Anyone have American electric questions?

[1capybara]

Everyone on this forum has been great in answering all my 17th ed questions,
pls lmk if u have any NEC [American electric] questions, I will be happy to answer

 

[sparkydude]

After having just come back from my holiday in florida, a couple of things i wondered if you could help me with .

1. I have noticed that you do not seem to use anything but conduit for commercial installations, the only time i saw trunking used was in disney with lights on it and in small pieces below panels top common up conduit runs. Has nobody thought of introducing trunking to the states as it would seem to be a much quicker way of doing things. instead of 20 runs of tubing you could have one run of trunking???

2. Why dont they like putting 2 way switching systems in hotels/villas, the amount of times i switched the bedroom lamp on at the door switch then off at the lamp and then come the next night go to turn it on and its not going to come on as its off at the Lamp. Stumble across the room to find the lamp and turn it on there. Then repeat every night till I leave .


Nick

 

[breakerman]

the trip setting on our gfci outlets is 5mA designed to be below the lethal shock level. Us Yanks dont see the advantage of a trip level of 30 or 300mA which would allow a lethal shock without tripping.
The new thing here is AFCI [arc fault circuit interrupters] designed to prevent fires due to sparking.
BTW, im from California, but have been working in the Mid East for 3 years where im learning 17th ed. The difficultest part is the terminology is different for every little thing.

Hi I dunno if you could help me with this; i bought a sony home theatre sound system amp in US and need use in UK, it's 120v, 60HZ, what can i do in particuler to change the 60Hz to 50HZ, is it poss, i know i have to figure the voltage output to get a rating for suitable transformer, this is where my brain stops working, cheers

 

[1capybara]

the best solution but probably too expensive is
a voltage and freq converter.
the second best solution is a simplle transformer to 120v.

 

[1capybara]

on second thought, all electronics are low voltage DC internally after the AC to DC transformer. so if possible, hook a DC power source into the internals of that system, attaching it after the transformer. 3v DC is typical. IMHO. YMMV ["your mileage may vary" as we say in the states ]

 

[breakerman]

on second thought, all electronics are low voltage DC internally after the AC to DC transformer. so if possible, hook a DC power source into the internals of that system, attaching it after the transformer. 3v DC is typical. IMHO. YMMV ["your mileage may vary" as we say in the states ]

cheers, but not quite sure how to hook up, can u expand a bit, might be my way thru, thx

 

[breakerman]

on second thought, all electronics are low voltage DC internally after the AC to DC transformer. so if possible, hook a DC power source into the internals of that system, attaching it after the transformer. 3v DC is typical. IMHO. YMMV ["your mileage may vary" as we say in the states ]

I think I'm getting the jist of wat your saying, but checkin abvout using a transformer, it seems that if I used a 750w (output max 700w) I woudn't have to be to bothered about the freq, I think that's wat u were intemating in your point, but would that be a safe solution e.g does it damage the machine, I undersand freq fluctuates anyway and most of the AV unit use is AC and not so much DC, wat do u think

 

[1capybara]

when u take apart the system, you will find a small transformer attached to the cord where [in a system bought in the states] 120v goes in. in other words, its a 120 VAC to
[typically] 3 VDC transformer. Its two ouputs are 3 VDC and ground. If you have one,
you can replace it with a 230 VAC to [typically] 3 VDC transformer and replace the wall cord [american plug] with a Brit or euro plug.

 

[1capybara]

I think I'm getting the jist of wat your saying, but checkin abvout using a transformer, it seems that if I used a 750w (output max 700w) I woudn't have to be to bothered about the freq, I think that's wat u were intemating in your point, but would that be a safe solution e.g does it damage the machine, I undersand freq fluctuates anyway and most of the AV unit use is AC and not so much DC, wat do u think

my experience is most electronics is DC internally, am i wrong???

