Why 230 volts for AC are used in households?

I wonder, on what factors Voltage level is determined.
say, 230 Volts AC (50hz frequency), for house hold supply.

i here in other countries use 110 v (dont know frequency) for the same house hold applications

adopt 230 volts usa

It was an economic tradeoff. The cost of copper, the cost of insulation, the cost of wasted power in the line drop. This tradeoff would not be the same today with the high cost of energy, but once something becomes standard there is no way to change it.

why 230 volts in a house

The currents are half at 230V vs. 110V for the same power, so the losses in the wiring are 4 times lower for a 230V system. Initially many countries had 110V, since it was considered safer for humans. However, in the 50s, as household power consumption increased, many countries switched to 220/230V.
In the US, there were so many 110V appliances in use, that it was deemed an unreasonable waste to switch to 230V and render them useless.

why 230 volts

VVV,

As yo say appliances are made for 110v,
can you giv me more details, on what factors the appliances are desined.

220 volts in india and 230 volts in us ?

This is more of political issue than pure engineering or economic problem.
South Korea changed from 100V 60Hz to 220V 60Hz distribution.
We went through an interim solution, i.e., some household had single
phase three wire system, where you get both 220V and 110V.
Suppose wires A, B, and C are coming in to your house, and wire B is
grounded. If you use A-B or C-B, you get 110V which is acceptable for
100V appliances. If you use A-C, you get 220V which is good for new
appliances.
Now, the entire country is 220V. It took more than 10 years.
S. H.

why 230?

what about DP distribution transformer ? design

why we use only 230 volts for household purposes

if we keep the point how to derive 110 from 230v,

what is the deciding factor that limits the voltage to be either 110v or 230v?

why con't we have 50v or 30v devices.

does 230 volts cost more?

see https://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080210031508AAVK1cO

we dont derive 110 from 230v.
they are 2 seperate systems.

Unless you are talking about designing transformers?

The deciding factors are current v cable thickness.

we do have 50v & 24v devices but these are used in emergency installations as they are a lesser voltage & battery backup powered.

what is english version of 230 volts in german?

I tried to gather info. from various sources

Why 110v 230v system.
Lets start from Edison who invented Electricity.
According to some sources Edison's original lightbulb was designed to work with around 100 V DC.
But what really mean is the power at which certain application will use/run.

For the same power to transfer, RMS voltage of AC needs ~11% more than DC voltage.
For Ex: 110v AC, 15A = 100v DC 15A
This factor ~11% depends on the Rectifier efficiency factor during the Generation of AC

VRMS = VPeak ÷2* Sqrt(2)/pi = VPeak ÷0.89 = 1.11 *VPeak


Indian standards (borrowed from British standards) 230v 50Hz 5A
American standards 110v 60Hz 15A

Technically 110 volt system will have less voltage and hence more current in the circuit,
whereas 220 volt system will have more voltage and less current.

More voltage means more insulation required.
More current means more heating generated. You have to choose one of them.

230v 5A reduces the cost of insulation requirements. And hence the equipment cost reduces.

why 230V is the mains voltage. Of course this is the single phase voltage, while the real power is delivered at 3-phase. Keeping in mind the higher the voltage the better, the limit was the VIR (vulcanised india rubber) insulation used on cables at the time.

Overhead transmission lines carry very high voltage to reduce heating loss in transmission. As I said earlier more voltage means less current and less current means less heat generated, and less heat means less loss of energy.


110v/60hz-usa,230v/50hz-uk which is better n why?
with 110v,60hz more fire deaths and
with 230v,50hz more electrocution why?

The Hz doesn't make any difference.
At 110 volts you need to draw twice the current for the same power.
Wiring heats up with current so you have more heat with the lower voltage.
This could lead to more fires.
I think because of more current more no.of fire cases in USA

With 220 volts the current is less so the heat is less and smaller chance of fire.
But the increased voltage will push more current through your body if you accidently contact live wires. This has a greater potential of causing a death.


Can any one tell me which is easier? Generation of AC / DC?

why india uses 230 volts

The statistics you found are interesting, but they may not reflect the whole story.
The requirements on insulation are actully more stringent for the 230V system. However, when the switch occurred, the electrical companies and the regulatory bodies made sure that the test voltage was the same, i.e. 2000V, for both 110V and 230V systems. The rationale behind this had nothing to do with safety, but rather with cost: since the existing 110V wires had already been tested at 2000V, tey could remain in place and simply used for 220/230V, without any additional cost of replacing them. Nice how standards are pushed by economic considerations...

Generating DC or AC is pretty much the same, the only real difference is in the generator's commutator. But the real reason why the AC is in use today is because at the turn of the 20-th century the Serb Nikola Tesla, who immigrated to the US, proved that AC was superior, vs. the DC proposed by Thomas Edison.
The great advantage of AC is the ease with which the voltage can be stepped up or down by the use of transformers. Back then this was the only way and it made it possible to transmit power over long distances with relatively low losses by using high voltage. At the consumer's end the voltage is stepped back down. All this with simple transformers which have a relatively high efficieny.
The same was not possible with DC. Anyway, not that easily.

With today's technology, it is possible to step up/ down DC voltages and transmit power efficiently over long distances. In fact, since it is DC, the losses are lower, because even at 60Hz there are some losses in an AC system, due to capacitive loading. This is the drive behind the efforts, by Siemens for instance, to make high-voltage DC systems. Another advantage of a DC system is that the magnetic field, which is thought to have negative effects on humans, is constant, as opposed to changing at 50/ 60Hz.

why 230 volts for AC

I have heard russia's main is about 400V!(I didn't search it and I could be wrong)but it is understandable noting that russia is a big country that many consumers are far apart from each other. higher voltage reduces cost of transformers. Though VVV rightfully noted the negative effect of AC magnetic field on human and also another negative effect of AC is noise which is the most prominent noise in different devices but having in mind ever increasing thirst for energy(air conditioners, electrical heaters, ovens,...) and also having in mind that stepping up mains voltage can have many more immediate dangers, I think countries have to either accept higher transformer costs or adopt higher frequencies.

Re: why 230 volts for AC

Russia uses: 230V @ 50Hz just like the rest of Europe .

Added after 4 minutes:

vikramc98406 said:

I tried to gather info. from various sources

Why 110v 230v system.
Lets start from Edison who invented Electricity.
[/b]

Click to expand...

WRONG !!.. Edison did not invented Electricity, shame on you !. He invented a usable light bulb, not the first but the first one that lasted longer than a few minutes ...

Re: why 230 volts for AC

shwoo said:

This is more of political issue than pure engineering or economic problem.
South Korea changed from 100V 60Hz to 220V 60Hz distribution.
We went through an interim solution, i.e., some household had single
phase three wire system, where you get both 220V and 110V.
Suppose wires A, B, and C are coming in to your house, and wire B is
grounded. If you use A-B or C-B, you get 110V which is acceptable for
100V appliances. If you use A-C, you get 220V which is good for new
appliances.
Now, the entire country is 220V. It took more than 10 years.
S. H.

Click to expand...

Thanks for that!

I thought, though, that South Korea was at 50Hz? I brought back an Altec amplifier, and when I changed the transformers out, they were rated for 50Hz.

Korea has a very interesting history and culture! (Not to mention the TWO ubiquitous cities!)

Re: why 230 volts for AC

Operating an audio amplifier rated 50Hz off 60Hz mains does not usually cause any problems. But the other way around may sometimes cause overheating due to higher magnetizing current. If the appliance does not involve something like induction motors, you are okay.
By the way, I don't understand what you mean by two ubiquitous cities.
S. H.