I just purchased an old laser disc player. On the back I can set the voltage for 110, 120, 220 or 240. Should I set this to 110 or 120. I would have thought 120 but the previous owner had it on 110v?
I've never seen a selection for 110 or 120 before in my life???
The US line voltage is 120V. Sometimes it drops a few volts due to heavy load and long/thin cables. If you have a multimeter or other means to measure the line voltage, then the answer is obvious. If you don't, then buy a multimeter or a "kill-a-watt" device (measures wattage, voltage, and amps).
I would set the player to 120V. If it works fine, then leave it. If there is intermittent problem (unlikely), then try 110V.
Probably either one would work fine. In fact, there may be no electrical difference between the 110V and 120V setting. The voltage regulator inside the laserdisc player would compensate for the slight difference between the input voltage and the expected input voltage.
That's "kind of" what I was thinking but I can't see why they would actually let you choose (between 110 and 120) unless is there a country that uses 110v as house voltage? As I said it just seems odd to say the least. But for the record - 120v setting works fine. Thanks!
I always called it 120v because as you mentioned if you put a volt meter in an outlet you get about 118v or 119v but my grandfather from "the olden days" always referred to it as 110v as many people did back then so it seems.
I call it 110. I don't think it's ever changed, though.
Someone gave a more detailed history here once.
I think it actually was 110 way back in the day, then 115, then finally nominally 120. ISTR a discussion among vintage radio guys of this causing minor problems with really old equipment.
nate
110V = Japan 120V = USA / Canada 220V = Thailand and other Asian (+ some European?) 240V = UK and other European and Asian locations
Glad you posted.
Maybe that's what burned out the filter cap on my 1930 Hallicrafters shortwave receiver.
(Just kidding, it lasted until 1995.)
So why did the US deviates from UK? To show we really are independent?
Probably blame Thomas Edison? The USA had to use 60 to catch up!
Joking aside I was once in lodgings in an older part of the UK where the supply was 230 volts DC! The landlady persisted in saying "Oh yes it's ACDC electricity".
Also all the the voltages are 'nominal'! Here in this part of North America, for example, at this time of year when electric heating loads are off, one side of our nominal 120 is typically 122 and the other 119 but it varies. I've seen it as high as
127 and as low as 114; but all within the percentage variations allowed.The AC frequency also varies from country to country. Sixty hertz (Cycles per second) in North America etc, and fifty hertz in UK and many other countries. Some aircraft use similar voltages (115 volts AC) but at 400 hertz!
BTW. I thought Japan was nominally 100 volts AC? However 110 would even then be only 10% high.
Japan is 100 volts.
Didn't the US set up AC systems first? So that the UK differed from the US? All I know at the moment is that Steinmetz patented a system early in 1895.
120 V DC was available in certain parts downtown New York as late as the 1930's (maybe beyond). RCA used to sell special radios that would run on DC house current.
Japan actually uses 100 VAC with 1/2 of the country on 60 Hz and 1/2 of the country of 50 Hz. I'm not sure how they picked a voltage that is close to but different than what every other country in the world uses.
I've used some 'made-in-japan' industrial timers rated for 100V AC in the US and they worked OK even though they had weird, non-NEMA power terminals.
Some homes in the USA even go higher than 120 V. I routinely measure
123 V at my outlets and my meter is pretty accurate.No harm is done by the higher voltage, accept your stuff (motors, tv sets, computer power supply) runs a little bit hotter. Some would say this is wasteful. Unless they are in brownout conditions, power companies seem to like providing the higher voltages (closer to 125 V), there is less voltage drop, and watt-hour for watt-hour, they sell more of them.
Beachcomber
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