So, I'm checking the volts at my 220 outlet in the garage just to see what's there, since the line is like a 100 foot run from the house. I put my thingies in the holes and pop! I jumped. I had done a stupid thing. The meter has a place for the positive lead depending on whether you're checking ohms or volts. I left it in the ohms spot. Ooops!



In spite of this fact, the voltage part of the meter still seems to work. With no load, I've got 242 volts! Even with the compressor running, it's 240 across the prongs on the plug.

 

haha, sweet!

 

Can we put the video on U-tube?!

 

Vol 1. Man checks voltage.



Vol 2. Man loses *****.



Vol 3. Return of voltage man.

 

yea they call it a 220v outlet but i think in actuallity its 250 or 280 or something.



just like the 110 outlet is really 120 or 140 or some ****.



kevin.

 

Actually the amount of voltage can vary depending on how far away you are from the distribution station. If you are near the distribution station, you will get very high voltage, 120-140. They have to bump the voltage up this high because the further away you get, the level of voltage drops. So some houses far removed from the source might get less than 110.

 

Since it's alternating current, the voltage looks like a sin function. 110 is rms voltage or the average voltage, it can spike up to larger values up to 140. Same with 220.



- Hand

 

alright call off the scientific investigation team, i was trying to keep this to cliff notes.



lol



kevin.

 

So you guys run your power tools etc on 220v? seems weird cause we have 220 as standard and run tools on 110V

 

we dont use metric volts either!