Re: Why choose 120 volts?

[joel jaeggli <joelja () bogus com>]

If the pdu contains a surge suppressor and was designed for 120v, plugging in to 220 will cause the MOV that protects 
against transient over-voltage to emit smoke. The breaker or fuse is a current limiting device.

Joel

Pete Templin <petelists () templin org> wrote:

> Dave Larter wrote:
> > Seems like if the c14 was connected to a 240v PDU the 5-15 would
> > deliver 240v to the equipment, arc/pop tripping the breaker on the
> > PDU as soon as it is connected killing power to everything on that
> > PDU.  Or am I missing something?
>
> If you plug a PDU into a service that's higher voltage than expected, 
> why would the PDU circuit breaker trip?  That breaker is measuring 
> current, AFAICT, though in the end it might be measuring power. 
> Regardless, it isn't measuring voltage, because that isn't constant 
> (it's AC, after all) and is likely to drop under a short circuit, not 
> skyrocket like the current will.
>
> pt