Date:         Fri, 16 May 2014 23:12:50 -0400
Reply-To:     David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Subject:      Re: Off topic Friday question on switches...
Comments: To: JRodgers <jrodgers113@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To:  <5376B491.70004@gmail.com>
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At 09:00 PM 5/16/2014, JRodgers wrote:
>What kind of domestic power is it that is supplied to a house/shop
>using only a single wire/cable. I've never seen it done here, but in
>South America single wire power is run over great distances to meet
>the needs of remote farms while at the same time keeping costs down.
>Have  you ever seen this single wire stuff??

Sounds like Single Wire Earth Return, a method with a lot of
advantages for rural distribution.  It takes a hit in efficiency, but
both first cost and maintenance of the plant are a lot cheaper
(originally they were put up using galvanized fence wire for the
conductor -- apparently now it's more likely to be aluminum-clad
steel.  Seems like a pretty good article at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-wire_earth_return .

Yrs,
d