In the USA 120v to neutral is 120v single phase. Both 120V to neutral is 240v single phase.
Utility power in North America is distributed via single-phase transformers with their primaries being fed 12.47 kV using 2 lines of a three-phase system or 7.2 kV using a line and neutral.
The distribution transformers, which are pole-mounted, are also known as a ‘pole pigs’.
The single secondary winding L1 - L2, with an earthed centre tap designated as the neutral, provides a single-phase 240 V supply between L1 and L2 and two single-phase 120V supplies, which are out-of phase by 180°, between L1 & N and L2 & N
outlet on the right looks Australian or dodgy wired 2 x line and neutral no earth ( Manila)
left is that a US 4 wire with 2 x 110v lines?
Can you plug Eu 240v single phase device in anywhere in the USA…no
Neutral IS earth in Manila. That’s why you never bond the ground [if you have one] to a breaker box ground lug there. Stray current will dissolve a metal box in short order. Most homes in Manila have no neutral or ground and are two prong. Not safe but that’s the way they do things. They used to have a USA 3 wire configuration many years ago but Juan Dela Cruz the electrician kept confusing neutral with one of the hot leads causing damage to equipment so they gave them only 2 hot wires to deal with. Safety is not a big concern in the Philippines
Yes I learnt that plugging in some simulator gear in, kept blowing the breaker
Get on the phone to US designer and told him my multimeter tells me I got 110 in each pin to ground pin( neutral) and 220 between them…yikes so dangerous
Nothing earthed
Whats happens in the old laundrys in Manila. scary stuff
Lots of good things went around the world from the USA , power wasnt one of them.
I have done a lot of work rewiring EU boats for North America. If the grounds are all separate from any of the hot wires and there is no internal case to “EU neutral wire” connection, all goes well. If not, you have a chore.
What the EU shore power side probably looks like:
This means that they can bond one side of the 230 volt supply to ground and not cause a short. Not so once they are on the 240 volt connection over here.
In all cases it is single phase power, what varies is the way it is grounded and obviously 50 vs 60 Hz. 50 to 60 tends to go fine, 60 to 50 will overheat some AC compressors.
EU and North American residential power is all 1-phase. The EU grounds one side of the 230/240 volt line, North American power grounds a center tap and each line is hot to ground. No one cares until a lazy designer lets the EU neutral connect to the chassis of the device, then it will blow the breaker in North America.
We do, in virtually every house in the country, and yes you could with a plug adapter. It would be pretty bulky as our 240V sockets are pretty massive; and also a typical house only uses 240V for electric stove (plug in), electric clothes dryer (plug in), and electric water heater (wired in) – so there are typically only two single 240V sockets.
Trust us mate, we live here (and we don’t call American rules football “gridiron” either. Sometimes we call the playing field a gridiron).
We have three different plugs but only two are used day to day. The single plug is for an electric stove (240 V 35 amp).
The 15 amp socket has a wider and longer earth pin . It will accept a standard plug but a appliance such as a jacuzzi will be fitted with a plug for 15 amp cannot be plugged into a standard 10 amp 240 volt socket.
That is a bit of odd semantics, but yeah, there is 240 volts between the black and red wire in the USA and 120 volts between either one and the white (neutral) wire that is also tied to the green ground wire at the breaker box.
