> >mean a second wire ? Surely you do not mean they are using the earth > (dirt) as a > >return path ? That would be terribly inefficient !
Down here in Australia, Single Wire Earth Return (SWER) is common for long rural lines. They run at 12.7 kv (one phase of a 22 kv 3 phase line). At the consumer end there is a pole mounted transformer and a fenced off earth stake. It seems to work reasonably well even in dry conditions but you occasionally hear stories of a large quadruped coming to nasty end if they get inside the enclosure. Obviously there would be a radial potential field in the ground and on the surface and quite a voltage can develop across their legs. Morris _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.