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The Italian princess...

Started by twocvbloke, October 21, 2012, 12:59:20 AM

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poplar1

#15
Sorry, I didn't see the reference to live and neutral.

However, I always thought you used only 240VAC in Britain and no neutral. (In the US and Canada, black and red are live and white is neutral. Black to white or red to white=120V and black to red=240V.) The 120VAC outlets have black, white, and bare ground. In the breaker box half the 120VAC black wires are connected to the black main and the other half of the 120VAC black wires are connected to the red main.

The neutral white wire and the grounds used to be connected on the same grounding bus bar but in new installations the bare ground is isolated from the  white neutral in the breaker box, and the main disconnect is located outside in the meter box.

It's been a while since I studied this so I may be wrong.
"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

twocvbloke

We don't have a split-phase system like the US giving you the option of 120v and 240v from the same wires in a domestic setting, we just get straight 240v through a phase-to-neutral system. The power supply lines however going to houses are generally on a three phase supply, so the first house is on phase 1, second on phase 2, and third on phase three, apparently balancing the load for neighbourhoods with varying power needs, so in theory joining the phases between houses can give you 480v, which is why it's a bad idea to share a satellite dish between them as the phase differential could cause fire in poorly designed (aka sky) satellite receivers... :D

It's not really changed over the years, the plugs sockets have changed shape, the wire colours in the cables have been harmonised to Euro standards (used to be Red=Live, Black=Neutral, Green or bare copper=Earth, now it's Brown=Live, Blue=Neutral & green/yellow or bare copper=Earth), and apparently all of europe is on 230v, except we're not, cos they factored in tolerances that meant that no country had to actually change voltages, so was a waste of money on pointless paperwork... :D

I'm no electrician by any means, but, I know enough to get by, and not to do silly things.... ;D

dsk

I guess I would have to force in the Norwegian phone plug to the British socket.
So if the Italian really fits, its different, even when it looks familiar.
dsk

Owain

Quote from: twocvbloke on November 06, 2012, 12:51:31 PM
we just get straight 240v through a phase-to-neutral system. ...  in theory joining the phases between houses can give you 480v,

Now officially 230V to earth, 3 phase is 400V between phases. Used to be 240V single phase to earth and 415V between phases.

The reason it's not 480V is that it's 3-phase and something mathematical called 'vector addition', at which point my head starts to hurt

twocvbloke

Yeah, it's why I didn't become an electrician, I'm no good with maths, even when I'm using a calculator... :D

Babybearjs

to think they used line voltage wiring devices with telecommunication equipment.... thats like me putting a regular 2 prong plug on the Low Voltage side of a portable radio...... which I did when I was in high school... my dad plugged in the wrong cord and POW! there went the radio..... this could happen here too... based on the connection type, if used in the UK by someone who doesnt know the defference between a power outlet and a telephone jack!
John

twocvbloke

#21
I did actually start a thread on here somewhere about odd plugs on telephones, one of which I noticed had a 2 Amp BS546 plug on it, usually reserved for centrally switched lamps, but it apparently was a ships phone or something, so maybe they got away with it, but, someone not in the know about such things could get confused if they saw that phone and a lamp socket on the wall, resulting in a fried phone.... :o

Edit:
This thread:
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=7069.0

dsk

#22
Quote from: twocvbloke on November 06, 2012, 04:46:50 PM
Yeah, it's why I didn't become an electrician, I'm no good with maths, even when I'm using a calculator... :D

This becomes quite off topic, but you may draw and measure, you don't have to calculate.
Just draw a triangle, put in an Y and measure.   Works for all except the 208V system. (picture)

The enclosed sketch may be downloaded as PDF (link under)




dsk

twocvbloke

Even that confuses me.... ???

I've never been one for paperwork, even looking at the diagrams for telephone wiring takes some tie for me to understand, but, seeing the actual wiring in person, I can "see" it if you get what I mean, a diagram I just see lines and squiggles that means nothing to me... :o

I've always been a hands-on person, I never get on with drawing or writing out anything, I like to do stuff, if it works, great, if not, try again... ;D

Infact, what comes to mind is Tim Hunkin and his post-TSLOM stuff, one of which is called "Trial and error":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm6zojSGoco

Showing that hands on stuff is better than just drawing something out and hoping it works... :)

Anyway, any new pictures of this Italian phone coming? Just to keep things on-topic... :D