On Wednesday, April 25, 2018 at 4:44:07 PM UTC-4, Jimmy Wilkinson Knife wrote:
On Tue, 24 Apr 2018 16:07:32 +0100, Wayne Boatwright wrote:

On Tue 24 Apr 2018 06:47:28a, Jimmy Wilkinson Knife told us...

On Tue, 24 Apr 2018 00:33:48 +0100, Wayne Boatwright
wrote:

On Mon 23 Apr 2018 12:59:29p, Jimmy Wilkinson Knife told us...

On Mon, 23 Apr 2018 20:08:41 +0100, Wayne Boatwright
wrote:

On Mon 23 Apr 2018 07:39:07a, Jimmy Wilkinson Knife told us...

On Mon, 23 Apr 2018 15:34:12 +0100, Clare Snyder
wrote:

On Mon, 23 Apr 2018 05:11:13 -0000 (UTC), Wayne Boatwright
wrote:

On Sun 22 Apr 2018 05:53:35a, Jimmy Wilkinson Knife told
us...

On Sun, 22 Apr 2018 13:19:20 +0100, Wayne Boatwright
wrote:

On Sat 21 Apr 2018 11:45:29a, Jimmy Wilkinson Knife told
us...

On Sat, 21 Apr 2018 19:34:56 +0100, Wayne Boatwright
wrote:

On Sat 21 Apr 2018 10:30:54a, Jimmy Wilkinson Knife told
us...

On Sat, 21 Apr 2018 17:34:51 +0100, Clare Snyder
wrote:

On Sat, 21 Apr 2018 16:29:06 +0100, "Jimmy Wilkinson
Knife" wrote:

On Sat, 21 Apr 2018 16:13:43 +0100, Uncle Monster
wrote:

On Saturday, April 21, 2018 at 9:57:48 AM UTC-5,
James Wilkinson Sword wrote:
On Sat, 21 Apr 2018 15:50:07 +0100, Uncle Monster
wrote:

On Saturday, April 21, 2018 at 9:42:58 AM UTC-5,
wrote:
On Sat, 21 Apr 2018 12:35:25 +0100, "James
Wilkinson Sword" wrote:

How hard can it be to put some kind of
electronic limiter on a power tool so if you
over-stress it, it doesn't consume enough
current to melt the coils?

I assume something like this must be done on
electric cars, or instead of stalling the
engine, you'd wreck the motor.

Most motors that are to be used unattended do
have thermal overloads in them. I guess hand
tool manufacturers assume you will stop before
you burn up the tool

I've been on construction sites where I'd cringe
when I heard workers abusing both hand-held and
table saws. One of the things I was always
repairing/replacing were the power cords on
circular saws where some genius carpenter got it
caught in the blade. o_O

I did that with a hedge trimmer once.
--


You folks use 220vac 50hz as I recall. Did you have
a lot of sparks or did the fuse blow immediately?
o_O

[8~{} Uncle Fused Monster

The only observation I made was the trimmer stopped
running. Of course I had a proper 3A fuse in the
plug, not the 13A standard everyone seems to use.
And no I don't have any form of circuit breaker,
earth leakage or otherwise.
North american stuff doesn't have fused plugs.
We fuse the feed circuit.

But you might have a table lamp or a heater plugged
into that circuit. In the UK we fuse according to the
appliance. It also means we don't have to run a
seperate wire to every ****ing outlet.

Is that why your plugs are so damned large?

They're an easy size to get hold of. Your mickey mouse
ones are pathetic. Do you have tiny little hands or
something?

And we had them that large before fuses, it ain't the
fuse that takes up the space, it's because they can take
13 amps. Over 3 kilowatts on any device we like, no need
for special circuits with different currents and
voltages, just one standard plug and socket for anything
you like, anywhere in the house. I can plug a computer,
a lamp, a hairdryer, a vacuum cleaner, or a clothes dryer
into the same outlet.

