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Why 60 volt on a 240 volt circuit?

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Reply to
dpb
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European lamps operate on a 240 single phase arrangement , might not be suitable for your 220/240 volt twin phase supply

Reply to
steve robinson

220/240 volts in the US is most commonly single phase as well.
Reply to
Nova

I hope they mean it where they say "_regular size_ light bulbs like you use in your home". The ones from Grainger are slightly larger diameter than the "regular size".

Tom Veatch Wichita, KS USA

Reply to
Tom Veatch

I didn't check the base/configuration data specifically, but should be available.

Don't you have a neutral in the cordset, though? All seems would need to do is to tap off the one hot side for the light.

Otherwise, probably simplest to just put a replacement line cord on the tool, I'd think.

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Reply to
dpb

Tom Veatch wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Our dining room "over the table" ficture was purchased in Holland. US bulbs work fine, especally after we wired the fixture into the ceiling box.

Reply to
Han

Yeah, I should have thought that one through.. I meant to say put a load on it, and the closest thing is a lamp. For 110V, that would have worked OK. I've never seen a 220 lamp here in the US.

-dickm

Reply to
dicko

The existing cordset only has two conductors plus ground. But to get both 120 and 240 to the tool, 3 conductors plus ground are required -

2 "hot" wires for the two legs of the 240v, and 1 "neutral" for the 120v, plus, of course, the equipment grounding wire.

A new 4 wire cordset (plus plug and receptacle replacement) would fix the supply problem and is probably the best long term solution assuming the DP won't ever be converted back to 120v. But, a new 4 wire cordset also means the tool needs to be rewired (or the existing internal wiring at least has to be reconfigured) to get the two hots to the motor and one of the hots plus neutral to the worklight fixture. I haven't opened it up to see, so it might not be any big deal, but 220v light bulbs, if they fit, is a very simple solution.

And, of course, a completely separate task light clamped to the DP column is always a "that's good enough" option.

Tom Veatch Wichita, KS USA

Reply to
Tom Veatch

Absolutely!

The reason I brought up the tiny voltages and autoranging is simply because I've seen it many times on unpowered (breaker open) circuits.

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Reply to
B A R R Y

Fine -- is there actually power to the circuit? Is the breaker on?

Reply to
Doug Miller

A little story.

American Shipbuilding in Lorain, Oh, would run bare stringer lights down thru the ship they were working on for light.

To keep the theft to a minimum, they used 240V, incandescent lamps, which totally pissed off the workers so as a diversion, they would throw stones at the lamps to break them during lunch hour.

Had at least 2 guys whose job was to replace broken lamps on a full time basis.

A/S/B had a contract with my distributor to buy at least 25,000 lamps/year for replacements.

American Ship Building was closed years ago by owner George Steinbrenner as a result of a labor dispute.

Lew

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Reply to
Lew Hodgett

...

Call me old, but we ran split voltage appliances on 3-wire for a long time...

But, unless it's a heck of a press, seems hardly worth even the extra hassle of the special-order light bulb to me..

That, of course, is just me...

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Reply to
dpb

in the uk we have only 1 live wire(hot wire) you run 2 in the states?

Reply to
steve robinson

Yes, but it's still the same phase...and a bulb won't care being simply a resistive load.

Reply to
dpb

When I converted my lathe to 220v, I plugged in the light and my drills to the same power strip that the lathe used to be plugged into.. Just lazy, I guess..

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

Reply to
mac davis

Or, in the case of my last couple of houses, are the breakerS on... The dryer circuit in my garage in the States has TWO 40 amp breakers ganged with a bar on the switch end of the breaker, but the older house had 2 breakers that weren't ganged... I guess you could only throw one breaker and have one 110v leg on??

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

Reply to
mac davis

It does make sense that if you split 220-240VAC in series you'll get

50-60VAC on each one. I'm guessing since you haven't mentioned blowing a breaker there isn't a direct short or shunt someplace.

Is the end of the circuit terminated correctly??

Reply to
Joe

nope, not in the USA that I live in.... We have single phase, center tapped 240 volt supplied to residential areas. This is not "twin phase" at all, it is just the output of a center tapped transformer. The center tap is considered "neutral" and is grounded in most areas, so the individual legs of the service supply

110 volts relative to ground, and the voltage across the two legs are 240 volts. Commercial service is quite different, though can supply 110 volts in some configurations.

There is no place coming from commercial mains that you're likely to find a split 110 volt supply even at construction sites. All construction sites are supplied the same 240 volt center tapped service as the building will have when it is done. Assuming otherwise can get you in serious trouble....

I don't know if one leg of Euro 220 volt power is grounded or not, but the big difference that causes people problems with trying to run Euro motor based appliances in the US is the US is on 60hz and Euro is 50hz. For some things (transformers, etc.) this is typically a relatively minor issue, with only minor heating effects and increased losses, as long as they are lightly loaded. On the other hand, the shorter cycle time between 60hz compared to 50hz causes starting problems for some motors, in that they won't start unassisted, and will run faster and sometimes hot enough to destrly themselves if you do get the Euro motor running on US current. I would imagine a sewing machine might have other issues, as it is a variable speed motor to begin with, and the issue may have been more of one with the controller than the actual motor.

The original poster that suggested the circuit is open somewhere and you are measuring induces voltage was probably correct. You need to put some sort of load on the circuit to see for sure. if it's a 240 volt outlet, you will find out immediately if you really have induced voltage if you connect a bulb across the circuit. If it's open the bulb will be dark and you can measure 0 volts, and if it were actually 240 volts and the meter lied, the bulb will burn out quite dramatically within a second or so.

Reply to
Rick Frazier

Think 240 volts coming from a center tapped transformer. Across the two hot wires is 240 volts. From either hot wire to the center tap is 120 volts. Most codes in US require the center tap (which is called neutral) to be bonded to ground at the service panel entering the residence. It is still single phase. Actual two-phase service was an entirely different animal way back in the past history of Alternating Current, and is not found outside of a very few museums that show how it was used.

Reply to
Rick Frazier

Couldn't a guy just stick a one or two amp 400PRV diode in series with the hot lamp lead? That way you'd get only half of the sine wave. I seem to remember that "they" used to sell a diode packaged so it would drop into the light socket "to make your bulbs last forever".

Pete Stanaitis

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Tom Veatch wrote:

Reply to
spaco

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