iceworm
Curmudgeon still using printed IEEE Color Books
- Location
- North of the 65 parallel
- Occupation
- EE (Field - as little design as possible)
In our aircraft labs, we have 120V 400Hz supplies and 28 VDC power supplies. These 28VDC ones can be huge -- 400A or more. One lab in particular uses QO panels for the 28 VDC distribution. It is has 30A single pole breakers feeding non-locking 120V 30A receptacle because we don't seem to use those receptacles anywhere for anything else. Kind of unwieldy though to have a 30A cord for a device using 5 amps. But the runs can be long and you need the larger wires.
I think the 12-0-12 system has a lot of merit and mirrors the 120V multiwire branch circuit scheme. Finding 12V devices is easy. 24V is less common, but there are some maritime and aircraft items in this range. Automotive items are really things that will operate on 12 to 14V, as the system is typically 12.5V on just the battery and 14.4V when the alternator is running. It would be nice to see some standardization on the 12/24/28 VDC systems with common receptacles configurations and sizes.
I went with 24 because gen house and batteries are located 50' away (I wanted to noise down). And 24V cuts way back on the copper as compared to 12V. Inverter full load is 140A at 24VDC. Yes, the 12V tap is convenient. I put in two power point receptacles for the kid's video player and a 12V input CD player (non-automotive) Interestingly I can't use the inverter to power the video player. It is not close enough to a sinewave and it puts lines on the screen.
Yes, it would be nice if there was some standardization on receptacles.
ice