JohnW said:
Kees Verruijt, in article <45ec4245$0$321
[email protected]>, says...
Actually the UK didn't change - we altered the specs
Instead of changing the voltage down to 230v, the acceptable
range of voltages Europe wide was changed from +/-6% to
+10%-6% so our 240v was included in the European-wide specs.
Rules are meant to be modified where necessary
Ah. Wikipedia has this to say:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_wiring_(UK)
"
Since 1960, the supply voltage in Great Britain in domestic premises has
been 240 V AC (rms) at 50 Hz while in Northern Ireland it was 220 V. In
1988, a Europe-wide agreement was reached to change the various national
voltages, which ranged at the time from 220 V to 240 V, to a common
European standard of 230 V (CENELEC Harmonization Document HD 472 S1:1988).
As a result, the standard nominal supply voltage in domestic
single-phase 50 Hz installations in the UK has been 230 V AC (rms) since
1 January 1995 (Electricity Supply Regulations, SI 1994, No. 3021).
However, as an interim measure, electricity suppliers can work with an
asymmetric voltage tolerance of 230 V +10%/−6% (216.2 V to 253 V). This
was supposed to be widened to 230 V ±10% (207 V to 253 V), but the time
of this change has been put back repeatedly and currently sits in 2008
(BS 7697). The old standard was 240 V ±6% (225.6 V to 254.4 V), which is
mostly contained within the new range, and so in practice suppliers have
had no reason to actually change voltages.
The continued deviation in the UK from the harmonised European voltage
has been criticised in particular by light bulb manufacturers, who
require tighter voltage tolerances to optimise the operating temperature
and lifetime of their products, and who currently have to continue
producing separate 230 V and 240 V versions.
"
Maybe that is why *Australia* is banning lightbulbs in a few years
so they can then change the supply voltage !!!
(Sorry for drifting off course here, couldn't resist!)
