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Grumpy rant #783

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rsjsouza:
The safety of plugs is a non-issue. Regardless of the design, people dying from household electrocution AND specifically caused by the plug/outlet themselves is nil. System-wide alternatives exist (such as GFCI in the US or any leakage protection circuit breaker) as well as the mandatory ground/earth connection in installations, general education and improvements in materials and quality of plugs.

Obviously that anything can be circumvented and the flood of low quality products also compounds the problem. But even with all these factors in place the obsession with "safety" has very diminishing returns. I come from a country where the same "Saudi Arabia M.O." mentioned before is used at large, ground/earth is a russian roulette and people stubbornly still manage to be alive. Heck, we shower with a 5kW (typical) electrical powerhouse in our heads (mostly unearthed) and people still refuse from dying.

One thing is certain: a great deal of money can be made by promoting fear. Some 10 years ago Brasil adopted a new standard of outlets and plugs that was sold to the general public as one of the safest options in the world, but at the great expense of the general population that had to foot the bill in replacing/changing their appliances and household outlets but without a serious enforcement of the existing national electrical code standards. Guess which one is cheaper from a government perspective? 

TimFox:

--- Quote from: Someone on October 07, 2023, 09:54:13 am ---
--- Quote from: DavidAlfa on October 07, 2023, 09:27:54 am ---Looks like chaos? Ask Japan, where Tokyo is the line dividing the country in 220V and 110V. I guess it's the reason they sell so many electronics!
--- End quote ---
Wrong on 3 4 (5?) points: Japan being universally 100V with some 200V higher power loads, 50/60 Hz division, the boundary being clearly defined along a river 100km outside of Tokyo:
https://www.kepco.co.jp/english/home/denki/01.html

--- End quote ---

I think he is confused about the dividing line between 50 Hz (Tokyo, etc.) and 60 Hz (Osaka, etc.) line frequencies.
As I remember, the dividing line is somewhere around Shizuoka.
The supply voltage standard is the same.

DavidAlfa:
I recently watched or read this somewhere, supposedly Japan had mixed 110v / 220v depending on areas.
Will research this more, maybe I read BS  :).

coppice:

--- Quote from: DavidAlfa on October 07, 2023, 07:40:32 pm ---I recently watched or read this somewhere, supposedly Japan had mixed 110v / 220v depending on areas.
Will research this more, maybe I read BS  :).

--- End quote ---
Japan has 220V mains, just like the US has 220V mains. Two lots of 110V, with a 180 degree phase shift.

TimFox:

--- Quote from: coppice on October 07, 2023, 07:48:30 pm ---
--- Quote from: DavidAlfa on October 07, 2023, 07:40:32 pm ---I recently watched or read this somewhere, supposedly Japan had mixed 110v / 220v depending on areas.
Will research this more, maybe I read BS  :).

--- End quote ---
Japan has 220V mains, just like the US has 220V mains. Two lots of 110V, with a 180 degree phase shift.

--- End quote ---

Once again, the normal NEMA 5-15 and 5-20 outlets that are ubiquitous in the US have 120 V line-neutral, although a normal house is fed with 120-0-120 V to allow high-power 240 V loads, such as air conditioners and clothes dryers.

When working in Japan and installing equipment, I was surprised that the 3-phase mains were typically 200 V rms line-line and the 1-phase mains were 100 V rms line-neutral.
Those numbers do not correspond by the usual 120 degree trigonometry:  Typical US is 120 V line-neutral and 208 V line-line, which agree with each other.
https://www.kepco.co.jp/english/home/denki/01.html
https://www.stamford-avk.com/sites/stamfordavk/files/AGN203_B.pdf

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