Why do some appliances say 120v?

[Santa]

I know this may sound like a dumb question, but...I thought everything you plug in AC was 12 Volts. I am trying to figure my daily electric consumption and I just looked at the back of some items and they say 120v. Can someone explain this please?

 

[Rider]

Assuming you are in the USA, all house wall outlets are 120Volts AC (alternating current), plus or minus a few percent. A battery produces DC (direct current), and is much lower in voltage, as low as 1.5V, but can be connected together to make higher voltages. The battery in your car is 12V DC. House appliances (in the US) are 120V AC. In the UK, AUS and many other countries, the AC wall plug is 240V AC.

 

[Santa]

Assuming you are in the USA, all house wall outlets are 120Volts AC (alternating current), plus or minus a few percent. A battery produces DC (direct current), and is much lower in voltage, as low as 1.5V, but can be connected together to make higher voltages. The battery in your car is 12V DC. House appliances (in the US) are 120V AC. In the UK, AUS and many other countries, the AC wall plug is 240V AC.

Thank you!

 

[Santa]

Assuming you are in the USA, all house wall outlets are 120Volts AC (alternating current), plus or minus a few percent. A battery produces DC (direct current), and is much lower in voltage, as low as 1.5V, but can be connected together to make higher voltages. The battery in your car is 12V DC. House appliances (in the US) are 120V AC. In the UK, AUS and many other countries, the AC wall plug is 240V AC.

OK, Maybe they are 12 volt, need to confirm, BRB

 

[Angelique]

OK, Maybe they are 12 volt, need to confirm, BRB

Santa,
I'm curious. What do you need confirmed? Because, if it helps, everything Rider said is correct.
I'm thinking the issue here is being clear on the difference between AC (alternating current) and DC (direct current) electricity. They are both electricity, obviously, but functionally or in practice they are very different. Consider this, in your car there's electricity, right? The radio turns on, the lights work, etc. It comes from your car's battery, which is 12v DC. But would it ever occur to you to try to plug your house blender into it to make margaritas? No, of course not. For one thing there's no outlet to plug into and that's because your blender runs on 120v AC. AC and DC electricity are not directly interchangeable, although there are plenty of expensive gadgets you can buy to convert one to the other.
A more technical explanation is beyond me right now, it's late and I'm tired. But, it's really very interesting and very useful knowledge to have. Look into it and stay safe.

 

[Santa]

Santa,
I'm curious. What do you need confirmed? Because, if it helps, everything Rider said is correct.
I'm thinking the issue here is being clear on the difference between AC (alternating current) and DC (direct current) electricity. They are both electricity, obviously, but functionally or in practice they are very different. Consider this, in your car there's electricity, right? The radio turns on, the lights work, etc. It comes from your car's battery, which is 12v DC. But would it ever occur to you to try to plug your house blender into it to make margaritas? No, of course not. For one thing there's no outlet to plug into and that's because your blender runs on 120v AC. AC and DC electricity are not directly interchangeable, although there are plenty of expensive gadgets you can buy to convert one to the other.
A more technical explanation is beyond me right now, it's late and I'm tired. But, it's really very interesting and very useful knowledge to have. Look into it and stay safe.

you don't know me, LOL, plugging the blender in the car sounds like fun!, lol, JK.

 

[Santa]

Assuming you are in the USA, all house wall outlets are 120Volts AC (alternating current), plus or minus a few percent. A battery produces DC (direct current), and is much lower in voltage, as low as 1.5V, but can be connected together to make higher voltages. The battery in your car is 12V DC. House appliances (in the US) are 120V AC. In the UK, AUS and many other countries, the AC wall plug is 240V AC.

OK, I am learning, The AC sticks and bricks is 120v not 12v!

 

[Angelique]

OK, I am learning, The AC sticks and bricks is 120v not 12v!

