Why do circuit breakers go up for on and down for off?
Feb 11, 2023 Last reply: 2 years ago 1848 Replies
N
NY
I thought that the redefining of 240 V to 230 V was purely a changing of the tolerance limits so as to include a wider range so both 220 V in mainland Europe and 240 V in the UK were within the tolerance limits, and that nothing physical changed in the generation and distribution chain.
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R
Rod Speed
Yep.
Which city so I can street view it ?
So you were wrong.
N
NY
I thought the same as SteveW: that CB radio in UK and US both used 27 MHz, but US AM CBs were illegal and only UK FM CBs were legal.
C
Carlos E.R.
I remember reading an ancient book on building your own radio, and they mentioned regenerative receivers with only a single valve. Some would emit back on the receiving antena, so they said don't do this, it is illegal and nasty on your neighbours. Better use two valves, isolating the oscillator from the antena.
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C
Carlos E.R.
The DC would also be RMS, I think. It was not constant as in a battery, but oscillating, from a dynamo.
C
Carlos E.R.
The plate itself is the flywheel. Good ones were heavy.
...
C
Carlos E.R.
Right.
Not a question of thinking, but of manufacturing price.
R
Rod Speed
Blown away from the guns. But that wasnt naval, that was the army and was mostly done during the Indian 'mutiny' on a large scale.
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R
Rod Speed
Not feasible to do it on a naval vessel given that the cannon is rolled out with the nozzle outside the ship before it is fired on a naval vessel.
The navy went for the other alternative, keel hauling which mostly killed the keel hauled.
S
SteveW
Steam locos certainly did have springs. The axles passed through bearings that were guided in hornblocks fixed to the locomotive frames. In some cases the springs were a leaf spring and in others, pairs of coil springs.
They might be visible from the outside:
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or hidden behind the wheels:
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C
charles
Not just bulbs. All electrical appliances. While at university, I had a coffee machine and a soldering iron which had 200v elements. Households would obviously had many more items.
T
The Natural Philosopher
When the deer jumps out of the hedge in front of you and stays mesmerised and stationary in the headlights?
T
The Natural Philosopher
Completely impractical if the danger is hidden until you get there. Children and animals dashing across the road. wheel smashing potholes full of water that the council can't afford to fix because they spent the budget on speed cameras sleeping policemen and totally unnecessary traffic lights. Old truck brake drums dropped from pedestrian bridges by bored teenagers.
The list of 'stuff that you can hit that wasn't there last time you looked' is endless.
Maintaining idealised safe distances is an idea only people who don't really do much driving believe in.
M
Max Demian
Pointless as modern power supplies can easily accommodate wide ranges of voltage. They should have left it up to manufacturers to decide what range of voltage to cope with, depending on where they wanted to sell the goods. 100-250V (50/60Hz) for Europe and US, 200-250V for UK and Europe, 220-250V for UK only. Some goods are/were only suitable for the UK due to language and TV system.
Euroharmonising for the sake of it.
T
The Natural Philosopher
? I think there were springs on the driving wheels actually. Really big locos were more the province of the USA with its enormously long straight tracks
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shows that driving wheels are sprung, though possibly not independently.
In practice the railroads were built to run steam trains with up to 8 close spaced driving wheels, and if that made life difficult, tough.
The big 8 wheelers were more suited to the USA with bigger steeper inclines but seldom tight curves.
Also for use in more cramped conditions twin sets of drive wheels and cylinders could be used.
Curiously, others than yourself thought about this at the time
M
Max Demian
How do you know it wasn't accommodated within the acceptable tolerance for mains voltage? 230 is just "nominal".
Same here. The stated voltage just changed.
T
The Natural Philosopher
Yes, it has been my experience that the Spanish even in S America prefer to build with concrete or blocks as the high thermal mass is useful in reducing peak temperatures by day.
Whereas the USA is the home of the timber frame as long as its got air con :-)
It is quite hard in the UK to get a mortgage on a 100% timber frame.
T
The Natural Philosopher
Yup. I built several of those on 27Mhz for model planes. Not with valves though.
M
Max Demian
Old mains radios had a switch at the back to set the voltage. Easier with AC than DC as it just switched the tap on the mains transformer. For DC there was a dropper resistor. If it had to work on 120V AC/DC the set was designed for the lower voltage and had to dissipate the extra power in a resistor, often built into the mains lead.
C
Carlos E.R.
Ok, I see them. I will have to look more carefully at others.
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