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Re:Why does the USA use 110V and UK use 230-240V? by chris_va on Tuesday August 29, 2023 @12:23PM (#37310218)
There really isn't a huge advantage for 3 phase unless you are doing high-power DC rectification or trying to run a motor.

The US grid is basically 3-phase everywhere, but it's neither needed nor cost-effective to run it into the home.

Now, the 400V part is different. That would require less copper (but with a safety cost).

Re:Why does the USA use 110V and UK use 230-240V? by pangolinja on Tuesday August 29, 2023 @12:52PM (#37310621)
I love watching Americans justify their archaic, weak infrastructure. "There's no big advantage in using metal tools instead of stone ones. we just bang harder!"
Re:Why does the USA use 110V and UK use 230-240V? by mulmen on Tuesday August 29, 2023 @01:29PM (#37311129)
Inventor syndrome. Same thing with our cell phone networks and space ships. When you invent something you end up with the most “archaic” version, by definition. But it seems to still be working. American pragmatism says there’s better places to allocate resources.
Re:Why does the USA use 110V and UK use 230-240V? by chris_va on Tuesday August 29, 2023 @12:55PM (#37310654)
... the infrastructure is high voltage 3-phase, same as EU.

Also, stone tools are easier to replace :P

[dead]
Re:Why does the USA use 110V and UK use 230-240V? by pavlov on Tuesday August 29, 2023 @02:00PM (#37311543)
The Nazi genocide in the East was explicitly modeled on the treatment of Native Americans in the 19th century.

So, like voltage, it’s another case where Americans invented something and Europeans doubled down.

Re:Why does the USA use 110V and UK use 230-240V? by catchnear4321 on Tuesday August 29, 2023 @02:21PM (#37311803)
yes, but who invented the americans
Re:Why does the USA use 110V and UK use 230-240V? by hot_gril on Tuesday August 29, 2023 @02:39PM (#37312027)
Interesting thing I learned, Native Americans didn't have horses until Europeans brought them (as many know), but horses actually originated in the Americas. They died out so long ago there that only the Old World civilizations had them.
Re:Why does the USA use 110V and UK use 230-240V? by deaddodo on Tuesday August 29, 2023 @03:49PM (#37312960)
Yes, Americans invented populace relocation (and the abuses that come with it). Nice to know the Roman Empire had a time machine to pull a major component of their imperial edict from.

But let's pretend your warped view of history is reality...that happened 100 years earlier. If Europeans are so enlightened atop those tall horses, maybe don't do it again and 10x worse?

In addition, I wasn't referring to the Holocaust...but the entire continent's shared sick desire to kill themselves off for 10km of border movement or literal dreams of world conquest.

Re:Why does the USA use 110V and UK use 230-240V? by hot_gril on Tuesday August 29, 2023 @06:36PM (#37315047)
Who modeled it after that? I'm seeing some authors drawing comparisons, but nothing about Hitler or his party actually mentioning Native Americans. The more explicit references were to Turkey, with Hitler mentioning the Armenian Genocide (as justification for invading Poland) and calling Ataturk a "shining star," along with the Nazi papers obsessing over his nationalist policies.
Re:Why does the USA use 110V and UK use 230-240V? by hot_gril on Tuesday August 29, 2023 @02:09PM (#37311658)
Ok I'm going to make this even darker: The metric system sucks for non-scientific usage, especially using Celsius for room or weather temps. Idk why Europeans (and other continents) insist on using something with such low granularity and weird usable ranges. 0F = prob not going outside, 100F = close to highest temp you'll see all year, 56C = highest outdoor temperature ever on Earth. In the 70s (F) = warmish weather, in the 60s = coolish weather, in the 20s (C) = either cool or hot. Digital thermostats add 0.5 increments if you set them to C mode, lol. Meanwhile KPH is too granular, while 0-100MPH is all you need for cars outside of racing. Divisibility into meters etc is pointless, cause it's not like I need to compare a road trip length to the height of a person.

Their only good unit is kilograms/grams.

Re:Why does the USA use 110V and UK use 230-240V? by riversflow on Tuesday August 29, 2023 @02:30PM (#37311906)
Meh, I don’t even thing grams are very good.

Pounds have a nice granularity for every day stuff: a 3 pound laptop and a 2 pound laptop are significantly different, but both are “about a kilo”.

On the other end, a gram is such a small amount that I can only perceive it in multiples, whereas I have a pretty good idea of how much an ounce is.

Re:Why does the USA use 110V and UK use 230-240V? by hot_gril on Tuesday August 29, 2023 @02:41PM (#37312049)
Actually yeah, I remember realizing the same thing a while back. 1 pound difference is about what I can perceive. Same with 1˚F difference.
Re:Why does the USA use 110V and UK use 230-240V? by Dylan16807 on Tuesday August 29, 2023 @06:50PM (#37315194)
A laptop that's a pound and a half is also very different.

But oh, if you're willing to say "and a half" you might as well be willing to say .7 kilo.

There's no real overall advantage, you just picked a couple very specific numbers. You can always pick very specific numbers to make any system look better/worse.

Re:Why does the USA use 110V and UK use 230-240V? by hot_gril on Wednesday August 30, 2023 @02:29AM (#37318401)
I don't think I can perceive a half-pound difference, but half increments are still nicer than needing the whole range of decimals. If I have to say 0.7 anything in everyday life, then it's not a good unit.
Re:Why does the USA use 110V and UK use 230-240V? by robswc on Tuesday August 29, 2023 @02:01PM (#37311560)
No idea if you're from the US but this "weak infrastructure" has/is hosted/hosting nearly every important infrastructure that makes the online world go round and has been doing perfectly fine for decades.

What are you doing that you need 400v?

Re:Why does the USA use 110V and UK use 230-240V? by hot_gril on Tuesday August 29, 2023 @02:17PM (#37311751)
> What are you doing that you need 400v?

Complaining about Americans, obviously.

Re:Why does the USA use 110V and UK use 230-240V? by FLT8 on Tuesday August 29, 2023 @05:52PM (#37314634)
I am in Australia and am in the process of having our home supply wired for three-phase 415v. Everything is heading down the path of electrification. Where previously we had gas central heating, cooking, and hot water, we are replacing those with electric HVAC (30amp circuit @ 240v, admittedly rarely driven that hard), electric instantaneous hot water (40 amp @ 240v), induction cooktop (32 amp), oven (15 amp), and also introducing a car charger (total approx 45 amps across the three phases).. it's likely at least the HVAC, cooktop/oven, car charger, and hot water could be on at or around the same time, which would result in more power draw than a standard single phase connection here (80a) could supply. It's not that it's needed all the time, but it's helpful to have the headroom a 3-phase supply can provide.
Re:Why does the USA use 110V and UK use 230-240V? by kukkamario on Wednesday August 30, 2023 @12:16AM (#37317588)
Currently probably biggest advantage is electric car charging. It is easy and cheap to add high power fast charger when there is already 3 phases available.

400V between phases so 230V per phase. Safety is provided by making plugs not expose contacts while half plugged. US plugs are really unsafe compared to plugs used in most of the Europe.

Re:Why does the USA use 110V and UK use 230-240V? by timc3 on Wednesday August 30, 2023 @01:37AM (#37318090)
And safety provided by having much stricter control and requirements on the whole house electrical system.
Re:Why does the USA use 110V and UK use 230-240V? by Maxion on Wednesday August 30, 2023 @04:00PM (#37328133)
Also power tools, with 400v plugs you can go to much higher wattages on circular saws, planers etc.