[Gllug] OT: Merging UPS outputs

[John Hearns]

On Thu, 2005-08-18 at 23:18 +0100, Chris Bell wrote:

>    It actually depended on the company that supplied you, where you lived,
> and a load of other factors, and could have been almost any voltage. My home
> was running on 250volts, so I used to buy special high voltage lamps, The
> kids set fire to the local substation, and then it was dropped to about 235
> volts.
>    I have a reference book that lists some of the voltages, stating that in
> 1948 there were still DC supplies, (mainly 230 volt), and 1 phase (100 to
> 460 volts), 2 phase, and 3 phase (350 - 460 volt) AC supplies in use. 
>    Part of the South Acton and Chiswick area was still powered by DC in
> 1956, I rewired my grandfather's factory to 3-phase AC when it was finally
> removed. (I was 13 at the time).
Interesting!

And remember - "Its the volts that jolts, its the mils that kills"
High voltage in itself won't kill you.
Eg. a high voltage 1000V PSU might give you a belt (ahem).
Wiring up your electric cooker to a 32A circuit could kill you.

(It depends on the 'compliance' of a source. A high voltage PSU will
only have a small capacitor to discharge, so you only get a small amount
of current).

Talking about AC and DC domestic supplies, I don't suppose everyone
knows about Edison's greusome public demonstrations with stray dogs?
He even tried to get the term "Westinghoused" to be common usage, like
"Hoover", to discredit the rival AC Westinghouse system.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_Currents#Edison.27s_propaganda
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topsy_the_Elephant 


Veering rapidly off topic, I saw a marvellous play about the life of
Tesla at the Edinburgh Festival once. Brilliant man, but he had a
disturbing liking for pigeons. Or a certain pigeon, IIRC.
http://www.electriccompanytheatre.com/works-brilliant.htm




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