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The U.S. has been 240V for over a century. It uses split phase which has opposite phases on each hot line to let you take one and connect it to neutral to get 1

by ryao 2y ago

The U.S. has been 240V for over a century. It uses split phase which has opposite phases on each hot line to let you take one and connect it to neutral to get 120V. If you connect both hot lines, you get 240V. For some reason, people in Europe and other places are unaware of this despite this having been the case since electrification happened in the early 20th century.

AdrianB1 2y ago
People are aware of this, but the regular sockets are connected to 120V only. You can (easily) hack an electrical circuit ("consumer unit" in UK) to deliver 240V on an existing plug, but that would be a very serious code violation. SO unless you hack your house circuits, you have 120V on regular sockets.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- ryao 2y ago
  You can replace the receptacles with ones meant for 240VAC at the same time you modify the wiring. Then it should be okay. Replacing the NEMA 5-15 receptacles with NEMA 6-15 receptacles would work.
jltsiren 2y ago
Then you could also say that Europe uses 400 V. You get three-phase power with 230 V phases in your home, and high-powered appliances are often designed to use all three phases. But when people speak of voltages, they usually mean what you get from a typical socket.
- ryao 2y ago
  This explains why a number of people in Europe seem to love the idea of having triple phase to DC on board chargers on electric cars, even though it makes more sense to have those at the charging points. That said, a typical socket likely varies more in the U.S. than in Europe since anything that is high draw in the U.S. gets 240VAC while Europe's 220VAC likely suffices for that. I actually have experimented with running some of my computers off 240VAC. It was actually better than 120VAC since the AC to DC conversion is more efficient when stepping down from 240VAC. Sadly, 240VAC UPS units are pricy, so I terminated that in favor of 120VAC until I find a deal on a 240VAC UPS unit.

by ryao 2y ago

AdrianB1 2y ago

People are aware of this, but the regular sockets are connected to 120V only. You can (easily) hack an electrical circuit ("consumer unit" in UK) to deliver 240V on an existing plug, but that would be a very serious code violation. SO unless you hack your house circuits, you have 120V on regular sockets.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
ryao 2y ago
You can replace the receptacles with ones meant for 240VAC at the same time you modify the wiring. Then it should be okay. Replacing the NEMA 5-15 receptacles with NEMA 6-15 receptacles would work.

jltsiren 2y ago

Then you could also say that Europe uses 400 V. You get three-phase power with 230 V phases in your home, and high-powered appliances are often designed to use all three phases. But when people speak of voltages, they usually mean what you get from a typical socket.

ryao 2y ago
This explains why a number of people in Europe seem to love the idea of having triple phase to DC on board chargers on electric cars, even though it makes more sense to have those at the charging points. That said, a typical socket likely varies more in the U.S. than in Europe since anything that is high draw in the U.S. gets 240VAC while Europe's 220VAC likely suffices for that. I actually have experimented with running some of my computers off 240VAC. It was actually better than 120VAC since the AC to DC conversion is more efficient when stepping down from 240VAC. Sadly, 240VAC UPS units are pricy, so I terminated that in favor of 120VAC until I find a deal on a 240VAC UPS unit.