110 to 220 Converter

Do you need a Converter?

This is a fair question and the answers can sometimes be confusing. Anyway, the first thing to do is to check what your instruction book says on the gadget that you want to use. Some devices have auto transformers that are able to detect and adjust to the voltage that they find on the end of the plug.

Others may have a switch which will enable you to select between 110V and 220V. You may find that some laptops may have a switch to select the voltage on the power supply that comes with them. You may also be able to buy power supplies for laptops with such a switch. I had an old Phillips shaver that had one of these switches. It worked great and I took it to Canada and the USA many times without any problem at all. However, one time when I was tired in the UK I switched the voltage selector instead of the the on off switch. Unfortunately when it connected to the electricity at the wrong voltage it fried the insides. So, even with a voltage selector switch you have to be careful.

One general effect with simple items such as light bulbs and electric motors is that when they are used on a lower voltage such as that found in the USA they will generally work slower or produce less light if it is a bulb. With more complicated devices you will find that they just won't work unless the voltage is high enough to match the 220V found in the UK.

The answer therefore is that if your appliance or device is not auto selective of the input voltage or doesn't have a selector switch then you will need an adaptor change the voltage from 110V to 220V

What about the Frequency of the Electrical Supply?

All alternating current (AC) supplies have to have a frequency that the current alternates at. In the UK it is 50Hz and in the USA it is 60Hz. In general, different frequencies don't have that much effect on the operation of most electrical appliances. There are however, some devices that rely on the frequency of supply to set the time within the electronics. In this case you may find a difference. An example of this might be an electronic clock. In this case you may find that the time runs at a lower rate due to a lower frequency. These days most clocks have an internal crystal which keeps time and this is independent of the electrical supply frequency. You would therefore have to be pretty unlucky to have the wrong type of clock.

What Size Converter do I need?

This depends on the power that your appliance uses and the number of items that you want to use at the same time. If you are only going to use 1 item then you need to find the amount of power that it consumes. This is often printed on the back of the device. It will probably be described as Power Consumption and will be in Watts. If it doesn't have the watts printed on the back then check the manual. If the device only gives the current and voltage then you can do some maths to work out the power.

The number of Watts is found by multiplying the current in Amps by the voltage in Volts.

Power = Current x Voltage

Make sure that the current is in amps. A lot of small devices say milliamps (MA). In this case you have to multiply the number by a 1000 to get it back into Amps

If you are using more than one piece of equipment at a time then simply add up the power values to give a total

The Power supply that you need should give you twice the amount of power compared to that you calculated. Therefore if you need 200 Watts to run your items then you need a converter that can handle 400W. The reason for this is that the power consumption give is an average. As a result it it could in some instances need more than this for a short amount of time.

Larger converters also have the facility to step down the voltage as well as step it up. They are therefore far more versatile than the lower power units. Smaller converters are cheaper and can be used with low power items like phone and battery chargers

 

 

 

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Informative Links

Voltage
Power
Power calculations
World Electric Guide
Understanding and using inverters
World plugs and sockets
Cross Link Builder
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110v to 220v converter
220 to 110 converter
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Debt Advice Birmingham
Guitar Valve Amp
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Key person insurance Wolverhampton

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tim@110to220converter.net

 

 

 

 

 

 

How safe are Power Converters?

Power converters are designed to protect the devices that you plug in to them. They do this by switching themselves off if the power consumption becomes too great. This can happen if you over load the unit by running too many devices or items with larger power needs than the converter. It can also happen if the device you want to use is faulty in itself. Most converters use fuses which blow when the power gets too high. This is fine but you need to make sure that you have spare fuses to replace them. More modern devices called converting boxes may have circuit breakers which switch off when the unit is asked to provide too mush power. The advantage of these is that you can simply switch the circuit breakers back on and the converter will rest. You certainly don't need any fuses.

Converting Boxes

Converting boxes are amore modern development of the standard voltage converter. They use more sophisticated electronics and modern designs in transformers. The net result is that they are considerably lighter and produce less annoying noise when they are working. They are usually only found in larger powers from 500 watts up. If you are thinking of investing in power converters it is well worth looking at these new designs. They are often backed by a lifetime service warranty as well.

Output Sockets

You should consider what kind of sockets that you require on the unit that you are going to purchase. Most come with a range of connectors such as USA grounded, German Shucko and some form of euro socket. The new converter box models have an ingenious new design which has a socket that you can use with just about any plug in the universe. This could be a great advantage when you get all of your equipment out of your suitcase and want to use them straight away!