Larry Green wrote, On 15/08/08 21:26:
> Flash Gordon wrote:
>> Hello all, a bit off-topic, but I have a question about power in the
>> USA...
>>
>> On of my brothers is moving to Silicon Valley (he has a 3 year work
>> visa and his new company will sponsor him for a permanent work visa)
>> and has a lot of expensive 220-240V Hi-Fi & AV equipment. One of his
>> mates has said that houses often have 240V in the garage and kitchen.
>> So what we want to know is whether the power is coming in to the house
>> at 240V and then being stepped down so he would be OK running a 240V
>> circuit to the lounge or whether it is stepped up for the garage
>> making this a bad idea.
>>
>> To bring this nearer to on-topic, do they have silicon chips and
>> microfiche for supper in Silicon Valley?
>
> I am not an electrician but houses over here typically have both 110V
> and 220/240V feeds but the 220/240V feed is usually a two-phase supply
> (i.e. two lines of 110V) not a single phase supply like the UK.
That would be likely to cause problems.
> The
> 220/240V source is usually ONLY fed to washer/dryer units or electric
> stoves/ovens and not to the rest of the house.
Hence the suggestion by his mate of adding a new circuit :-)
> In fact supplying
> 220/240V to any other location may well be breaking the local wiring
> codes in many cases.
That would be a problem if he gets caught ;-)
> IMHO his best bet would be to sell all his 220/240V electronic equipment
> over there where it has some resale value rather than paying a large
> amount of money to have it shipped over here only for it not to work.
His new employer is paying for the shipping so he is not bothered about
how much that costs :-)
> He
> could get the same gear for less money on this side of the pond anyway
> (unless it is high-end Brit stuff of course!)
It is high-end stuff, at least some of it high-end Brit stuff (the 5
power amps, one per speaker, are high-end Brit stuff).
> Something else to think about is the AV equipment, depending on just
> what that equipment is it may not even be compatible with the equipment
> in use over here.
Only the power supply is a problem.
> Europe (with the exception of France) runs on the PAL
> system for TV/video whereas North America is on the NTSC system and the
> two systems are not compatible.
As to that, both of us know a lot about that, including *why* NTSC has
been known as "Never Twice the Same Colour[2]"[1]. It is not a problem
for most of this (and a of of other) kit.
> HTH
It does help suggest this could be a bad plan.
[1] It's basically (with simplification) because when broadcast over the
air each colour can take a different path and thus take a different
amount of time to reach the receiver leading to colour instabilities
unlike PAL which is approximately a B&W + deviation from white where
this can't happen.
[2] The "u" is specifically included to further wind up the Americans ;-)
--
Flash Gordon