 

[breakerman]

when u take apart the system, you will find a small transformer attached to the cord where [in a system bought in the states] 120v goes in. in other words, its a 120 VAC to
[typically] 3 VDC transformer. Its two ouputs are 3 VDC and ground. If you have one,
you can replace it with a 230 VAC to [typically] 3 VDC transformer and replace the wall cord [american plug] with a Brit or euro plug.

This is brilliant, so am I rt in saying it's like converting it to uk system compatible

 

[breakerman]

my experience is most electronics is DC internally, am i wrong???

I'm goin to double check on this, because I read on an AV furum that with a transformer peaple have been using US amps here no prob, and maintaing it's only really the timer that usees DC!

 

[breakerman]

when u take apart the system, you will find a small transformer attached to the cord where [in a system bought in the states] 120v goes in. in other words, its a 120 VAC to
[typically] 3 VDC transformer. Its two ouputs are 3 VDC and ground. If you have one,
you can replace it with a 230 VAC to [typically] 3 VDC transformer and replace the wall cord [american plug] with a Brit or euro plug.

Ok I checked out with a couple of electricians lets say more estute than me, and low and behold, as they have never worked on US type of equipmemt before there quite apprehensive touching this, even after I explained what your solutions were; i have another person to speak with, but in the event, iv'e come up with plan B, that is

Step-down Voltage Conversion?​

This Power Bright VC750 Step-down Voltage Converter is for use in the UK to power electrical equipment from the USA. What it does is convert UK 220 - 240 volts to US 110 - 120 volts. The output is pure AC and the voltage converter can be used with all appliances rated 0 - 750W. This voltage converter will take US two pin and three pin plugs.

if I use this converter, my amp being 700W (100W per channel x 7) however I will be only using 5 channels, so 500W ( i will of course double check this if i'm correct), what i really need to satisfy myself and from your points that have been very helpful indeed, if I connect this converter will I get into trouble with the freq being 60Hz; one idea that came thru is "except that a power supply provides a dc output, so none of the components of the actual amp “see” the supply frequency. Most power supplies will work happily with 50 or 60 Hz. The dc voltage they produce aren’t affected by supply frequency until the supply frequency becomes very large (several hundred Hz). It depends on the bridge rectifier being used".

is this accurate, and it help me with the solution of; Step-down Voltage Conversion etc, cheers​

 

[1capybara]

i agree, the step down transformer is a good solution, and you are correct that
the internals of your system will only see DC anyway, so 50 or 60 hz in the wall voltage is irrellevant. good solution

 

[breakerman]

i agree, the step down transformer is a good solution, and you are correct that
the internals of your system will only see DC anyway, so 50 or 60 hz in the wall voltage is irrellevant. good solution

cheers for getting back on this..blinding stuff, one thing my voltage is 250W, not 700W as I thought, so i got a 500W voltage convertor...maybe on to the right thing afterall, cheers

 

[simisworkshop]

HI there,
I hope you can answer my question. I would like to purchase a microwave which is not sold in the UK, only the US but want to make sure that it would be compatible with UK voltage.Here is the link for the exact product:
Nostalgia Electrics RMO-400RED Retro Series 0.9-Cubic Foot Microwave Oven - Red - Specialty Appliances at Small Appliance Source
I have emailed the company 'Nostalgia Electrics', who make the microwave, asking about the voltage & if there was a transformer available that I could purchase & this was the reply I received:
"Thanks you for being interested in our product. Unfortunately we do not have information on adapters. Here are the specifications on the unit. It is 115 Volts, 60 Hertz and 120 Watts.
Hope this helps"

Not very helpful at all.
Any information you can offer me would be greatly appreciated.
Awaiting your reply.
Kindest Regards
Simi

 

[malcolmsanford]

[h=1]Daewoo Microwave 20L Retro Red (KOR6N9RR)[/h]
Wouldn't this unit not do you, It's the same power 800watt looks pretty much identical in design and fascia controls, and it's made for the UK market