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Photo of century-old electric panel

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soldar:
I took this photo at the monastery Saint-Paul-de-Mausole, near Saint-Rémy, Provence, where Vincent Van Gogh committed himself for a time. It is now mostly a museum and kept like it was many decades ago.

It looks to me like a knife switch actuated by the wooden lever on the right and which simultaneously interrupts three phases. Just below each knife switch is a fuse. All this is mounted on a marble base or slab. I find the thick, open, general fuses interesting.

Below that some more smaller circuit fuses in ceramic holders and outlets, cables, etc.

Wires are cloth insulated.

I would have expected to see a neutral but it may have been a star configuration.

The monastery was an asylum but now is mostly a tourist museum. They still have an adjacent building as asylum and I found it somewhat disturbing and upsetting to hear shouting and shrieking and realize it was people in serious mental pain.

nctnico:

--- Quote from: soldar on May 19, 2024, 03:23:56 pm ---They still have an adjacent building as asylum and I found it somewhat disturbing and upsetting to hear shouting and shrieking and realize it was people in serious mental pain.

--- End quote ---
Side note:
I wouldn't consider shouting or making noises a sign of mental pain. Maybe just lack of 'control' where you can also ask yourself if 'sane' people would feel better if it was socially acceptable to make noise. Last week I was in a swimming pool and there was also a small group of mentally impaired people going for a swim. One of them was making sounds like a high-pitched Chewbacca but this person was having a good time in the pool though.

m k:
Maybe neutral is "local" to other end, though it would be generally quite difficult.
And there is something extra also, maybe a lightning rod connection.

For shouting, it can release stress, common knowledge.
Shouting into a glass jar can shrink the area increasing stress of others.

jitter:
It could also be something like the 3 x 230 V system I once came across in the historical centre of Mechelen, Belgium. This system supplies 230 V without a neutral conductor.

At first I was confused because I measured 230 V between line and neutral on the socket, but about 135 V between line and earth and also 135 V between neutral and earth (odd values as this is NOT a split phase system). In the system I am used to, neutral and earth are connected together in several places (so have about 0 V across them), but over there, this was clearly not the case.
Since this system does not have a neutral conductor, sockets must be wired between the phases, hence the same voltage on the supposedly neutral conductor with respect to earth (and that is the reason why you must always regard both line and neutral conductors as live).

Once I multiplied 135 V by √3 I got about 230 V and I understood what was happening.



harerod:
Looks like fire waiting to happen...

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