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trollbridgeyesterday at 8:49 PM7 repliesview on HN

A typical U.S. 240V circuit is actually just two 120V circuits. Fairly trivial to rewire for that.


Replies

projektfutoday at 5:34 AM

Yes, if you have a 240V US split-phase circuit you could make a little sub-panel with a 40A breaker feeding two 20A 120V circuits and plug the two power supplies into each side. (1600W would need a 20-A breaker because 13.3A would be too much of a 15A circuit). But it would probably make more sense to just plug them both into the same 40A 240V circuit. If you use NEMA 6-20, make sure you label it appropriately and probably color it red.

In Europe, you could plug the two power supplies into an appropriately sized 240V circuit.

In an apartment you can't rewire, you could set it up in your kitchen, which in the modern US code should have two separate 20A circuits. You will need to put it to sleep while you use appliances.

Salgatyesterday at 10:43 PM

It's more accurate to say that the typical 120V circuit is just a 240V source with the neutral tapped into the midpoint of the transformer winding.

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razingedentoday at 4:04 AM

A US circuit is.

But this is re: European 240/250 which is 240 between its load and neutral

I’d say don’t energize either systems ground plane, but , really, don’t do this in EU

0xbadcafebeetoday at 12:30 AM

I think you're forgetting the wires? If you have one outlet with a 15-20A 120V circuit, then the wiring is almost certainly rated for 15-20A. If you just "combined" two 120V circuits into a 240V circuit, you still need an outlet that is rated for 30A, the wires leading to it also need to be rated for 30A, and it definitely needs a neutral. So you still need a new wire run if you don't have two 120V circuits right where you wanna plug in the box. To pass code you also may need to upsize conduit. If load is continuously near peak, it should be 50A instead of 30.

So basically you need a brand new circuit run if you don't have two 120V circuits next to each other. But if you're spending $65k on a single machine, an extra grand for an electrician to run conduit should be peanuts. While you're at it I would def add a whole-home GFCI, lightning/EMI arrestor, and a UPS at the outlet, so one big shock doesn't send $65k down the toilet.

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doubled112yesterday at 9:03 PM

I’ve actually had half of my dryer outlet fail when half of the breaker failed.

Can confirm.

amlutoyesterday at 9:38 PM

Sometimes. 240V circuits may or may not have a neutral.

jcgrilloyesterday at 9:43 PM

If you actually use two 120V circuits that way and one breaker flips the other half will send 120V through the load back into the other circuit. So while that circuit's breaker is flipped it is still live. Very bad. Much better to use a 240V breaker that picks up two rails in the panel.

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