Continue to Site

Welcome to our site!

Electro Tech is an online community (with over 170,000 members) who enjoy talking about and building electronic circuits, projects and gadgets. To participate you need to register. Registration is free. Click here to register now.

  • Welcome to our site! Electro Tech is an online community (with over 170,000 members) who enjoy talking about and building electronic circuits, projects and gadgets. To participate you need to register. Registration is free. Click here to register now.

Any issues with using a 220 VAC power supply on 110 VAC?

Status
Not open for further replies.

Deeg

Member
I'm building a Jacob's Ladder for Halloween (decent instructions can be found at How To Make A Jacobs Ladder). I got a 15kv power supply cheap but the input is rated at 220VAC 50HZ, 1.2 AMP. Will it cause any problems if I use it on a regular 110 VAC outlet? Will it lower the output voltage?
 
Alternatively, can I use a step-up transformer like the PowerBright VC-300? The 15kv power supply puts out 20mA so if I've done my math right the 300 watt PowerBright has enough power.
 
It will likely work at 110VAC but with reduced output voltage.

The supply is rated at 264W input (1.2A x 220V) so a 300W transformer should work.
 
Thanks crutschow. The 15k transformer didn't have enough juice when I plugged it directly into the wall socket but worked great with the VC-300. I'm still somewhat of a newbie at this and I'm always pleasantly surprised when my projects work. :)
 
Yea, the Jacobs ladder concept runs off of the same thing lightning does. There is a required voltage per linear inch of air that is required to drive the current and create the arc. From a quick e-search I find that the voltage requirement for an arc in air is about 33 kV/cm which is about 83,000 volts per inch of air.

So underpowering it would definately cause it to not produce the propper arc across the air gap.

It sounds like a fun project.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest threads

New Articles From Microcontroller Tips

Back
Top