US Green Black White cable - how to wire up in UK?

[ninebob]

Note to self: give up idea of moving to New York or San Fran when I make my millions: even france would be safer!

 

[murphaph]

At first glance they do look as though they are physically like that, but 2-pole breakers are all on one side, not straddling two:

(You'll never badmouth Volex again having seen that, I'll warrant...)

Very interesting discussion lads. Where I work, we had large single phase machines shipped over from a mother plant in the US. The guys that side shipped all the switchgear in their panels too. The sparks here were goin "what the **** is this?". They ended up dumping the US stuff and wiring it properly! I remember looking at the stuff they sent over, it was an unholy mess, exactly like the picture above.

 

[HDRW]

(You'll never badmouth Volex again having seen that, I'll warrant...)

Blimey! I'm glad I didn't take the lid off the one in my girfriend's house in New York! Those hefty "always live" terminals look terribly easy to touch.

I see the Neutral has a great chunky cable feeding it (the big black one) but the Earth looks like it's fed by 4mm2 or thereabouts...

Still, they did invent electricity (along with steam, petrol, rockets, jets, winning wars, etc. ) so I suppose they can do what they like with it!

Incidentally, following BAS's link to a US site yesterday (I think it was he) I found out that they have the"rule of six" which means that if there are six or fewer breakers, they don't need a main switch or breaker! And they don't have a service fuse like we do, nor fused plugs, so if a breaker seizes in the made condition (as apparently they can) the only protection against a short in an appliance is what the transformer can feed! What's more even if you were there and trying to stop that bright glow from the cabling, you'd have no way to disconnect...

Cheers,

Howard

 

[SwindonSpark]

Try this American DIY site for more info on their breaker panel (CCU): -

http://www.electrical-online.com/howtoarticles/Replacingabreaker.htm

And for adding a sub main: -

http://www.electrical-online.com/howtoarticles/subpanel.htm

 

[felix]

Here's a question. This thing was designed to operate at 120 volts with respect to earth. How will its insulation stand up to 240 volts?

 

[mapj1]

regarding insulation thickness
Fortunately Felix, It'll be fine, DC test voltage is 500V, just like here.
However, some non-earthed appliences, like toasters and irons for example, are class 0, which means single insulated no earth, which is not allowed in Europe any more (but is common in the developing world.)
The point is a single fault, rather than a double fault is required to make indirect contact with live possible.
This thing is earthed, but even so I'd recommend an RCD in any case.
anyone got pics of a US or Tiawanese wild leg three phase box then?
- I'll dig and see what I can find - my memory is that it is much more spaghetii style than we would accept here.