What kind of adapter do I need.

ppshay

I bought a yoghurt maker from the US a while back. The plug will not fit a standard US/UK adapter and there was some other type of adapter between the hard-wired plug and a US/UK adapter. Anyone know what this might be. They didn't know is Homebase.



One prong is tapered in and one rounds out.

Sleeper12

Can't you buy an Irish 3 pin plug in the hardware? Cut the moulded one of by cutting the cable. Fit Irish plug.


Irish plug will come with 13amp fuse. Replace this with the recommended size fuse. E. G. 3amp, 5amp etc

meercat

Sleeper12 wrote: »

Can't you buy an Irish 3 pin plug in the hardware? Cut the moulded one of by cutting the cable. Fit Irish plug.


Irish plug will come with 13amp fuse. Replace this with the recommended size fuse. E. G. 3amp, 5amp etc

DON'T DO THIS

American voltage is different
You will need a transformer

Probably cheaper to buy a yogurt maker here

Sleeper12

Thank you for correcting my reply. ☺

SpaceTime

That's a polarised US plug. One pin is wider so that it only goes in one way. You can't plug it in upside down.

Go to a big electrical wholesale place and buy a US to Ireland transformer. That should have a polarised socket.

If it's rated 110 volts you cannot plug it into a 230V supply as you'll just burn it out.

If it's rated 110 - 240V (unlikely) you could just change the plug.

brightspark

SpaceTime wrote: »

That's a polarised US plug. One pin is wider so that it only goes in one way. You can't plug it in upside down.

Go to a big electrical wholesale place and buy a US to Ireland transformer. That should have a polarised socket.

If it's rated 110 volts you cannot plug it into a 230V supply as you'll just burn it out.

If it's rated 110 - 240V (unlikely) you could just change the plug.

The OP has given no indication of the power rating, essential before suggesting a transformer.

SpaceTime

brightspark wrote: »

The OP has given no indication of the power rating, essential before suggesting a transformer.

Not really. Just get a transformer suitable for the wattage of the appliance.
A yogurt marker is unlikely to be that heavy. Probably under 100W

Check the rating plate (label) on the machine.

ppshay

Had a look and it is:

110V
13 amps
60hz

Although it was purchased in the US is might be made in Canada as it has a maple leaf symbol, if that makes any difference.

SpaceTime

ppshay wrote: »

Had a look and it is:

110V
13 amps
60hz

Although it was purchased in the US is might be made in Canada as it has a maple leaf symbol, if that makes any difference.

Canada and the US use the same electrical systems. It makes no difference whatsoever.

The bad news is that the appliance would actually need quite a heavy duty transformer.

The device is pulling about 1500 Watts (13amps at roughly 115V) which is about as much as a US plug can safely provide anyway. (They max out at 15amps which is only barely 1750W at their voltage and they can run hot at that!)

You might actually be better off buying a 'site transformer' (the type used for power tools on building sites) and refitting a yellow industrial plug to the ice-cream maker.

They'll supply up to 16amps (depending on the specs) at 110V 50Hz and most US equipment tends to work fine on them. Although if there are any motors or timers that depend on the 60Hz power line frequency to control them, they'll run slow at 50Hz. Most of these devices tend to have universal motors that in reality don't care what the AC frequency is. However, you can never be 100% sure.

You're looking at a seriously large transformer though, portably about the size of the machine itself and a lot heavier.

Also, being an ice cream maker, it's likely to be running continuously it's an inductive (motor) rather than resistive (heater) load. So the calculations get a little more complex and you'll quite likely need a big transformer.

Quite honestly, you might be better off just buying a European equivalent that's actually designed to run on 230V. You're looking at spending anything up to €150 on transformers and there's no guarantee that the device will necessarily work and it'll be really bulky.

Running heavy duty appliances on transformers really isn't a very straightforward setup and I'm pretty sure you'll be able to find an alternative machine.

A 2 second check of Amazon shows loads of them : http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ice-cream-Makers/b?ie=UTF8&node=10706501

ppshay

Thanks for the help. I did use it fine for years with some sort of small adapter between the plug in the pictures above and a standard US to IE adapter. I lost this little adapter when moving house.

SpaceTime

ppshay wrote: »

Thanks for the help. I did use it fine for years with some sort of small adapter between the plug in the pictures above and a standard US to IE adapter. I lost this little adapter when moving house.

Could you take a picture of the ratings plate on the bottom and post it up?

If you've been using it successfully with a smaller adaptor, it's highly unlikely that it's actually 13amps.

whomitconcerns

ppshay wrote: »

Thanks for the help. I did use it fine for years with some sort of small adapter between the plug in the pictures above and a standard US to IE adapter. I lost this little adapter when moving house.

not trying to be awkward but this doesnt make sense if its a 110v 60hz appliance it cant work for any time at 220/240v 50hz in ireland? So you misread somewhere the output. Do you have the product and brand name and number?

ppshay

I must have got something wrong. Will re-check tonight.

Bruthal

SpaceTime wrote: »

Could you take a picture of the ratings plate on the bottom and post it up?

