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Joined: Aug 2001
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Here's a photo I found on the net of some typical warning notices on the entrance to an enclosed British sub-station: There's one unusual thing about the top sign though -- You'll have to look very closely!
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Joined: Sep 2002
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The unusual voltage, 414V ?
The toll free emergency number?
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Joined: Apr 2002
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I agree C-H on the voltage. Maybe it was late Friday afternoon at the transformer plant and they left some turns off the secondary? ;-)
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Joined: Oct 2002
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Doesn't look that unusual to me, it comes from my electricity supply region! The emergency phone number is correct. I noticed the 11kV/414V label on a number of substations round here, I've just assumed that the 414V was a misprint at the engravers. Next time I get a chance I'll ask one of the engineers. The single phase voltages I measure on a day to day basis (while loop/rcd testing) are usually just above 240V, sometimes closer to 250V & within normal tolerances.
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Joined: Apr 2002
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David, you raise an interesting point. With increasingly automated, high-speed processes in our hands, (like label making) it is much easier for humans to make many more mistakes in very little time.
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Joined: Jul 2002
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Paul, Is that 0800 number a toll-free one?. The reason I ask this, is because we use the same numbering system over here, for toll-free calls.
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Joined: Aug 2001
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Yes, it was the 414V label I had in mind. Every nominal voltage label I've seen here before says 415V. If you work it out, the exact conversion is 240 * SQRT(3) = 415.69V.
I suppose that eventually we'll start seeing labels adapted to the new Euro-voltage of 230V, so I wonder whether they'll say 400V or 398V ?
Trumpy, Yes, the 0800 code here indicates toll free. There are other toll-free codes as well, such as 0808, just as America added 888 etc. to their original 800 code.
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Joined: Dec 2002
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I've seen plenty of new installations here with 230V/400V labling however, there are still installations with 220V/380V lables too.
I've even seen gear here, such as traffic light boxes with "Warning 240V" stuck on them! Obviously originally intended for the UK market and most definitely on a 220V/230V supply.
Why do some old meters in the UK say 230V?
They're all marked 220V here, other than very recent ones.
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Joined: Aug 2001
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That reminds me of the temporary lights (for road works) I came upon in Ireland once. I was quite surprised when the red-&-amber phase came on instead of them just going straight from red to green like normal Irish lights, so I assume they were using British equipment. (It was somewhere up around Leitrim or Cavan, so maybe the local repair crew decided to make a quick dash over the border to "borrow" some lights! ) Why do some old meters in the UK say 230V? They possibly date back to before the early 1970s and the standardization at a nominal 240V. Prior to that, the actual declared nominal voltage could vary from one district to another: 220, 230, 240 and 250V were the most common, with correponding 3ph levels of 380, 400, 415, and 440V (the last is actually 433V, but was usually quoted as 440). Some old districts in the larger towns still had 3-wire DC into the 1960s, so the voltage between "outers" would have been 440 to 500V. [This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 07-08-2003).]
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Joined: May 2002
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Talking of perculiarities - why do British traffic [stop] lights go red,red+yellow,green? I have only come across two other places that do and I assumed they bought British equipment viz: Argentina and Iceland.
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