Running things on the wrong voltage.

[RF Lighting]

Following on from the toaster thread, it reminded me to ask a question I've been pondering for a while.

I have a charger for my bosch screw gun which is rated for 230V and has a UK plug moulded onto it.

Do you reckon it would still charge my battery if I plugged it into a 110V site supply? We do alot of site work, and it usually involves a huge walk to one of the site cabins or canteens to find a 230V socket to charge my drill.

I'm not too bothered about cutting the plug off and sticking a 110V one on it.

I think I'll just try it and see what happens. It's not likely to blow up with an under voltage supply is it?

 

[Lectrician]

If you look on many chargers etc, they say 110-250v or something like that.

A charger uses so little power that you could buy a PCB or Chassis mount tranny and stick it in a gewiss box to up the volts, defeats the object of 110v though.

You maybe able to get US versions of the chargers?

Overvolts can be funny - I saw a farm hand replace a motor recently on a grain silo - He changed it twice because it kept buring out after a few mins. He did not realise there was a difference between star and delta tappings!

 

[333rocky333]

Hi rf.
when i was on site the 110 volt fleurys were actually 230 volt with an inverter inside about the size of a lighting choke.
We used to take them out and make up a small unit, to run a 240 volt radio.
Not sure if you would be allowed to do it on site these days.

 

[RF Lighting]

I checked the rating, and it's stamped for 230V only. I have seen some chargers plugged into the 110V on site which is where I got the idea, but I don't know if they were actually 110V chargers.

I've got a spare makita charger which I'm not too bothered about killing. I think I'll just try it and see

I've seen blue site transformers which work the other way and convert 110V to 230V, but I think stuff like that woud be very frowned upon.

I just wanted a quick fix to save a bit of walking. Not too bothered if it can't easilly be done.

 

[martinxxxxxx]

I have a veriac connected to a safeblockI can wind down the voltage on things and see at what voltage they stop working. Never had anything fail after trying this to date. After all it is just being switched off slowly - Go for it

Martin

 

[ericmark]

Hi rf.
when i was on site the 110 volt fleurys were actually 230 volt with an inverter inside about the size of a lighting choke.
We used to take them out and make up a small unit, to run a 240 volt radio.
Not sure if you would be allowed to do it on site these days.

I am sure every electrician has done this at some time but they are auto transformers so you get 55 - 0 - 165 and so any Class I equipment will be missing the fuse in 55 volt leg so it must never be used with Class I.

Also no fusing as the 1A fuse is normally inside the fluorescent fitting so needs some form of protection. Often only rated 100W used on 60W lamp so taking a bit of a chance even with 1A fuse.

And new fluorescents use switch mode HF units so now very rare. They had 110 and 127 volt tapping and the old lamps on 110 setting could draw 0.8A for a 60W fitting and often you needed to move to 127 volt input. Quick maths I thought 32 should work on 16A supply so used 25 to give some lea way. But after they tripped measured to find 20A draw. So glad to find latter ones are HF units.

I see rules on 230vac on site changed 2008 and now 30A is demarcation not 15A as before so the little welding sets now need to be 110vac. I have never seen 63A outlets on 110 transformers but I expect now they are needed? Only 16A single and 3 phase and 32A in my day. So I suppose we now have 10mm yellow flex across the sites? My day 4mm was max.

 

[Lectrician]

You can get 63amp plugs with 110, but they are usually only used for some distribution.

3 phase, 110v three phase is an odd kettly of fish. 173 volt between phases I recall, with 110 to neutral and 55 to earth still.

 

[Spark123]

Very odd voltages them lec, would expect more than 55v to earth if the star point was at 110v to each phase

 

[ericmark]

You can get 63amp plugs with 110, but they are usually only used for some distribution.

3 phase, 110v three phase is an odd kettly of fish. 173 volt between phases I recall, with 110 to neutral and 55 to earth still.

Three phase is 63.5 - 0 - 63.5 with 110v see 411.8.1.2 we used it at Sizewell Power Station was standard with "Project Management Team" who all walked around with PMT on their hard hats including the women!

The 32A and 16A three phase was distribution you could have three 10A items running from one 16A supply so no need for MCB's on spiders but they could deliver more power.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

You can get 63amp plugs with 110, but they are usually only used for some distribution.

3 phase, 110v three phase is an odd kettly of fish. 173 volt between phases I recall, with 110 to neutral and 55 to earth still.

Very odd voltages them lec, would expect more than 55v to earth if the star point was at 110v to each phase

What if it was like that US delta system with the hot-leg or wild-leg?

110V single phase would surely give you 190V with a regular Wye system?

 

[Paul_C]

What if it was like that US delta system with the hot-leg or wild-leg?

A 110V 4-wire delta would give you 55V to earth on two phases, and about 95V to earth/neutral on the high leg. I don't think that would meet the criteria for a BS 110V system.

The usual 3-phase site system is 4-wire wye, giving 110V between phases, 63.5V phase-to-neutral.

 

[RF Lighting]

Well just an update for anyone who cares.

Neither my bosch or my makita chargers would work on a 110V supply. The bosch didn't light up at all, and the makita tried to charge, but said a dead battery was fully charged after about 30 seconds on charge.

I tried a 230v to 110v transformer connected as a step up tranny, which works ok, but for one rated to 150VA was too bulky to fit inside the charger housing.

I have come up with an ingenious souloution. I bought a second hand charger off eBay in the USA. I just cut the supplied plug off, put a 110V commando on and hey presto. It's rated for a 120V supply, but it works a treat