• partial_accumen@lemmy.world
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    4 hours ago

    You also use 120VAC which makes the current overload issue a lot worse.

    Voltage inside of residences is 120v AC, but its 240v thats delivered to each house. I think a bigger difference is that in the USA that 240v AC is single phase where I believe (Germany included) many nations in the EU are 3 phase.

    The USA does have 3 phase power for most commercial applications though.

    • cynar@lemmy.world
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      52 minutes ago

      It’s worth noting that this is talking about plug in solar, so would be at standard mains voltage.

      1kw would be around 4A in Europe, but 8A in the USA. Also, since resistive losses scale with I^2 that’s 4x the heat dumped in the walls.

      At least in the UK, they tend to run 3 phase to a road, but only a single phase goes into a given house. You need to get a special hook up to get 3 phase to a domestic premise, and they don’t like doing it.