On: Slow Electricity: The Return of DC Power? (2016)

[posterboy]

I don't see how that would be any different from unprotected "high" voltage lines, or preferably protected ones for that matter. In house installations around 500V count as Low Voltage in power engineering, by the way.

[deng → posterboy]

That might very well be, but I have touched 240V AC accidentally, and I'm fine. Don't think that would still be the case for 400V DC, whether it counts as "low-voltage" or not.

EDIT: After reading a bit, it seems that the "what is more deadly" discussion regarding AC/DC is much more complicated than I thought, so the above might very well be false...

[Dylan16807 → deng]

240V AC peaks at 340V and most systems would rate 400V DC as being pretty similar.

Significant risk of shock, not much risk of arcing.

[mc32 → deng]

Above 220/240 it’s typically required a person be certified and wear certain fabric types to minimize hazards.

[xenadu02 → posterboy]

Any arc source is vastly more destructive with DC. That makes switching and circuit protection more difficult/expensive.

AC helps you because the voltage crosses zero twice every cycle so normal voltages don't tend to be sufficient to sustain much of an arc in air. Every time you flip a switch you cause an arc, but the same DC voltage eats up the contacts more quickly. Even silly things like unplugging a running appliance does way more damage to the receptacle and the plug under a DC load.