Hi, I was wondering if you can help me.

My Wife bought a set of curling irons in the US on holiday. They are multi
voltage (110-240). However, they have a US two pin plug (one pin slightly
larger than the other).

Can I just put a UK plug on the cable? Obviously there will be no earth as
there is only 2 pins.

Which pin is the positive (bigger or smaller of the two pins)?

Thanks

TS

On Thu, 9 Jun 2005 17:08:55 +0000 (UTC), "TS"
wrote:

Hi, I was wondering if you can help me.

My Wife bought a set of curling irons in the US on holiday. They are multi
voltage (110-240). However, they have a US two pin plug (one pin slightly
larger than the other).

Can I just put a UK plug on the cable? Obviously there will be no earth as
there is only 2 pins.

Which pin is the positive (bigger or smaller of the two pins)?

Thanks

TS

The narrower of the 2 prongs is the Live/Phase, the wide being the
neutral.

You should find the neutral is also the 'identified conductor'

[assuming figure 8 style cord, the one with a ridge or series of
ridges on it]

US power cords are generally rated at 300 volt, but are only single
insulated, but for a curling iron I wouldn't think that was a major
safety issue because of the short usage time. Just keep an eye on it
for damage to the cord:-)

Chipmunk wrote:
On Thu, 9 Jun 2005 17:08:55 +0000 (UTC), "TS"
wrote:

Hi, I was wondering if you can help me.

My Wife bought a set of curling irons in the US on holiday. They are multi
voltage (110-240). However, they have a US two pin plug (one pin slightly
larger than the other).

Can I just put a UK plug on the cable? Obviously there will be no earth as
there is only 2 pins.

Which pin is the positive (bigger or smaller of the two pins)?

Thanks

TS

The narrower of the 2 prongs is the Live/Phase, the wide being the
neutral.

You should find the neutral is also the 'identified conductor'

[assuming figure 8 style cord, the one with a ridge or series of
ridges on it]

US power cords are generally rated at 300 volt, but are only single
insulated, but for a curling iron I wouldn't think that was a major
safety issue because of the short usage time. Just keep an eye on it
for damage to the cord:-)

Our mains goes upto over 300v 100 times a second, but if the appliance
is 240v rated it should be ok on 240v.

NT

TS wrote:
Hi, I was wondering if you can help me.

My Wife bought a set of curling irons in the US on holiday. They are multi
voltage (110-240). However, they have a US two pin plug (one pin slightly
larger than the other).

Can I just put a UK plug on the cable?
YES
Which pin is the positive (bigger or smaller of the two pins)?
AC mains, positive? what means that?
If there is no earth it doesn't matter, i.e. its equally dangerous
either way round.
Dunno how the US elec saftey standards relate to EU ones but is it worth
a few quid?

"Chipmunk" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 9 Jun 2005 17:08:55 +0000 (UTC), "TS"
wrote:

Hi, I was wondering if you can help me.

My Wife bought a set of curling irons in the US on holiday. They are multi
voltage (110-240). However, they have a US two pin plug (one pin slightly
larger than the other).
[snip]
The narrower of the 2 prongs is the Live/Phase, the wide being the
neutral.

You should find the neutral is also the 'identified conductor'

AIUI for domestic supplies American local distribution transformers had the
earth connected to the centre tap rather than the 'neutral' arrangement here.
This was considered a safer arrangement as the maximum potential the consumer
could be exposed to was about 60 volts. Is this still the case or have things
moved on?

For three phase supplies we are used here to seeing the star point connected to
earth. What is the arrangemnt in America?

Roger

Roger

In article ,
"Roger R" writes:
AIUI for domestic supplies American local distribution transformers had the
earth connected to the centre tap rather than the 'neutral' arrangement here.
This was considered a safer arrangement as the maximum potential the consumer
could be exposed to was about 60 volts. Is this still the case or have things
moved on?

It never was the case in the US. Houses are usually fed with
two 'hots' 120º out of phase, and the neutral is earthed,
120-0-120V.

What you describe is more like a UK construction site supply,
which is 55-0-55V, but the 0V tap here is for a ground connection
only, and not for supplying appliances -- appliances get 110V.

For three phase supplies we are used here to seeing the star point connected to
earth. What is the arrangemnt in America?

3-phase is not normally available to homes in the US. Indeed, usually,
there's only a single phase high voltage feeder to each street, and
the house supplies are tapped off that via the final pole mount
stepdown transformer, which creates the 120-0-120V supply.
3-phase is routinely supplied to commercial permises, particularly
for fluorescent and other discharge lighting used in volume, which
is more complicated to run from voltages as low as 120V.

--
Andrew Gabriel

"Andrew Gabriel" wrote in message
.. .
In article ,
"Roger R" writes:
AIUI for domestic supplies American local distribution transformers had the
earth connected to the centre tap rather than the 'neutral' arrangement
here.
This was considered a safer arrangement as the maximum potential the
consumer
could be exposed to was about 60 volts. Is this still the case or have
things
moved on?

It never was the case in the US. Houses are usually fed with
two 'hots' 120º out of phase, and the neutral is earthed,
120-0-120V.

What you describe is more like a UK construction site supply,
which is 55-0-55V, but the 0V tap here is for a ground connection
only, and not for supplying appliances -- appliances get 110V.

For three phase supplies we are used here to seeing the star point connected
to
earth. What is the arrangemnt in America?

3-phase is not normally available to homes in the US. Indeed, usually,
there's only a single phase high voltage feeder to each street, and
the house supplies are tapped off that via the final pole mount
stepdown transformer, which creates the 120-0-120V supply.
3-phase is routinely supplied to commercial permises, particularly
for fluorescent and other discharge lighting used in volume, which
is more complicated to run from voltages as low as 120V.

Thanks for that informative reply, I don't know where I got my idea from.

I'm a little confused by what you say about being fed with two 'hots' 120
degrees out of phase (Two Phase?), yet in the last paragraph you say there's
only a single phase high voltage feeder to each street that via a step down
transformer provides the 120-0-120 supply. Surely those feeds would be the
same phase?

Roger

In article ,
"Roger R" writes:

"Andrew Gabriel" wrote in message
.. .

3-phase is not normally available to homes in the US. Indeed, usually,
there's only a single phase high voltage feeder to each street, and
the house supplies are tapped off that via the final pole mount
stepdown transformer, which creates the 120-0-120V supply.
3-phase is routinely supplied to commercial permises, particularly
for fluorescent and other discharge lighting used in volume, which
is more complicated to run from voltages as low as 120V.

Thanks for that informative reply, I don't know where I got my idea from.

I'm a little confused by what you say about being fed with two 'hots' 120
degrees out of phase (Two Phase?), yet in the last paragraph you say there's

Sorry, that was a typo and should have said 180º.

only a single phase high voltage feeder to each street that via a step down
transformer provides the 120-0-120 supply. Surely those feeds would be the
same phase?

They are inverted, or 180º out of phase. This is created in
the transformer by having two windings connected the opposite
way round, more commonly thought of as a centre-tapped winding.
I deliberately did not use the term 2-phase, as although it is
in a phasor diagram, this term has a specific meaning in the
US supply industry refering to a different supply arrangement
(two phases 90º apart on a 4-wire system) and supply
engineers all start getting horribly confused if you refer to
the 120-0-120V US system as 2-phase.

--
Andrew Gabriel