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Power System |
| Q.
What does the power circuit look like? What are all those wires? |
| A.
The power distribution system is a network of high voltage wires carrying alternating current and delivering power to transformers for sale to customers. Transformers distribute power on local networks at low voltage levels to customers in their residences or workplaces.
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A typical rural power system, in its last few miles to the farmstead, is a single-phase line, one of the branches of a three-phase power delivery system. The single-phase line is made up of a phase wire energized at a high electric potential and a neutral conductor connected to the earth and therefore at the same potential as the earth (see figure below).
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Near the farmstead, the phase wire is connected to one terminal and the neutral wire to the other terminal on the supply side of the transformer. The purpose of the transformer is to lower the voltage to safer, more practical levels. This ability to reduce voltage to usable levels is a major benefit of alternating current systems.
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Coming out of the transformer is the standard three-wire 120/240-volt service found in most homes. The service wires are typically run to an outdoor utility meter installed at a key location on a farmstead to measure electric power usage. From there, the wiring typically continues to a disconnecting panel from which all circuits feeding the farmstead originate.
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