Ok, I just couldn't figure it out by myself (and no dictionary was able :), but that's the reason why I put this definition table upfront - so just read my not with switched names. Shure it makes a lot of sense, since the balancing of the load will be better _and_ of course the price of the wire wil be way lower due higer voltage (400V/415V instead of 230V/240V) and inherent caracteristicas of 3~ vs 2~ transmission (would take some pages to describe). Over here only 3~ power lines are supplied, no matter if comercial or residential area or building - even in the most rural places 3~ is standard (for new installations). Not 230V/115V ? That's exactly what I tried to explane: plugs here in Germany are NOT polarized (since the our system is no descender of an DC system, and for an AC plus Protective Ground System it isn't needed to distinguish the power lines, as long as the Protective Ground is defined) a) true, if Neutral is true a grounded line - from your schematics it isn't defined (unless you don't connect neutral via an anchor to 'True' Ground - which must be tha same at the generator, whitch lead to the conclusion that your 'highvoltage' lines are 2 phases of a 3~ system (*)) b) true as long as you look for fixed installed fuses within the fixed household installation. c) not true if it is about fuses within an electronic device (after the power outlet/plug) - where 'Hot' and 'Neutral' is no longer defined - at least when using systems that allow symetric interchange of the two power lines (as used in most Europe). And AFAIR this kind of devices are to be connected, and the fuse we are talking about are Fuses within the devices. (*) But if this is true, that these are 2 phases of a 3~ system (and the Neutral is tied to 'True' Ground), then you only need 200V (208V) to get 115V (120V) on each coil of the transformer. Gruss Hans Hey, Sallam, couldn't this power thing be a good addition for VCF 3.0? A speach about how to operate Eq. from a different country (and power system) in an acceptable and safe fashion ? Maybe if Philip and me (possible with a thirs, US guy) team up to give an outline of the different circumstances to remember when using foreign (old) computers ? There might be some need. -- Stimm gegen SPAM: http://www.politik-digital.de/spam/de/ Vote against SPAM: http://www.politik-digital.de/spam/en/ Votez contre le SPAM: http://www.politik-digital.de/spam/fr/ Ich denke, also bin ich, also gut HRK

Steve Robertson <steverob(a)hotoffice.com> wrote: Of course, it is no longer considered acceptable for devices to be made this way. They won't get UL listed; I'm not sure if there's any legal prohibition, but any manufacturer with half a clue would not make a product this way now due to product liability concerns. Yes, but have you ever spent any time testing those polarized outlets? An appalling number of them are wired incorrectly. Counting on the polarization to make it safe is not a good bet. If you're not sure, get one of those outlet-checkers at your local hardware store or Radio Shack. The have three neon bulbs in a small housing with a three-prong plug, and will detect most of the common wiring faults. However, you have to be careful even with those. I've seen some of these checkers that are labelled wrong! (Whoever produced those *deserves* to be electrocuted.) Which is one reason why you should never assume that just because the switch is off that there is no dangerous high voltage present in a power supply or the like. If you're *lucky*, everything might be wired correctly so that it's at neutral, and neutral might be close enough to the safety ground to be reasonably safe. But don't trust your life to luck. Unplug it and be sure. And remember, there can still be enough charge on capacitors to be dangerous, so you *still* have to be careful. Since neutral and ground are *only* tied together at the entrance (and this is very important!), at any given point that you might care to measure, neutral might have a non-trivial potential. This arises because the neutral is a current-carrying conductor, while ground is not, so the neutral line has resistive losses.