As far as I know, Edison decided on 110VDC (That's why people in the US constantly refer to it as "110" when it's not been that way for over a century), as that was high enough to make conductors reasonable, but not terribly lethal, (so he claimed) light bulb filaments could bear it, and switchgear could handle the arcs. When AC came along, to preserve the same light bulbs, they matched Edison's DC. (RMS)
It started off as 110VAC, and slowly rose over the years until it was made official in ANSI C81.1 in the early 1950's as 120VAC. On Mon, Mar 11, 2024 at 1:35 PM Lawrence Winiarski via EV <ev@lists.evdl.org> wrote: > > We have 240 volt systems of course (stove/dryer and less common nema 6-15 > etc..). Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think at least some of the > non-us households ONLY have 240 volts (i.e they don't bring 480 into the > panel and have split transformers like we have but rather they groundone > leg as a neutral) > > That means our 240 has a slight advantage in that each leg is only 120v > above ground, while I think some countries have a 240 with a hot and > neutralleg. > > > On Monday, March 11, 2024, 12:46:12 PM PDT, EV List Lackey via EV < > ev@lists.evdl.org> wrote: > > I'm sure that there must be good reasons that the US chose 120 volts and > most of the rest of the world chose 240 volts, but I don't know what they > are. > > David Roden, EVDL moderator & general lackey > > To reach me, don't reply to this message; I won't get it. Use my > offlist address here : http://evdl.org/help/index.html#supt > > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = > > Talking about the contents of this poster is illegal. > It is important that you share this information with > colleagues and neighbors, and discuss it with your > family. Failure to do so may lead to prosecution. > For more information please reread. > > -- Scarfolk Council poster > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = > > _______________________________________________ > Address messages to ev@lists.evdl.org > No other addresses in TO and CC fields > HELP: http://www.evdl.org/help/ > > > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: < > http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20240311/36f914a0/attachment.htm > > > _______________________________________________ > Address messages to ev@lists.evdl.org > No other addresses in TO and CC fields > HELP: http://www.evdl.org/help/ > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20240311/a7a44022/attachment.htm> _______________________________________________ Address messages to ev@lists.evdl.org No other addresses in TO and CC fields HELP: http://www.evdl.org/help/
