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Every year divisible by four with remainder one, adventurous geeks hold an outdoor festival in the Netherlands. This year, about 6000 people are expected to attend a long weekend.
Among them will be a group of experimenters who will be testing a 42 volt direct current grid. Specifically, a cluster of tents within the festival will receive approximately 50 × 4 Amperé supplies and 8 × 16 Amperé supplies. Hopefully, this will be run by solar power but there will also be a backup generator. Switching a high load of direct current is more complicated than alternating current and losses around the example MOSFET circuit are expected to be less than 0.2W per junction. Although people are expected to bring together previously untested circuitry, it is hoped that pieces of the project will inspire multiple direct current grids in more permanent locations.
Hopefully, electrocution or voltage drop doesn't halt electrical distribution at the festival.
(Score: 2) by isj on Sunday July 02 2017, @12:44PM
DC's generally safer
It really depends on the expected failures.
AC has points in time (50 or 60 times a second) due to the waveform where the voltage is zero, so it is more difficult to sustain an arc. If you want to avoid arcs then go for AC (or use better spacing).
It is my understanding that DC tends to burn skin but not cause muscle cramps, while AC generally doesn't burn skin but does cause cramps.
So what is safer really depends on the environment, voltage and amps.
In either case: don't try to make Mr. Fork close friends with Mrs. Outlet. Don't lick live wires. Don't pee on electric fences.