ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Non-US Electrical Systems & Trades "Esoteric" countries and their wiring practices?

Cuz it's too expensive to supply and ship?

Keep in mind that you're talking about manufacturers that will omit a 5-cent resistor if it helps them get a 100-percent markup in the final price.

I've seen the set you picture at Radio Shack here in the USA.

It includes one BS-1363, one Nema 1-15, one Europlug and one Australian plug.

Fairly expensive...I think I saw it for $13 plus taxes.

Now...I wonder what the BS-1363 adapter-plug is fused with?

If they're smart, they would have given you a 3-amp, a 5-amp and a 13 amp fuse depending on what you're using.

But I betcha it's probably equipped with a 13-amp fuse!

One advantage of this is that I can take the American adapter-plug, stick it directly into the back of my radio/cassette-recorder (figure-eight socket) and stick the whole thing directly into a wall socket. Presto. Wall-mounted sound system!!

I wouldn't be at all surprised. After all, it's a 13A plug, so it needs a 13A fuse, right?

Even with a 13A fuse, the cord is just as well protected as it would be when using the other plugs fed from a 15 or 16A breaker at the panel.

Some information on Hong Kong:
http://www.info.gov.hk/hkfacts/supplies.pdf

When I was a kid, we used to have 200V; but since all the imported appliances were rated 220V (or switchable 110/120/220/240 but not to 200V), it made more sense to boost up to 220V/380V. No, we have not converted to 230V (as can be seen in the government publication).

OIRT ==> Organisation Internationale de Radio et Télévision, with 28 members consisting mainly of Eastern European countries. It became part of the EBU in 1993.

I thought only SECAM was inferior in vertical colour resolution, compared to PAL and NTSC. PAL has full chrominance information on every line, only to be inverted every other line to create the "phase alternation". SECAM stores only R-Y on one line and B-Y on the other, therefore only offering half the colour information than PAL or NTSC.

SECAM studio equipment is expensive, and is hard to manage for production work (the FM chrominance signal makes it impossible to mix two images together). In analog days, most studio used PAL for shooting and editing, only to convert to SECAM at the transmission stage (modern digital equipment only distinguishes between 525/625 lines, since the signal is component, not composite like PAL, NTSC or SECAM).

DullDull

Welcome!

You're in Hong Kong?

Ok, the 220V rather than 230V is noted. This mean that it is harmonized with the Chinese rather than the British voltage.

{Goes of to update database}

I doubt it makes much difference anyway. UK 240 V appliences always worked just fine on Irish 220V supplies. It's well within the tollerances and has been for years.

You can't even guarantee 220V / 230V or 240V especially in rural areas in any country really. I wouldn't be supprised to see 220V at an outlet in the UK and I have seen 210V in ireland in rural areas at times.

It does in those rare cases where the voltage is at the high or low end of the allowed interval. 220 +/-10% means that the low voltage is 198V. Enough to destroy 240V motors. 240 +/-10% means a high voltage is 264V, which is enough to overheat and destroy 220V ballasts and electronics. If it's poorly designed, it can catch fire. Therefore, the nominal voltage and the tolerances do matter.

(Side note: Australia and the UK had 240V +/- 6%, and the US and Canada also have very tight tolerances. However, there is little point in having tight tolerances if other countries don't. Appliances will then have be made to accomodate the wider tolerances anyway)

Hi there Dulldull and welcome to ECN!

PAL transmits both R-Y and B-Y on every line, so the broadcast color resolution is excellent. However, you lose some of the resolution because of the electronic averaging which takes place in a PAL-D receiver (which is all modern types).

Curiously, the older and cheaper PAL-S sets without a delay line offered better vertical color resolution than the more expensive PAL-D set does, although the latter is better at covering up the effects of a large phase error.

As you say though, PAL is still way ahead in vertical color resolution compared to SECAM with its R-Y on one line, B-Y on the next approach.

Back on nominal supply voltages, you'll find some older British-made radio/TV/audio equipment which had voltage settings covering the full range from 200 through 250V, although in later years 220 to 250V was perhaps more common.

DJK,
Yes, I've seen 220V at outlets here from time to time, although it not that common forit to drop that low. About the lowest I've ever recorded at my present location is 224V (brown-outs due to faults excepted).

That would have been just outside the permitted 6% tolerance of a nominal 240V supply, although within the new 230V +10%/-6% tolerance.

Spain is notorious for bad voltage regulation in rural areas. Some people have reported getting only 170 - 180V on a regular basis in some areas!

What do you expect when all those British tourists plug in their kettles?

LOL!

Yeah, I'm afraid that many of the Brits who pile into Spain every year cause trouble in many other ways too!

Funny thing: When I use Google to search for information on electricity in strange countries, this thread is always among the results. I even got an e-mail from someone who had found my page on voltages and plugs.

[This message has been edited by C-H (edited 02-11-2003).]