Why does the U.S. use 110V and not 220V domestic electric service?

That is something that I have always wondered about as it seemed to me that 220V/240V has some advantages over the voltage used in the U.S. electric home distribution system. Here is a somewhat involved explanation why the U.S. uses 110/120V home power and not 220V/240V like most of the rest of the world. It seems to have a lot to do with the history of the development of electric lights and power generators, as well as economics and consumer demand for lighting back in the dark ages of gas lighting. Unfortunately, the presenter has got a case of "Scotty hands" which I find a little distracting during a serious discussion that does not include laughing horse pictures in the upper right hand corner of the screen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yRGvMgieEU

What about frequency?

Zitat von wessie im Beitrag #3

---

Zitat von Mr. 36654 im Beitrag #2

---

What about frequency?

---

the follow on video

I used to work for (Rank) Xerox in their UK plant in the Forest of Dean. We assembled machines for worldwide distribution. We had a massive frequency converter that looked like something made in the 19th century, so we could test the 60Hz machines destined for the USA & Canada.

As an end of line tech, it was great fun when someone fitted the wrong parts to a machine. We could never quite persuade the designers to ensure it was impossible to fit the wrong wire to a spade connector on a transformer. Nope, every one had to be the same size and shape.

After 1990 I moved to the electronics division, making PCBs for the assembly lines. One of my jobs was assessing if boards returned from the production line after assembly mishaps could be repaired and reused. Getting all nostalgic now, for the olden days when things could be fixed by simply swapping out a blown diode as it had sacrificed itself to protect the other components.

Of course, Xerox does not do anything messy like this nowadays. My job in electronics was outsourced in 2002 to a factory in Hungary run by Flextronics of Singapore. Xerox just wants to hold the intellectual property and sell lease plans and consumables.

---

Zitat von Mr. 36654 im Beitrag #4

---

Zitat von wessie im Beitrag #3

---

[quote=Mr. 36654|p45718]What about frequency?

---

Honestly, it's fun to read the responses and listen to people struggle with the realization that their accepted "ground truth, best possible way" is just the result of some dead person's choice.............

---

There are many YouTube videos that discuss the difference. All US homes get 220 service, but the box splits it down two rails. Each providing 110. A circuit bridges both to get 220 for items that must have 220 service. I believe it largely grew out of what voltage devices were made for. Europe did everything 220. US and others have a mix of 110 for lower draw appliances and 220 for heavy draw.

Question - do the EV chargers installed in home garages use 220 or 110 service?

Zitat von Vtbob im Beitrag #5

---

Zitat von Mr. 36654 im Beitrag #4

---

Zitat von wessie im Beitrag #3

---

[quote=Mr. 36654|p45718]What about frequency?

---

Honestly, it's fun to read the responses and listen to people struggle with the realization that their accepted "ground truth, best possible way" is just the result of some dead person's choice.............

---

Yep that is a fact!

Just to keep this going a bit:

60Hz allow for a bit smaller, less copper transformer so is a bit more economical in the long run.....not to mention the ease of making clocks when synchronous motors were the rage!

on the other hand 110 v vs 220 has greater wire heating losses or requires thicker copper wire for the same power delivery. This is largely muted with the fact that essentially all of the US/Canada have 220 run to their house /establishment and the two legs are split in the breaker panel...so it is only from there the greater losses are realized.

Also 220V has a stronger arc over potential, so your old, cracked extension cords are a bit more dangerous in 220V vs 110....and you can debate if 110 vs 220 switched arc over more (depends on the more or less complex switch design) are more noisy in the RF spectrum ( when we used real radio and TV vs the stream stuff)

so these old dead people were not that far apart

---

Zitat von darrell im Beitrag #7

---

Question - do the EV chargers installed in home garages use 220 or 110 service?

---

Just to note that here in Europe we standardized from 220/240V to all-230V (single phase) some years ago.
Many modern power supplies are not fussy about the incoming voltage since they are made for global markets and anyway use switching regulators that can cope automatically.

Zitat von darrell im Beitrag #7

---

Question - do the EV chargers installed in home garages use 220 or 110 service?

---

Zitat von zer0netgain im Beitrag #12

---

Zitat von darrell im Beitrag #7

---

Question - do the EV chargers installed in home garages use 220 or 110 service?

---

Most can do both, but using a 220 supply gives a better recharge rate. 110 is better than nothing but considerably slower.

---

Typically for EV charging, you'll put a 240V/50A NEMA 14-50 outlet (similar to what an electric dryer uses) in your garage and plug the EV charger into that.

When charging a Tesla at home, Tesla wall charger unit will charge faster than Nema 14-50.

Tesla wall charger uses 60 amp breaker and can pull 48 amps. Nema 14-50 uses 50 amp breaker and pulls up to 32 amps, per code.