Yes, I am aware of all that; but my point was that I thought that Corvette's had enough HP -- according to Wikipedia, 250-360 HP.
David
Dec. 9, 2024
41
-
The three phases that come to the pole from the substation are not 120v. The can on the pole at the bottom of the yard contains a transformer, the output of which is centre tapped 240v. A cooker, and other high power appliances use the full 240v, whereas the two 120 volt lines are fed to lighting and power sockets, each of these phases (which are 180 degrees apart) are fed to different rooms, according to a plan decided by the house builder. When I lived in Michigan, I discovered that two outlets next to each other in the basement were fed by different phases, so I was able to connect to both for the purpose of feeding my 240v UK power drill! I also fitted a UK socket in the kitchen, as the laundry room wa the other side of the wall, and used that to power a European kettle, which heated much faster than a 120v kettle!
One March in Indiana about 30 years ago, we had an enormous snow storm that brought the cables to the house down for days. I discovered that one phase was still working, but the one that fed the central heating was severed. So I wired the heating to the other phase temporairly, and we had heat. We were cooking on a small camping stove for several days. When men arrived at 3:00 am some days later we heard them entering the back yard and exclaiming about the damage (several trees had been brought down) in very colourful language! When the snow melted, I had to cut up the downed branches and cart them to the place that the city designated. I couldnt get anybody to do the work, as the tree people were all overloaded!
David
-
David,
For me and I think most people, 230 to 360 horsepower (172 to 268 kW) is plenty enough. But for some people that I watch on YouTube, they want more and more. It used to be that 500 hp (373 kW) was enough, but now some are buying cars that have more than 1000 hp (746 kW) or they are modifying engines that far exceed 1000 hp (746 kW) too. Look at the Tesla Plaid for example. Around where I live, there seems to be very few of these fast or sports cars. Most people seem to prefer the SUV automobiles. I don't see very many cars racing, maybe exceeding the speed limit by 20 or 30 (32 to 48 km/h) over, but usually not more than that. Did you know a Toyota GR Corolla can go over 140 mph (225 km/h) now? I don't know why anyone would want to do that. I would rather have a fuel efficient, comfortable auto. That seems to be most people's choice where I live too.
-
I have been asked to transfer some open reel archive tapes to digital format; so on and off for the past five weeks I have been renovating my 45 year-old analog tape recorder. This involved even taking the motor to pieces, renewing old hardened grease, cleaning, etc. Quite a job; but luckily I have a workshop manual for the machine. I took photos as I went to remind me where everything went. These are three of them.
It is now back to tip top condition and just requires a recalibration of levels and frequency response.
Digital audio recorders are much less demanding in terms of regular servicing and maintenance!
David
-
David,
That's interesting what you describe about using 240V and 120V for residential use. Did they know you had wired one of the phases? That seems to be a risky thing to do. How were you able to do it safely?
-
David,
That looks like quite a mess. Wow...there's lots of spaghetti. 😀 Yes, that's a smart thing to do to photograph a project to help know where everything went. I also did that recently, when I took apart a laptop to replace a keyboard. That's also a messy job, but that doesn't seem to be near as complicated as what you are doing.
-
Digi,
There are a lot of SUVs here also; but road tax and insurance costs are based on the HP of the engine and level of CO2 emission (EVs are much cheaper to insure). I pay around €3000 a year for comprehensive insurance (with discount for no claims) on my small Miata which uses gasoline and has 184 hp. It does, however do 0-60 in 6.8 secs, with a top speed of 136 mph. I can only go that fast on the German freeways; we are limited to 80 mph on Austrian freeways, with many parts of the city limited to 19 mph.
-
It was probably illegal, but I never asked and it was never discovered. It is not dangerous if you know what you are doing -- I have a degree in Elecrtrical and Electronic Eng.
-
Translation of units for the few Europeans here:
😉
-
ArvoJ,
Yes, and the foot-pounds of torque is expressed in newton-meters. I learned that watching YouTube videos of cars in Europe. I'm aware of both systems; I just forgot to make the conversion for you all.
I edited that for you all. A long time ago, I used to work with British co-workers, so I try to express both terms when I think about it...boot (trunk), bonnet (hood), windscreen (windshield), torch (flashlight) etc. are some that I know.
-
I normally quote both imperial and SI units, but on this occasion I forgot. Sorry! Arvo got them all correct.
David
-
This is on the property where I live. I mentioned to the owner it's a pretty juicy looking transformer and he replied it can supply 400 amps per phase... (3 phase 415V per phase). I haven't found out yet what it is specifically for but I know they used to make a type of briquette from tea tree mulch and there is a big cylindrical looking thing there that I assume is some form of cooker. I don't want to think about the bill for that amount of power... Nor the cost of getting the transformer installed (user pays)
-
Bryan,
Thanks for sharing with us some more electrical wiring with a transformer. We have been getting a little education about this. David has helped greatly with his knowledge of electrical systems.
-
Yes, it is a sizeable trransformer; but I think "400A per phase" is an exaggeration, since 3 phases of 400A at 415v would be almost 500 kW! Furthermore, none of those cables looks fat enough to carry 400A without melting.
David
-
I thought about what he said and it was "up to 400A on one phase", but he may have exaggerated a bit. I had another look around today and noticed the rating (315KVA) on the other side of the transformer. Those conductors look like they may be about 20mm (25 with insulation) so - not being an EE - but by a quick search they might be in the ball park - maybe 600MCM?
There is a hot air furnace there but I couldn't find a plate with it's usage. The biggest motor, driving a big fan into the cooker was rated at 30KW. There might be half a dozen other motors around 1 to 3 KW. There is a hammer mill but again I couldn't see what it might draw. Altogether the plant is not going to tax that supply but I am guessing he was future proofing. Unfortunately for him the market for his product never took off. I did hear the product was good but there were supply issues. -
315 kVA makes more sense, and the cables are thicker than I estimated. Clearly, the building was powed for industrial activity! It looks like an ideal set-up for cannabis growing or bitcoin mining... 😁
David
-
Haha! I will run it past him.
I noticed a 30KW inverter on the wall - I am guessing 3 x 10KW sets of panels on the roof - we are allowed to feed 10KW per phase here but only 6.6KW domestically.
He has a distillery where I assume they make tea tree oil which I will get to see tomorrow. If it looks interesting I will get some photos.
-
I have posted about interesting developments to the Viennese subway/metro here and invite you to visit.
David
