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[#] Thu Dec 12 2013 20:17:29 UTC from dothebart

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Thu Dec 12 2013 11:00:14 EST from fleeb

Actually, I think he's serious.

The dryer outlet is running at 240 volts rather than the usual 120 volts like most of our outlets.

If the person in question is trying to run a computer that requires 220 volts, he's better off using the dryer outlet.

This guy does a pretty good job of explaining why we're so off:

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1033/how-come-the-u-s-uses-120-volt-e lectricity-not-240-like-the-rest-of-the-world

He also explains, in the last paragraph, how you get 240 from our 120 for those dryer appliances.

its 230 in the rest of the world, and 400 with rotary voltage.

there are however countries in europe that migrated during the last 40 years, i.e. france.

many switching power suplies nowadays support various voltages - at most notebook power suplies.

abandoning overcome traditions doesn't seem to be one of the strengths of the US - be it obscure units from the ancient past hard to work with, or technicaly inapropriate voltages ineficient in transmitting energy.

probably thats a side effect of 'lean govermert'

I guess if the army would switch it'd be not that much of a problem in the end.

 



[#] Thu Dec 12 2013 22:31:25 UTC from the_mgt

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Quote from the above article:

But don't worry that we're stuck with a technological dinosaur. Fact is, homes with standard 3-wire electrical service in most parts of the country get 240 volts. The three wires that come in from the street are 120 volts positive, zero volts (neutral), and 120 volts negative. (I know, this is alternating current, not DC, so we can't really say "120 volts positive," but don't bother me with details.)

You are still stuck, we have 5 wires here in modern homes, one is PE (protective earth), one is neutral and 3 wires with 240V each (measured against neutral). Since they are "phase shifted", the difference between two of them is around 400V. We switched from 220V to 240V, but almost all our gadgets run fine with that.

So our dryer outlets are the same as all other outlets and have 240V, our kitchen ovens use all three of those wires/phases, so we cook with 400V. German engineering in da house, yo! ;)

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split-phase_electric_power#Europe and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-phase

NB: The image of Fig. 3 in that article is something you almost never see in germany, most of our wires run underground in cities, only really rural and small villages have wires hanging around in the air.




[#] Thu Dec 12 2013 22:44:36 UTC from IGnatius T Foobar

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The reason it's 120 (or 117 or 110 whatever) in the US is because that asshole Thomas Edison decided it was the optimal voltage to run incandescent lighting on. He was the Bill Gates of his day and he forced his quasi-standard down everyone's throats.

[#] Fri Dec 13 2013 03:21:56 UTC from fleeb

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Heh... he had to embrace alternating current, but he resisted it. The idea of alternating current belonged to that damnable Tesla.

[#] Fri Dec 13 2013 15:49:08 UTC from Shazam

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That elephant story, Topsy, that was sad. But I guess he felt like he had to prove a point and for whatever reason he and Tesla couldn't just get together and whip em out and get a measuring tape.

[#] Sat Dec 14 2013 00:08:57 UTC from fleeb

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Yeah, mankind's cruelty kinda shows in what they did to that elephant.

Edison was an asshole. Seriously. Not a very nice person at all.

Tesla was a nice guy, but... really odd.

[#] Sat Dec 14 2013 01:59:58 UTC from Sig

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I'll take odd over asshole any day.

[#] Sat Dec 14 2013 16:52:00 UTC from triLcat

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seconded.



[#] Sat Dec 14 2013 22:14:43 UTC from IGnatius T Foobar

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That elephant story, Topsy, that was sad. But I guess he felt like he

had to prove a point and for whatever reason he and Tesla couldn't just

get together and whip em out and get a measuring tape.

Edison and Tesla did a bunch of work together, but Tesla was the one who kept coming up with cool stuff, Edison was just the one who billgatesed his way into making all the money and screwing everyone else in the business, including his own people.

Yes I invented a new verb. It is self-explanatory and awesome.

For those of you not familiar with the story: Edison wanted a DC power distribution standard; Tesla knew that AC was better; each had deals with nascent power companies. In order to fool people into believing that AC was dangerous, Edison would stage public electrocutions of animals. Forget about the fact that DC would kill them just as dead -- scumbags like Edison don't need to have the truth on their side.

[#] Sun Dec 15 2013 00:54:38 UTC from fleeb

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Here's the video Edison made, just to underscore what a jerk he was:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VD0Q5FeF_wU

[#] Sun Dec 15 2013 00:57:12 UTC from fleeb

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Note that the elephant had a history of hurting humans... but it also had a history of being abused. It probably didn't much care for people.

Easy to see why.

[#] Sun Dec 15 2013 03:19:45 UTC from IGnatius T Foobar

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Still, I would have respected Edison if he'd taken that 6,600 volts AC and used it to kill animal rights activists. Which reminds me, it's about time for me to email Ingrid again.

[#] Mon Dec 16 2013 02:12:24 UTC from zooer

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Do you need a hug?

You are always talking about killing people, wish harm on others, wishing people would die in a
car fire. Do you need a hug?

[#] Mon Dec 16 2013 18:45:42 UTC from IGnatius T Foobar

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Yes, I need a hug.

[#] Mon Dec 16 2013 22:52:46 UTC from LoanShark

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DIACF.

[#] Mon Dec 16 2013 23:28:26 UTC from IGnatius T Foobar

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luv you too, buddy :)

[#] Tue Dec 17 2013 19:09:13 UTC from zooer

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Well I hope you get that hug. You have a great wife, two wonderful kids, a good job there is no reason to go
around wishing harm to others.

[#] Thu Dec 19 2013 06:42:25 UTC from triLcat

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Yup. The anger you show here, IG... It's painful to see. I hope that this is the way you vent it so that it doesn't have to live inside you. 

In any case, though, please, hug your kids a little extra... 



[#] Thu Dec 19 2013 12:26:26 UTC from IGnatius T Foobar

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Actually yes, I do tend to let it out online rather than everywhere else.

[#] Thu Dec 19 2013 14:47:30 UTC from Ladyhawke

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Don't worry, you're in a Safe Place here.  Except for the car fires.  And the manic macaroni.   And the Zombie.  

Hmm....

Well, at least it's all Aahz's fault....



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