...or, to be absolutely correct, this node should be titled 'Sub Station', because that was the actual name of said eatery. It's also one of the few places I've been able to get a decent sub sandwich.

That being said, a substation is the part of the power grid that reduces the ridiculously large voltage produced by the current to something that is a bit more managable.

...and after reading bitter_engineer's comments below, I feel compelled to add that the voltage that it's stepped down from is usually on the order of 160kV, or in other words, a metric assload.

I was formerly employed by an electric cooperative, and I once saw a substation burn to the ground, because some pole-climber left the shorting screws in a CT. It was quite impressive.

The reason the voltage is rediculously large is that in long-range power transmission, it is more efficient transmit high voltage with low current than a lower voltage with moderate current. A substation uses some big-ass transformers to take this high voltage down to our more familiar 120V AC.

'Substation' is also the name given to small clubs in the San Francisco Bay Area that are spin-offs of The Power Exchange.

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.