OK, I undeand. Apparently at some point the US considred
convertng to a system similar to that in the UK, but
because of the already existig proliferation of both low
and high volage devices, wiring, sockets, and plugs in the
US, it was deterined impractical. At that point in time,
there was not such a proliferation of such devices in the
UK.

Why would it be impossible to make all your future plugs
the same, but containing a fuse? And you could gradually
move over to the higher voltage too to simplify things.
New appliances could run on the higher voltage, in fact
switched mode power supplies would run on either.


I never said it would be impossible, but at this late date
it would probably be economically unfeasible given the
millions of devices from generating stations down to single
households.
I'm also not suggesting that either system is better or
worse
than the other. What works in either country happens to work
and no one on either side of the ponnd seems to have a
problem with their own system. Personallhy, I don't really
care. I was only curious some physical attributes of the UK
system.
Back in about 1954? Ontario Hydro decommissioned the old
25 hz
system in the remainder of Ontario to switch up to 60 hz.

This required the replacement of all induction motors,
ballasts and clocks in the affected area. At that time it was
a major hassle, but not a disaster, due to the relatively
small number of induction motors and flourescent lights in
use, as well as clocks.

Can you imagine a changeover of that magnatude today?
Particularly changing operating voltage - which would require
changing anything with a transformer, a universal motor, a
light bulb, etc AS WELL as the inductionmotors and ballasts
which needed to be changed for the frequency shift???????

It would be a MAJOR disruption to ALL life in North America.

To say it wouldn't be impossible is pretting a pretty
litteral and restrictive definition to the word.


At that time they did not decommission all the 25 hz
generators - they installed HUGE rotary frequency converters
which have only now been decommissioned with the overhaul od
the last generating stations - with some industries in New
York STILL running on 25 hz up untill the conversion in 2006?
when the 25hz generators at the old Rankine station were
decommissioned.

But it isn't a sudden change in voltage. 240V is already in
all American homes. You just move stuff over as you buy new
things and use the higher voltage instead of the centre tap.
Eventually the centre tap is obsolete.


Homes would have to be rewired to handle 240 volts. When every
homeowner has to have that done, it's a major undertaking and
is not cheap to do.

You have yours, we have ours, and I think we just need to agree
to disagree.

But you already have 240V.


I'm tired of arguing over this. The 240V wiring in our houses is
prdominately for electric ranges and electric dryers. The 120V
wiring throughout the rest of our houses would not support 240V.

Yes it would. Is it not true that you have double outlets with
120V on each, where neutral to each is actually the centre tap,
and the live to each is opposite ends of the 240V? So you could
remove the neutral and make a 240V outlet right there.

No, it would not. The guage of wire for 120V outlets is lighter
weight and not meant for 240V. 240V outlets have substantially
heavier guage wire.

The guage is for the current, not the voltage.

Wile it is true that we typically have double outlets, both outlets
are fed by a single pair wires coming into the box. There are some
exceptions where there are two pairs of wires, each connected to one
of the outlets. This is usually done so that one outlet can be
controlled by a switch and the other is not, and each is often
connected to a separate circuit.

Why on earth would you need to wire it up like that to have a seperate switch? I have double outlets in my house in the UK, with a single pair of wires feeding it. There's a switch on each one,

Then both of those receptacles are switched together, on one switch.
As Wayne explained, you can have one half of a receptacle always hot
and the other switched. But I'm sure you'll fail to see the usefulness
of that, because it's apparently not done in the UK.




and I alsdo find it odd ou don't have switches on every outlet. The UK used to have no switches on outlets, but they're all switched now.

And there is an advantage to having half of one switched the other half live.





The double outlets are usually
manufactured with copper bands joining the two connecting points on
the sockets. This blows your theory right out of the water. You
obviously don't have a clue asa to how our system works, whether or
not you like the way it works.

I'm only repeating what I've heard, that they have -120, 0, +120V to double outlets. An American told me this long ago.

--
Love conquers all, except in tennis.

More likely you didn't understand what you were told.