Most of the world outside North America, is 230-240 VAC to ground. Split
single phase, 120-neutral-120, is essentially only in North America.
Normal circuit breakers are only single pole and only switch the live
conductor. It is not common to find a circuit breaker that cuts the
neutral as well as the live conductor. In the US, a two pole breaker is
feeding a 240 circuit, and each conductor (black and white/red) are 120
Vac to neutral. The 240 v appliance may not have need of the neutral
conductor.
In the the US and Canada, the neutral conductor is connected to the
ground (earth) conductor ONLY in the main (first in line) service
equipment ("panel"). The ground rod conductor and the plumbing bond
conductor(s) also are connected at the main panel. Everywhere else the
neural and ground are kept separate. This is the general practice in
most of the world.
The neutral coming from the utility is indeed grounded in North America.
It is also grounded in most of the rest of the world. It kind of has to
be, if you think about it. The utilities often sink ground rods and run
a ground wire here and there. They do this at least in one place near
the step-down transformer serving the branch. However, after it branches
to different houses on the same branch, they each connect the neutral to
a ground rod conductor in each of their main panels.
What is interesting is that the live (hot) conductor in North America is
the black colored one. Most other places, the black is neutral (ground
potential).
The US has, by far, the world's thickest electrical code book. :-)
In NZ, they routinely run 10 amps through 1mm^2 wire. (You are allowed
to put up to 16 amps depending on insulation type and installation
methods.) This is equivalent to a 17 AWG wire. The wiring is much
thinner in the rest of the world than it it is the US.
Bill D.
On 3/12/2024 12:51 PM, EV List Lackey via EV wrote:
On 11 Mar 2024 at 20:33, Lawrence Winiarski via EV wrote:
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)
I don't know about other places, but France doesn't have an equivalent of
the US split phase system.
It's 400 / 230 volt 3-phase. Older and/or larger houses often have 3-phase
installed, especially if they were once farms or businesses. Newer houses
usually just get one phase and neutral.
You can request 3-phase from the utility, and charge your EV at up to 22kW,
if the onboard charger allows. (32a * 230v * 3ph) But the cost will be
higher.
Circuit breakers are always double-pole, so they open both hot and 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.
Yep, hot and neutral. For a 3-phase installation, 3 hots and a neutral.
As I understand it, the neutral isn't grounded ahead of the house. Maybe
that's why a lightning arrestor is usually fitted to the main panel. But
the neutral IS grounded at the main house service entrance, so the potential
to ground is 230v.
Hence a 500ma main RCD, and smaller 30ma RCDs on each panel bus.
David Roden, EVDL moderator & general lackey
To reach me, don't reply to this message; I won't get it. Use my
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