• sik0fewl@piefed.ca
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    3 months ago

    Do you think we will ever change our power grid to have a higher frequency so that our bulbs don’t flicker when we record things?

    • Assassassin@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      3 months ago

      Good LED bulbs have a smoothing capacitor after the full bridge rectifier. This allows the LED to maintain most of its output during the low points in the cycle, resulting in minimal to no flicker when recording.

    • qjkxbmwvz@startrek.website
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      3 months ago

      High frequency is generally bad for transmission line losses, so getting power from A to B is better at lower frequency — DC is a great option here.

      If we switched to DC, many things would still flicker though as they would presumably use switching power supplies, but those could be relatively high frequency like you said.

      Interestingly, airplanes use 400Hz, as transmission over distance doesn’t matter, and transformers can be made much smaller/lighter.

      • FishFace@piefed.social
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        3 months ago

        Also if we switched to DC, you’d need costly dcdc transformers to step up the voltage for transmission and back down again for domestic usage

          • FishFace@piefed.social
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            3 months ago

            As far as I understand, a DCDC converter is less efficient and more expensive than an equivalent ACAC converter. I don’t know about switching power supplies, and whether that’s true or extendable to the transformer case, sorry.

            Long distance point to point power transmission (like internationally) is often DC because transmission losses become more important.

    • flyingSock@feddit.org
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      3 months ago

      Buffer the input in a battery then use dc out from the battery to power your lights, no flickering. No need to reconfigure the entire grid and every device on it for niche applications.

      • iSeth@lemmy.ml
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        3 months ago

        Just rectify the AC, if the voltage isn’t too much.

        You don’t need a buffer unless the power fluctuates.

        Not a licensed electrician