American mains voltages 1

[appleman]

America has 120v mains , but does any one know if this is going to change nationally down to 115v and 230v ?
We are about to have some labels printed and don't want to have 10000 printed incorrectly !

Regards Appleman


Orchard Electronic
Hailsham
E.Sussex

 

[TheBlacksmith]

The mains are somewhat nominal; 110,115,120 and 220,230,240. Depends on who you ask and where you are. I replaced a dedicated 20 amp GFCI receptacle last night in my house in Virgina Beach Virgina (approximately 20 feet of 12 gauge wire from breaker panel) and upon completion, my digital voltmeter read 114.8 volts.

Blacksmith

 

[CHDean]

The nominal residential services in the US will remain 120/240 60HZ for quite some time. I think you'll be quite safe with your labels.

 

[bertisevil]

My guess is that it won't. As the blacksmith answered the voltages are nominal. Depending on where you are your voltage could be 110, 115, or 120. My nominal service voltage is 120. If they changed the rating on equipment to 110 or 115, I probably would not be able to use it.
I would suspect that NEMA are the people to ask that question.

 

[dpc]

This question has been discussed before but I'm too lazy to find the old thread.

The main problem is confusion between nominal system voltage and the device utilization voltage.

ANSI C84.1 gives standard nominal voltages and the acceptable voltage ranges. Standard nominal voltage for a typical US service is 120/240. Minimum utilization voltage **at the receptacle** is 110 and maximum utilization voltage is 126. There is an extended range of 106 to 127 V under certain circumstances.

The utility is to provide voltage to the service point within 114 to 126 volts.

I see no chance that there will be any change to the nominal voltages, and I'm not sure why anyone would think there would be a change.

End-use equipment is typically labeled for 115V, just as motors used on a 480V system are nameplated at 460V.

 

[TheBlacksmith]

This just keeps getting better! I am setting in my office answering this query on a computer whose voltage selector switch is set on 115 volts and is connect to the "main" through a surge suppresser that is labeled 120 volts. My point was that in the US household, you have "low voltage" 110-120 volts and high voltage 220-240 volts and the actual number 110-115-120, etal are understood to be "nominal".

Blacksmith

 

[busbar]

Supporting other responses, the C84.1 standard is the "official" boilerplate, but

http://ari.org/std/individual/110-2002.pdf

lists similar numbers and descriptions for low-voltage situations.

 

[appleman]

Thank you one and all , maybe not definative but good enough to make a decision on .


Regards Appleman

Orchard Electronic
Hailsham
E.Sussex