Friday 15 August 2014

ac - Why do we use alternating current and not direct current for mains power plugs within a house?



I understand that for transporting electric energy it makes way more sense to have AC. But within my house, I don't think that argument holds any more.


Devices I use (roughly ordered by power consumption):



  • Stove / oven: Isn't connected to the usual power plugs anyway, but a "high power" one

  • Washing Machine: max 900 W

  • Micro Wave: 800 W

  • Hand mixer: 450 W (I was quite surprised by that)


  • Fridge+Freezer: max 110 W

  • Laptop (usually 50 Watt, max 90 Watt)

  • Smartphone: 15 W?

  • electrical shaver: < 10 W

  • LED lights: 3 W

  • alarm clock: ?

  • Charging USB 2/3 devices


I've just seen that the car charger cable for my Notebook is WAY smaller than the one for the usual power plug. Looking at the power supply unit of my laptop, I see that it outputs direct current.


Seeing this huge difference in the size of the charger unit (and the price as well), I wonder why the usual power socket does not provide DC, but AC. What are the advantages within a house to use AC? Why wouldn't it be a good idea to have DC power plugs (e.g. as in cars)? (I've also heard that solar pannels provide DC).





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