a crowd.
They are the one with a single huge thigh.