Electronics > Beginners
Is there a particular reason Japan is 100 volts?
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schmitt trigger:
And I mean a technical reason.

To the best of my knowledge, it is unique to Japan.
One would think that, Japanese people being frugal, would have chosen a higher voltage to reduce copper utilization.
Alex Eisenhut:
Worse, half the place is 50Hz, the rest 60Hz. Fun!

https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2225.html

Not as exciting as what they do in Brazil!
tooki:

--- Quote from: blueskull on August 30, 2018, 01:52:55 am ---My 6 cents:

1. Japanese sockets are 2-pin only, and if you need ground bonding, you have an exposed screw for that (and a spade connector on appliance cords).
2. So they can't conveniently plug in plugs with ground without screwing/unscrewing, and therefore they need a less lethal voltage in case shit hits the fan (they do have GFCI).
3. Also, lower voltage reduces Y cap leakage, which helps increasing user experience (less mild tingling shock, less headphone hums, etc.) when grounding is not conveniently feasible.

--- End quote ---
That’s nothing but idle speculation. I’m quite certain Japan’s choice of 100V (or rather, its two decisions of 100V, since part of the country is 50Hz and part is 60Hz) predates any of those concerns by a long time.
amyk:
I read that early arc-lighting generators and incandescent lamps ran at 100V, so that might've been a reason; or they just liked the nice round number of 100.

You could equally ask why a voltage of 120V or 240V was chosen by everyone else...

Alex Eisenhut:
Maybe it was to sync up to 33 1/3 RPM records after 3 minutes?
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