# How to use a 120VAC appliance in a 230VAC house?

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#### Mark563

##### New Member
Hello, people,
Not really an "electronics" question, but I'm guessing that you people would know...
I bought for my daughter a regular 120VAC crock-pot in the USA.
She took it to Germany, where normal voltage in the houses is 230VAC.
She's got a plug adapter, so that she COULD just plug it in, but...
she would then be hitting it with 230VAC... would probably fry it.
What is needed to plug this 120VAC item into a 230VAC system?
Mark563

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#### large_ghostman

##### Well-Known Member
LOL i got the same problem with some other equipment, I am looking around for a variac. But they cost more than a crock pot.. My device is designed for UK use, but it uses 110V from a power unit i dont have

#### large_ghostman

##### Well-Known Member
This one is some cheaper.
My first reaction is no possible way could that last more than 5 mins....But putting my obvious bias aside, It needs to run both an inductive and resistive load for my use. But I am unsure if the inductive load is actually taken care of via 12V taken from the input.

Tempting, very tempting. But if it goes wrong the cost would be extremely highly in my case. I have booked mark it though

#### dknguyen

##### Well-Known Member
I agree. That has two modes: one for low power fancy electronic deviecs and one for high-power. I assume the high power one just does something simple like chopping the AC which would wreak havoc with the electronic devices. Only simple heaters (like an analog oven with nothing but heating elements and springs and relays for timers) would be able to tolerate that, but your crockpot probably has a digital control on it somewhere. Simple enough to check on an oscilloscope.

#### Mark563

##### New Member
Thanks very much for the replies, people.
I had an online Chat with CrockPot, and they said the max amps draw is 2. Max watts draw is 240.
And Amazon has a 500 watt stepUp / stepDown transformer, from Rockstone Power... for... you're correct...
exactly the same price as the original crock pot ($29.99). ! I think that's kinda' funny. Ah, well... Thanks, again. #### dknguyen ##### Well-Known Member Most Helpful Member Thanks very much for the replies, people. I had an online Chat with CrockPot, and they said the max amps draw is 2. Max watts draw is 240. And Amazon has a 500 watt stepUp / stepDown transformer, from Rockstone Power... for... you're correct... exactly the same price as the original crock pot ($29.99). ! I think that's kinda' funny.
Ah, well...
Thanks, again.
The solution is clear...get two crockpots and always use them together connected in series. Unfortunately, you have to guarantee that both crockpots are always heating at the same time somehow.

#### Mosaic

##### Well-Known Member
For small devices like a brush less fan I use a run capacitor sized to the voltage /frequency. E.G. a 115V Fan will work on 230 VAC with a 2.0uF run capacitor in series.

#### gophert

##### Well-Known Member
The solution is clear...get two crockpots and always use them together connected in series. Unfortunately, you have to guarantee that both crockpots are always heating at the same time somehow.
That is easy, just turn one to full power and it will be a slave to the thermostat on the other pot.

#### schmitt trigger

##### Well-Known Member
If the load is fully resistive, you could use a common light dimmer whose output is adjusted to provide 120 volts RMS.

#### Ylli

##### Active Member
To reduce the RMS voltage from 230 to 115 for a simple heating element just add a diode in series.

#### gophert

##### Well-Known Member
To reduce the RMS voltage from 230 to 115 for a simple heating element just add a diode in series.
Usually, there is some electronic control so there may need to be a bigger cap to span 1/50 second ripple vs 1/120 second ripple on a full bridge rectified power source into the low voltage dc electronic circuit.

#### Mosaic

##### Well-Known Member
Hmm, rectifying a 240VAC delivers about 120Vdc pulsed. Would that run a BL AC motor rated for 120VAC?
Would cause a loss of torque compared to the run capacitor option?

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#### schmitt trigger

##### Well-Known Member
If you mean an AC induction motor, which of course has no brushes, the answer is no.

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