ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area ELECTRIC POWER AROUND THE WORLD

Found this intresting web site World Electric Guide

What is it like to work somewhere like St Vincent? Six styles of plug and sockets.

Is it easy "I have got two of those and three of these so Just fit them"

Or is it a case of " D%&m I cant plug it in wrong socket"

Kenny

[This message has been edited by Kenbo (edited 11-29-2006).]

...or in Japan, where half the country is at a different frequency!

I do a lot of international work, and the constant differences between voltages and frequencies and derating or incompatibilities at every turn gets tiresome very quickly. An A to C adapter only costs about $1 and lets me plug my laptop or cell charger in pretty much anywhere though

Actually moderator C-H put a lot of effort into building his own, more reliable version of that guide!

It's www.global-electron.com

Actually that site (in the first post) isn't really very fair to someone such as St. Vincent's when compared to the US. If you really click through their "6 different sockets", you will see that many of them are no different than ones we have in the US, just different voltages and current ratings. Yet they only show 2 styles for the US, because they have left out most of them! Where is 20A 125V, 20A 250V, 30A 250V dryer outlet, 50A 250V range outlet, not to mention a slew of 2, 3 and 4 wire twist lock styles?

But the thing in Japan with 50Hz on one part and 60Hz in others? Wow, that would drive me nuts. Every appliance with a motor used to need to have to have a 50/60Hz switch. Now they mostly just have a DC power supply that doesn't care. My wife can't figure out why the phone dies when the power is out, let alone understand and remeber to change a switch on any new appliance.

[This message has been edited by jraef (edited 11-30-2006).]