If you've been using it successfully with a smaller adaptor, it's highly unlikely that it's actually 13amps.

13 amps is probably a plug rating or something. Probably unlikely the machine takes 13 amps. Its probably less than an amp.

ppshay

Had another look. The correct figures are:

120V
13W
60HZ.

There is no mention of amps!

whomitconcerns

still the same issue though...120V appliance cant be plugged into a 220/240V source. You will still need a transformer..intrigued to know what you were using and that worked for last few years.

Looks like a new maker will cost you like 30pounds on amazon..so would prob just get a new one!

SpaceTime

ppshay wrote: »

Had another look. The correct figures are:

120V
13W
60HZ.

There is no mention of amps!

13 watts is absolutely tiny.

Any small 230V to 115V transformer will do it.

Maplins or a *good* electrical retailer / wholesaler will have one.

Bruthal

whomitconcerns wrote: »

still the same issue though...120V appliance cant be plugged into a 220/240V source. You will still need a transformer..intrigued to know what you were using and that worked for last few years.

Maybe they were using it as a 52 Watt maker:pac:

CJhaughey

You can get tiny little transformers that sit between the plug and the socket.
I have a radio shack one that works really well, for small stuff, a slightly larger one for my nail gun compressor and a big site 110v box for anything else.

whomitconcerns

CJhaughey wrote: »

You can get tiny little transformers that sit between the plug and the socket.
I have a radio shack one that works really well, for small stuff, a slightly larger one for my nail gun compressor and a big site 110v box for anything else.

Well now thats something I didnt know either!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Step-Down-Voltage-Converter-220v/dp/B000XROE3Y
20pounds here...

What about the frequency difference though?

CJhaughey

whomitconcerns wrote: »

Well now thats something I didnt know either!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Step-Down-Voltage-Converter-220v/dp/B000XROE3Y
20pounds here...

What about the frequency difference though?

Not a problem for most things, unless they are frequency critical like a clock or similar, my nailgun compressor might be slightly slower than on 60hz but I don't notice it.

Bruthal

whomitconcerns wrote: »

Well now thats something I didnt know either!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Step-Down-Voltage-Converter-220v/dp/B000XROE3Y
20pounds here...

What about the frequency difference though?

Frequency is unlikely to make a difference for that item. I use a similar plug in transformer for a 110v hp printer.

CJhaughey

The one I got for my compressor was a Northstar THG500 which does both stepdown and stepup from 110v-230 and 230v-110v
Handy little item to have.

brightspark

A 45w version

http://www.thatcable.com/product/USA-to-UK-Plug-Converter-240v-to-120v

Almost small enough to explain why the OP didn't think they were using a transformer before. Perhaps an even smaller version is available?

SpaceTime

It actually depends on what type of motor's used.

If it's an AC induction motor, often found in large appliances and heavier power tools, then they may indeed run slow if used on 50Hz instead of 60Hz.

A lot of smaller devices like blenders, hairdryers, kitchen tools etc etc tend to use DC / Universal Motors which actually don't generally care what frequency you feed them.

DC motors are typically used in these kinds of devices because they aren't tied to the mains frequency and you can design them to run a lot faster without having to have complicated controllers. They are a lot more mechanically complex than AC motors though i.e. have brushes etc.

They were used extensively on washing machines, vacuum cleaners etc in the past as you could vary the speed by just varying the voltage with a device not unlike a dimmer switch.

Because of advances in solid state electronics, simple AC motors are now becoming common because you can actually build a variable frequency power supply quiet easily with chips. So, when the machine wants to go faster, you increase the frequency of the power supply using electronics. It also allows very subtle control of speed.

The advantage is they're a hell of a lot quieter, easier to control, no brushes to fail etc. Universal motors running at high speed make an awful whine, you'd recognise it as the sound an old washing machine makes when it hits full spin speed, or a drill motor.

AC induction motors are very quiet in comparison. This is why newer washing machines run almost silently.

Also, it's relatively rare to use the power line network to control timers these days. Electronics are capable of generating accurate timing pulses without having to do that.

That being said, in Europe (including Ireland) and North America the AC power system has incredibly stable frequency. So, you can run a clock on it no problem.

The only places you'd likely to see it still used for that purpose are things like old electric clocks and maybe some electromechanical central heating timers.

I think some old record turn tables and tape decks used to use it too. They could get very fussy about frequency.

Lex Luthor

I bought one of these I think in Maplin a good few yrs ago
http://www.buyvoltageconverters.com/tc300w-voltage-transformer-converter-step-updown.html


Never gave me an ounce of bother...

Trouble is the cost of these transformers may make it uneconomical to buy if the appliance was cheap

SpaceTime

Most appliances that you can get in the US you can get in Europe and visa versa.

220-230 V 50Hz is by far the most common system in the world. All of Europe, all former USSR, China, India, South Korea, Australia, NZ, them majority of the Middle East, all but one country in Africa and most of Latin America.

So, generally you'll find no shortage of suitable devices.

The only unusual feature of the Irish and British system is the plug.