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

[Mark563]

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?
Thanks for your advice.
Mark563

 

[dknguyen]

A 240V to 120V transformer. Since it's a cooking appliance then it has to be 1500W so it might be better to just to get another crockpot tbh because it will be expensive, heavier, and almost as big as the crockpot itself.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/1500W-Step-UP-DOWN-Voltage-Transformer/22854481
Kinda like this:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/1500W-Step-UP-DOWN-Voltage-Transformer/22854481

OTOH, if she had one then she could run anything she wanted from the US on it.

 

[large_ghostman]

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

 

[crutschow]

This one is some cheaper.

 

[large_ghostman]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

 

[chemelec]

This one is some cheaper.

This will Work GOOD for you Crock Pot.

 

[gophert]

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]

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

 

[Ylli]

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

 

[gophert]

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]

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?

 

[schmitt trigger]

If you mean an AC induction motor, which of course has no brushes, the answer is no.