Exactly, but pls keep me in mind when the margaritas start flowing!
The dc》dc converter your doing, are you building it? Step up or down? I have one, step-down, but redundancy is always good when attempting self-sufficiency and would love knowing how to build one. Or at least have a better idea of how mine works. Lmk. Thanks.

 

[Maast]

If you're talking about a wall wart that you plug into the wall for appliances like a clock or whatever its actually converting your 120V AC wall power to 12V DC power.

 

[Angelique]

If you're talking about a wall wart that you plug into the wall for appliances like a clock or whatever its actually converting your 120V AC wall power to 12V DC power.

No, actually, I'm referring to a Buck converter. My panels are ran in parallel and are ~36v., I built my diy powerwall to be 24v which matches my 5k inverter, but it's all in my 37' RV which is of course a 12v system. Its between my 24v.lithium battery and the 12v RV system where I use the buck converter. Using a huge 24v battery to run the 12v system is great, I never have to worry about running out of power to run my fridge, water pump, etc.But your right about the wall wart, except we call them "nuggets" at my house.?

 

[Santa]

Exactly, but pls keep me in mind when the margaritas start flowing!
The dc》dc converter your doing, are you building it? Step up or down? I have one, step-down, but redundancy is always good when attempting self-sufficiency and would love knowing how to build one. Or at least have a better idea of how mine works. Lmk. Thanks.

LOL, OK, will do! I am doing Will's latest blueprint. What is step up or down? This is my first solar build. (I had an all-in-one before, but it was stolen.) https://www.mobile-solarpower.com/simplified-400-watt-fewer-wires-and-alternator-charging.html

 

[Angelique]

Hey Santa,
Your a night person, too. A Buck converter or DC》DC converter can either be a step-up (as in 12v to 24v for example), a step-down (24v to 12v for example) or a variable converter that you can adjust to meet your needs. I have a step-down converter because the diy powerwall I built is 24v. But it's in my rv, so to be able to run my water pump, fridge, etc off of it I need that 24v to be 12v.
Now, I could have built a ~12v powerwall but its built out of li-ion 18650's(like Tesla uses for their cars. Google it) and each cells nominal voltage is 3.6v (3.0 - 4.2 is the range I like for these). Common practice when using these for 12v, is to put 3 cells in series, but that's only 10.8v nominal...anyway I'd be providing my appliances kinda anemic power most of the time. But, by starting with 24v then stepping it down to 12v on the dot I'm getting the most life, performance and efficiency out of my appliances plus I almost never run out of power if this is all I'm using my battery for. Ideally. In reality I really built the battery to run AC stuff mainly, so I have a monster inverter that could suck the life out of the sun. Trial and error, its fun!

 

[Santa]

Hey Santa,
Your a night person, too. A Buck converter or DC》DC converter can either be a step-up (as in 12v to 24v for example), a step-down (24v to 12v for example) or a variable converter that you can adjust to meet your needs. I have a step-down converter because the diy powerwall I built is 24v. But it's in my rv, so to be able to run my water pump, fridge, etc off of it I need that 24v to be 12v.
Now, I could have built a ~12v powerwall but its built out of li-ion 18650's(like Tesla uses for their cars. Google it) and each cells nominal voltage is 3.6v (3.0 - 4.2 is the range I like for these). Common practice when using these for 12v, is to put 3 cells in series, but that's only 10.8v nominal...anyway I'd be providing my appliances kinda anemic power most of the time. But, by starting with 24v then stepping it down to 12v on the dot I'm getting the most life, performance and efficiency out of my appliances plus I almost never run out of power if this is all I'm using my battery for. Ideally. In reality I really built the battery to run AC stuff mainly, so I have a monster inverter that could suck the life out of the sun. Trial and error, its fun!

I am eating and sleeping solar electricity! Not sleeping so I can learn this! I need to leave A.S.A.P. Will says the system I am building has to be 12V only. So, I don't know what to call the DC-DC I am using. My Battleborn's are lithium.