Obscure Electrical Question for a Drill

Ahhh... No doubt he is using the metric system to measure his voltage!

Google saudi arabia electrical travel

SW

This gives SA as 127V or 220V 60Hz, so ask him to plug in a 127V light bulb.

Hmm.. is this for use on a construction site? IIRC, the Brits use a center-tapped 120V (CT grounded) for such purposes. Throw a sqrt(3) in there and you're close.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

I see siemens contactors (praise the google) with a control voltage of

Dave

It would appear that your customer is missing a zero, the references indicate 380V 3ph 60Hz power is common.

It figures: 50Hz is yet another freakin' German engineering marvel.

-- Make up your mind to act decidedly and take the consequences. No good is ever done in this world by hesitation. -- Thomas H. Huxley

It's not my customer missing a zero, it's me. 38V, 60 hz.

From one of the references:

"In most parts of Saudi Arabia - such as the Dammam and al-Khobar area -

I can't imagine why they would have 38V, 60Hz, such a low voltage would tend to point to a DC source like a 36V forklift battery.

Another reference indicates that the 220V 3ph is 60Hz and the 380V 3ph is 50Hz.

Given that this is specified as 38V 60Hz and 380V 3ph 50Hz is common in the region I'm pretty sure the spec was mangled in translation.

Three HP at 38 volts is a lot of current. No way can this be correct. Not even Edison would go that low in voltage. As others have said, 380 volts three phase seems more likely.

Are you talking to the engineer, or to a purchasing agent?

Joe Gwinn

That sounds really strange.

Are they using soviet railway or mining equipment?

Ah! A light dawns... if there is a potentially explosive atmosphere involved, and shock hazard, like mining or oilfield work, low voltage at the motor IS sensible. It might be possible to find hydraulic drives, or air compressors, and omit the electricals from the 'motor' end entirely.

============== A cheaper and easier solution could be a standard motor and a step-up transformer. 38v X 3 = 114V, although 3 hp @ 110v single phase motors seems to be at the upper edge. 38V X 6 =

-- Unka George (George McDuffee) .............................. The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there. L. P. Hartley (1895-1972), British author. The Go-Between, Prologue (1953).

Well, just a sanity check. He says 3 HP. That's a minimum of 2.5 Kw, at 38 volts, that is 58 amps. Real world efficiency factored in,more like 75 amps.

Somehow I'm just a wee bit sceptical.

You could ask him to put his hands across the supply-- if he doesn't get back to you, it was probably 380VAC.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

Leave us not go back to 25Hz like we had in Toronto and area for so many blinking years! Gerry :-)} London, Canada

all the power I've seen in Saudi Arabia is european standard 220V 60 Hz, The 38V is not right unless he has his own motor/generator for it - that certainly is not wall power there.

There is lots of info on the kingdom on the web, including standard power and outlets - ask him for a photo of the outlet he will plug it in to