Muskoka

Hi Everyone

I'm in snowy Muskoka and its glorious. (Two hrs north of Toronto)

Anyway - wonder if someone can advise please. I bought a few UK applicances with me -inc. 1000 watt food processor and am now looking for the best step up/down transformer. Does anyone have experience of these please? and where did they purchase from and are they happy with the performance? As always, thanks in advance.

lounan

will pm you

OrangeMango

Why not share this info with us all. I am sort of guessing it's not only the voltage, but also ampere which matters.

withabix

You should get one that is at least 50% higher wattage than your appliance (to cover motor startup current, which uses more current than running):

Amazon are cheapest:

https://www.amazon.ca/Goldsource%C2%...onverter+2000w

https://www.amazon.ca/Simran-AC-2000...onverter+2000w

We have a couple of Simran ones in different sizes - one small one to run a 240V-only TV and a larger capacity one for other stuff.

As Canadian voltage is half UK voltage, a 240v appliance will require twice the current from your 110v circuit. That's why kettles and irons here top out at 1500-1800W compared to 3000W in the UK.

Your UK kettle or toaster would trip your breakers...

Muskoka

Thanks Withabix. That Goldsource should do the job nicely. Only one appliance is 1000 watts, everything else is way less. Thanks again

rivingtonpike

We used these guys and all the converters we bought have proved very reliable: Voltage Converters - Voltage Transformers and Converter

Davita

Please check previous thread here titled Step-up/down Transformers.
Many experts there said it's OK to plug a UK appliance into the Canadian 240VAC 3 wire sockets and it works... so a transformer not needed.

I argued otherwise but was shot down.

not2old

agree, as well as post #4

Pizzawheel

I don't think we were Davita... many people may be doing this but not, it would seem, the experts...

not2old

I am an 'expert' that wired a 220/240 (OZ/NZ) socket in my kitchen back in the 80's from the split socket - consisting of the two 110v live sides & the ground. The neutral wire was insulated & not connected & it remained that way till we sold the house when I removed the 220

The socket accommodated all small AC appliances, hairdryer, blender, mixer, drill, shaver

Folks tell me that being a retired Professional Electrical Engineer (Canada, UK & Australia) as well as prior to retirement a licensed electrician in Ontario (309A & 442A) as well as being licensed in one other trade, that I don't know anything about Electricity... and they're absolutely correct

Having said that, I stick with my earlier post in this thread the OP get a suitable transformer & NEVER EVER muck about trying to wire a 220v socket from a split receptacle

Davita

I'm very glad the above has been stated by a licensed electrician as I also advocated that....but other posters disagreed and said changing the UK plug to use the split 240VAC receptacle was OK.
I think that's dangerous.

MikeUK

We said it was do'abel and it works
we did not tell anybody else to go an do it





and IMHO if your not sure DON'T DO IT




FWIW... I used to build and design my own high power Audio Amplifiers, and I also repaired a few Valve amplifiers and throw in a degree in Physics so I think I might know a bit about electricity and AC theory

Pizzawheel

Haha that got the desire response!

Key points from Not2Olds post:

1/ He clearly know what he's doing being a previously licensed electrician_ I'll reserve judgement on the CEng/PEng/CEng(Aus) quals lol

2/ He took the receptacle out before selling

Then from Mike the golden rule:

Quote:

and IMHO if your not sure DON'T DO IT

You may not have followed the sinewave debate with Davita & Co on the long thread but you do need to understand what a voltage actually is rather than seeing as a number you just need to match/ get close to before effing around with this...

nicolar001

LOL Amusing posts.

I am sadly completely ignorant of all things electrical. There are a few electrical items we would like to take over with us (items bought in UAE) i.e TV, Laptops, Playstation.
How would I know if I need a converter or not? Is the 'little black box' on some cables a built in converter?
And for the converters you buy......are they all that BIG??

Thanks in advance

withabix

The 'little black box' will say 100-240v on it if it is a universal transformer.

For laptops they almost always are universal.

For Playstations they may not be. Easiest thing with those is to buy a new PlayStation power supply in Canada. Amazon, eBay, Craigslist etc...

Newer TVs are universal voltage. We only had 1 out of 4 that was 240v-only.

The converters vary in size depending on the wattage required. The small ones that look like a plug-in battery charger will only be low power,100 watts or so and aren't usually intended for continuous use.