Taking light fixtures from UK to North America

[junebug29]

StepenOak:

yeah, basically we are in the same position. Our work is paying for everything to be shipped, but nothing to be replaced. So we have incentive to move everything we can (not that our stuff is great, we just don't want to replace it all). We have a new fridge, and it sucks abandoning that. However, I didn't want to sell it as we need it until the last minute (being an essential appliance and all). Also a new amp (which I will try to sell).

So, pretty much the only thing we are taking are laptops and other portables. Oh, now, I guess lamps!

 

[junebug29]

Some of our stuff is really **** (but works). We have a telee which we bought on gumtree for 100 quid in 2009. It is post CRT (so somewhat thin) but pre recent technology (so a little thicker). I don't feel bad abandoning that.

 

[winston1]

Don't forget that in N America supplies are 120v bi phase, i.e. 240v centre tapped to earth. Most items are one side to earth, i.e 120v, but large items such a washers and HIVAC have the full 240v (at 60Hz). In theory it should be possible to get a 240v socket fitted. I only know of one person who managed it to use a UK kettle, as 120v kettles are so slow. Not advisable for UK fridges though due to the frequency.

 

[bernardgreen]

Don't forget that in N America supplies are 120v bi phase, i.e. 240v centre tapped to earth.

Had he thought and researched he might have more accurately said

Don't forget that in N America SOME supplies are 120v bi phase, i.e. 240v centre tapped to earth.

 

[winston1]

Had he thought and researched he might have more accurately said

Don't forget that in N America SOME supplies are 120v bi phase, i.e. 240v centre tapped to earth.

Even more accurate to say MOST supplies are 120v bi phase, i.e. 240v centre tapped to earth.

 

[FrodoOne]

Even more accurate to say MOST supplies are 120v bi phase, i.e. 240v centre tapped to earth.

One might call that "Edison's Curse" on North America - since it involves a lot of 15 or 20 A circuits to supply "normal" kitchen appliances - with a maximum of only 1800 W or 2400 W available in total on each CIRCUIT.

Many socket outlets can be connected to a "normal" UK 240 V/32 A Ring circuit with (up to) 13 A fused plugs (3000 W available per socket ) - or even to an Australian/NZ 240 V/20 A circuit with 10 A (non-fused) socket outlets (2400 W available per socket outlet.)

 

[eveares]

Indeed, but the harmonised colours are actually allowed in the US because, well they are harmonised

So you can use Brown (L), Blue (N) and Green/Yellow (E) to wire a house to code in the USA? Can you provide a source to your claim?

 

[FrodoOne]

So you can use Brown (L), Blue (N) and Green/Yellow (E) to wire a house to code in the USA? Can you provide a source to your claim?

Also, see my comment in #9.

 

[winston1]

So you can use Brown (L), Blue (N) and Green/Yellow (E) to wire a house to code in the USA? Can you provide a source to your claim?

No, I remember reading it somewhere. But more important for you it is allowed on flexible appliance leads. As moulded plugs are used it is not normally visible, but I have opened up US appliances and found it. Interestingly one appliance I opened up had the moulded plug the wrong way round with the hot pin on the blue and the neutral pin on the brown.

 

[bernardgreen]

While 240 (or 220 ) volts is available in some houses it's use is resticted to large appliances which are hard wired to the supply. Portable appliances with plugs are restricted to 110 ( or 120 ) volt supplies.

( source :- friends living now in the USA and personal experience during visits to the USA )

 

[winston1]

While 240 (or 220 ) volts is available in some houses it's use is resticted to large appliances which are hard wired to the supply. Portable appliances with plugs are restricted to 110 ( or 120 ) volt supplies.

( source :- friends living now in the USA and personal experience during visits to the USA )

Strange then that they have 240v plugs. Google NEMA 6-15P

 

[bernardgreen]

Strange then that they have 240v plugs. Google NEMA 6-15P

Not strange at all. They have 240 volt sockets in many commercial and industrial premises for large load equipment. While a few domestic properties will have 240 supplies the appliances using 240 volts have tended to be hard wired.

 

[FrodoOne]

While 240 (or 220 ) volts is available in some houses it's use is resticted to large appliances which are hard wired to the supply. Portable appliances with plugs are restricted to 110 ( or 120 ) volt supplies.

