Bob

http://www.amazon.com/Bright-VC3000W...ef=pd_sim_lg_1

Something like that...but either way, doesn't remove the potential that the insurance will void the policy based on daily use of one.

winston_1

Why? What insurance, home, contents, TV, or the voltage converter?

Bob

If you own, home owners. If you rent, renters insurance.

You have a policy to pay out in case anything is lost/stolen/burned to the ground, they could and have voided policies full stop when not being told that a voltage converter has been used on a regular basis.

They love to get out of making a payment....or not covering you in the first place if you let them know, or have it affect the premium.

steveq

Ironic, given there is less of a fire hazard from 240 than 120.

jeffreyhy

The fire hazard is not the voltage, the fire hazard is an overheated voltage converter.

Regards, JEff

TimNiceBut

... which is why one should buy a generously sized one.

steveq

Its more likely to be the 110V FEED that will overheat, rather than the converter.

Danoz

Please excuse what might be a stupid question. How would the 110V feed (which I am assuming you mean the wall socket?) overheat? I would have thought that the converter would take the brunt of of heat generation and would have (or at least suppose to have) heat exchanges in it to handle?

I am primarily asking as I am looking into what kind of converter I may need, but dont want to do anything that might have other repercussions.

steveq

Power in to the converter = power out, near enough.

Power = current x voltage

So current in x voltage in = current out x voltage out.

OK ?

SO if input volts = 120 and output volts = 240, then the current in the input is TWICE the current in the output.

OK ?

And heating in the wires = current^2 x resistance

So with TWICE the current, you have FOUR TIMES more heating in the wires.

AND some abominations lurk in the USpower system, including aluminium wires....

winston_1

It's a 120v wall socket not 110v but I digress. The converter linked to earlier was rated at 3KW. A US socket or receptacle as they call it is rated at 15amp max at 120 volt which equates to 1.8 KW. Try to draw 3KW and you will overload it.

jeffreyhy

That's why we have circuit breakers or fuses - to limit the current to what the feed wire can safely handle.

Regards, JEff

old.sparkles

Circuit breakers can run at nearly 1 1/2 times the rating and either not trip, or take an hour or more to trip. Fuses are double the rating, although cables should be sized according to the circuit protection

steveq

Fuses do not limit current. That is acommon mistake.

steveq

Funny, in 30 years of designing electronics for the US market, Ive not met any American engineers who refer colloquially to their supply voltage as anything but 110. Yes, we all know whats delivered at the pole, officially, but its a pretty dumb idea given generally higher cable drops than ours to use 120 as the basis for the supply. High supply voltages are a rarity in the US system in my actual direct experience

old.sparkles

What's a fuse for then?