ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Non-US Electrical Systems & Trades European 3-phase grid

Oh my, I think I should not have brought up the voltages since I seem to have made this thread rather confusing. Sorry, Loquetis!

A comment on Djk's comment:

In Sweden it is the standard solution.


This differs somewhat from country to country. The blue 32A single phase connectors are rare in Sweden while the red 3-ph 16A are common. This only serves to illustrate the diversity of the European system. In Scandinavia you can buy a 16A 3-ph extension cord in any D-I-Y store while on the British Isles, you'll find the 32A single phase cords instead. Poor manufacturers!

A comment on Paul's comment on the 127/220V system: Despite the fact that it may be grounded at the center point, the plugs and outlets are the same as in a delta configuration as only the phases are supplied to the equipment.

I can't think of a compelling reason why 220V equipment designed to European specifications shouldn't be used across two phases of 127V.

Standards require equal protection, insulation etc. on the neutral and line conductors throughout, and due to the possibility of reversed polarity on typical European plugs, the neutral line cannot be relied upon as a 0V reference point in any way.

I've operated my PC set for 220V across 125V-0V-125V here in the USA, and it works fine. Also the monitor. The PC uses the usual switching power supply that has a 115/230 switch on the back. Power switches in PCs switch both sides of the line, and the wires are usually brown and blue. So in this case both lines are hot. Not a problem as the equipment has to be designed to expect either line to be hot.

Doing this trick is handy if you have a room full of servers. You can avoid overloaded neutrals due to harmonic currents from switching power supplies in a 208 Y system. Most of these supplies don't mind 208V. They are designed to operate off of japanese 100V powerlines, and with that rear voltage switch switched to "230V", it's like 200V. That switch changes the supply from a voltage doubler rectifier circuit to a bridge rectifier circuit.