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#135698 01/28/03 06:57 AM
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 1,498
Likes: 1
C
C-H Offline OP
Member
I found a website with information on all the voltages used in the world. This poor fool has been collecting data for the past twenty years, from 60 different sources. He has painstakingly noted the number of references to each voltage and frequency. Obviously he has failed to realize that the world is moving towards standardisation.
http://www.dbicorporation.com/internat/internat.htm

I did start to write an e-mail to him, but then realised that there is no point. It would only shatter his illusions. The information he has collected is of no use. All his toil to no avail.

[This message has been edited by C-H (edited 01-28-2003).]

#135699 01/28/03 07:51 AM
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 1,253
D
djk Offline
Member
Mmm what a load of utterly useless and probabally inaccurate information!

Reminds me of a girl from the US midwest who arrived for a college placement here in Ireland having taken one of those sites way too seriously:

She had Schuko adaptors, BS1363 adaptors, BS546 round pin adaptors! a vast array of spike protection and power filters and came prepared for anything from 127 - 240V AC or DC!

Reality: you won't find anything other than a BS1363 socket feeding a steady 220-230V 50hz AC usually very stably. Have had computer plugged in without spike protection since the early 80s and have never had a problem! We don't even get much thunder lol.

BTW why do people keep drawing the UK plug upsidedown with the ground pin at the bottom! I have never seen a socket outlet installed that way. It would be slightly messy considering that the cord comes out of the bottom of the plug.

It seems however that power adapter manufacturers seem to assume these diagrams are correct. Most plug in power bricks I've seen on the market here are upside down! when you plug them in the writing's upside down and the cables come out the top!

#135700 01/28/03 08:33 AM
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 7,520
P
Member
Quote
Canada 120V +5% -8.3% 60Hz 0.02% (143 refs)

Wow! That's some frequency stability you guys have up there north of the 49th! Why have you been holding out on us so long? [Linked Image]

I see there's a reference to 240V 60Hz in the U.K. I'm not sure if 60Hz was ever used anywhere in the U.K., but if it was it was certainly a long time ago before standardization at 50Hz in the 1930s.

So many of these compiled lists contain errors. I admire this guy's determination in searching all the references he used; it's unfortunate that so many of those references are inaccurate or outdated.

As somebody interested not just in today but also in the historical development of systems, I'd love to see a list of systems used in the past. But I think that to compile a comprehensive list such as that would be even more difficult a task.

#135701 01/28/03 09:25 AM
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 1,498
Likes: 1
C
C-H Offline OP
Member
Ireland, the UK and Hong Kong should be something like this, right?
Ireland

UK

Hong Kong

[This message has been edited by C-H (edited 01-28-2003).]

#135702 01/28/03 09:43 AM
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 7,520
P
Member
Looks good C-H!

Just one extra point on the U.K. shaver outlets:

Many of the dual-voltage types are designed to accept American and Australian two-prong plugs as well as British and European round-pin types.

#135703 01/28/03 09:51 AM
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 1,253
D
djk Offline
Member
Well for Ireland
BS1363 is the offical standard and is in 99.9% of homes / offices

It replaced 2 standards though:
Type F and some Type M installations.

The UK/Ireland shaver socket and plug isn't the europlug either! It's BS 4573 similar but with shorter fatter pins than europlug. It cannot be inserted into a european outlet. Europlugs (and usually US plugs) will fit into UK/Irish shaver sockets howver.

[Linked Image from volex.com]

Phones:

RJ 11 (Analogue) RJ 45 (ISDN)

#135704 01/28/03 10:08 AM
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 1,253
D
djk Offline
Member
Actually you might add the mobile telephone specs since that's what most visitors will encounter rather than the PSTN.

Ireland:
1)Vodafone Ireland
2)O2 Ireland
3)Meteor
All 3 use:
GSM 900 mhz and 1800mhz and GPRS for data.
No analogue service anymore
Currently one of the highest mobile phone penetration rates in the world.

#135705 01/28/03 11:19 AM
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 1,498
Likes: 1
C
C-H Offline OP
Member
Paul: Info added.

djk: Phone plug and mobile phone information added.

#135706 01/29/03 04:47 PM
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 1,253
D
djk Offline
Member
C-H,

Ireland:
Same as UK, sockets often have a switch and the shaver outlet is almost always a special 230/110V switchable outlet with an isolating transformer built in, quite often part of a light fitting over the sink in the bathroom. Accepts US plugs, European Europlug and British shaver plug.

It's also worth noting that in UK, Ireland and possibily Hong Kong it is essential that a fused adaptor be used at all times as the system is designed around the assumption that each plug is individually fused. If you just force a 2-pin euro plug into an outlet it may only be protected by a 32Amp MCB or Fuse!

The same mobile technical specs apply to the UK

GSM 900 & GSM 1800 with GPRS data.

ISDN plug is also RJ45 in the UK

#135707 02/01/03 03:02 PM
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 1,498
Likes: 1
C
C-H Offline OP
Member
I'll get the information on the world wide mobile systems in as soon as I have time to enter the data into the database. (There are lists, but not in the format I would like)

I've tried a different approach to the electric part than the other guy: Asking the regulating bodies or standards organizations in the different countries. I'm afraid half of my e-mails go unanswered, and there is always the risk of the local utilities simply ignoring the directives they are given. But at least it gives me more up to date information, like the one I just got from Latvia:

Latvia has not adopted the European 230V mains voltage, but technically we are ready to do it and will do it in near future!

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