( source :- friends living now in the USA and personal experience during visits to the USA )

While some "large appliances" in North America (which includes Canada) are required to have their connection to a 240 V supply to be "hard wired", this is not true for all appliances/devices for which 240 V is required.
Also, the requirement for any connection being via "hard wired" or a "socket-outlet" can vary between jurisdictions (Country, State, City, County etc.)
In addition, while there is a US NationaL Electrical Code (NEC) and a Canadian Electrical Code (CEC), various jurisdictions (manly in the US) can "run" on "codes" which are not the latest for many years.

I draw your attention to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEMA_connector#/media/File:NEMA_simplified_pins.svg, which shows to "connectors" currently supplied by members of the (US) National Electrical Manufactures Association (NEMA).
You will note that there are 11 such connectors which are available to supply 240 V, sometimes with a Neutral so that 120 V may also be supplied, sometimes with a Ground/Earth and sometimes with both - a currents of between 15 A and 50 A
(While it may be that socket outlets without a Ground/Earth connection are now not permitted to be newly installed in many/all jurisdictions, I cannot assert that.)

While not necessarily "portable", you should note that some of these socket-outlets are designed to supply devices such as "Clothes Dryers", "Electric Ovens", "Welders" or "Plasma Cutters". Not shown there is the current need for North American socket outlets to supply 240 V for the chargers of electric cars.

You should also note that there are many discussions concerning the installation of 240 V socket outlets in North American "garages" etc. on sites such as https://www.diychatroom.com/f18/

In contrast with the "mess" that is the North American complex of incompatible socket outlets and plugs for connecting devices to various "dual" voltage supplies at various maximum currents, please observe the simplicity of the Australian/New Zealand situation, where the "Standard" 230 V can be obtained from any "normal" outlet ranging from 10 A to 32 A.

In Australia/New Zealand (using a 230 V supply), most "domestic" devices are equipped with a "10 A" plug, which may be inserted into any socket outlet, up to those supplying 32 A.
"15 A" plugs may do the same , BUT they cannot be inserted into a 10 A socket - and so on.
(Since any Circuit Breaker/Fuse is there to protect only the wiring [and not any device connected], this is completely logical!)

Actually, most persons in Australia/New Zealand would never have seen anything of larger capacity than a 230 V, 15 A plug/socket combination, since they are largely unnecessary, except for Industrial Applications. (However, the use of Electric Vehicles may change this.)

(See http://www.plugsocketmuseum.nl/Australian_3hd.html for an illustration of these socket outlets - but note that the 20 A outlet has been omitted on that page.)

 

[plugwash]

In Australia/New Zealand (using a 230 V supply), most "domestic" devices are equipped with a "10 A" plug, which may be inserted into any socket outlet, up to those supplying 32 A.
"15 A" plugs may do the same , BUT they cannot be inserted into a 10 A socket - and so on.
(Since any Circuit Breaker/Fuse is there to protect only the wiring [and not any device connected], this is completely logical!)

Leaving asside the question of individual appliances, what if anything is there to protect extension leads from severe overloading? or is prevention of such overloads just left to the end user to keep an eye on? or are the 32 A sockets just rare enough in practice that it's not an issue?

 

[FrodoOne]

Leaving asside the question of individual appliances, what if anything is there to protect extension leads from severe overloading? or is prevention of such overloads just left to the end user to keep an eye on? or are the 32 A sockets just rare enough in practice that it's not an issue?

As I wrote earlier
"Actually, most persons in Australia/New Zealand would never have seen anything of larger capacity than a 230 V, 15 A plug/socket combination, since they are largely unnecessary, except for Industrial Applications. (However, the use of Electric Vehicles may change this.)"

If one has an extension lead capable of "carrying" either 10 A or 15 A with safety, that only means that the heating of this extension lead (per unit length) will not be so significant as to damage it when used in normal circumstances. (The voltage drop for the appliance using this extension lead is quite another thing.)
This differs from the need to protect "building wiring" from overheating in the confined space where it is installed. Hence the need for regulations concerning the current carrying of the conductors of certain CSA in "buildings" in relation to the rating of the Circuit Breaker protecting these conductors within a building.

You asked "what if anything is there to protect extension leads from severe overloading? "
Any extension lead sold in Australia/NZ would have connectors at both ends rated appropriately for the current carrying capacity of the cable concerned - in free air.
Hence, a 10 A rated cable could be plugged into a 32 A socket outlet (if one could find one) but the socket outlet on the cable would accommodate only a device rated at up to 10 A - if no one had made any changes to the connectors involved on the extension lead or to the connector on the lead to the device concerned.
(So it would be for 15 A extension cables.)

In Australia/NZ, any socket outlet rated at above 15 A is very rare, to date.

However, with electric vehicles they may become more common.