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22-11-2009, 08:28
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#1
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Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Cat in New Zealand, trawler in Ventura
Boat: 46' custom cat "Rum Doxy", Roughwater 41"Abreojos"
Posts: 2,088
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Running 110vac Tools on 220vac
I need you all to stop me before I try this. I know in my heart of heart what will happen if you plug a 110v power tool into 220v, but my reptilian brain keeps telling me the motor will just spin faster, or in the case of a heat gun, it won't heat up as well.
So what do you think, have I been watching too much Mythbusters? Answers involving practical experience will be more entertaining and will be graded higher than those explaining electromagnetic theory.
Mike
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22-11-2009, 08:32
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#2
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Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: St. Georges, Bda
Boat: Rhodes Reliant 41ft
Posts: 4,131
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DON'T DO IT.
Different pin arrangements on the plugs should not fit anyway. For the very reason you ask.
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22-11-2009, 08:36
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#3
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Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: UK
Boat: Leopard 40 Catamaran
Posts: 5
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I think this is doomed to failure! Either a protective fuse will blow (which can be replaced) or the motor coil will overheat and burn out in a few seconds. I'm not sure why the heat gun "won't heat up as well" - I suspect you'll generate thermonuclear temperatures for a split second then POW!
Richard
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22-11-2009, 08:40
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#4
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Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Cat in New Zealand, trawler in Ventura
Boat: 46' custom cat "Rum Doxy", Roughwater 41"Abreojos"
Posts: 2,088
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Blue Stocking
DON'T DO IT.
Different pin arrangements on the plugs should not fit anyway. 
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That won't slow me down for a nanosecond!
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22-11-2009, 08:46
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#5
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Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: St. Georges, Bda
Boat: Rhodes Reliant 41ft
Posts: 4,131
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See if you can dodge the guys doing an EVA when you overtake the ISS
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22-11-2009, 09:34
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#6
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Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Miami
Boat: Boatless
Posts: 1,580
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We bought, for $30, a basic stepdown transformer, magnets and coils not electronic and my computer, cell phones and tools are running off it as I write from Grenada.
__________________
Phil
"Remember, experience only means that you screw-up less often."
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22-11-2009, 09:49
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#7
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Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Santa Cruz
Boat: SAnta Cruz 27
Posts: 7,216
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The Thai electric plugs are 220V, but physically compatible with the US 110V. I labeled all my tool's plugs with "110V" and tried to hide them, but that didn't stop one of the Thai workers from plugging in my shopvac. It really sucked! Fortunately the racket it made made him unplug it before it melted down.
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22-11-2009, 11:08
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#8
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Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Hollywood, Fl.
Boat: FP Athena 38' Poerava
Posts: 4,028
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An experiment that will create smoke.
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22-11-2009, 12:36
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#9
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Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Queensland
Boat: Peterson 46
Posts: 340
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If you have to ask, then your handbrake part of the brain is ringing bells loudly.
110v has 60 Hz & 240v runs with 50Hz. The energy needed is the same so the current is diffferent. The wire size will be likely thinner on the 110v. So yes is the answer if you wish to test (and replace) fuses. Use a step dn transformer.
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22-11-2009, 14:02
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#10
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Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 2,454
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make sure your health insurance is current
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22-11-2009, 20:22
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#11
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Eternal Member
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: North of Baltimore
Boat: Ericson 27 & 18' Herrmann Catboat
Posts: 3,798
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"Tune for maximum smoke....replace charred parts"
BTW, on a yacht i worked on....the owners wife plugged a bread maker into a 220 volt outlet.....we still can't figure out how she did it......when the smoke cleared.......
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23-11-2009, 20:44
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#12
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Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Cat in New Zealand, trawler in Ventura
Boat: 46' custom cat "Rum Doxy", Roughwater 41"Abreojos"
Posts: 2,088
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Quote:
Originally Posted by donradcliffe
The Thai electric plugs are 220V, but physically compatible with the US 110V. I labeled all my tool's plugs with "110V" and tried to hide them, but that didn't stop one of the Thai workers from plugging in my shopvac. It really sucked! Fortunately the racket it made made him unplug it before it melted down.
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That's what I was looking for! Confirms my suspicions and now I don't have to try it myself.
rusky,
Actually the wiring will be thicker on the 110v as it has to support a higher current than the 220. This is what got me thinking (or not thinking) in the first place. My reasoning was that if the wiring is more robust on the 110 then maybe a 110v motor could handle the 220v, even if the bearings couldn't.
RichardS,
Again, my thoughts were that as the 110v heating elements are likely more robust and thus present less resistance, then it would take more current than a 220v circuit would provide to cause them to heat up.
Thanks to all for the replies. I think I've got it out of my system and a converter is in my future.
Mike
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23-11-2009, 21:23
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#13
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Fort Pierce, FL. Texas Roots
Boat: 82 Present, 13 ft dinghy
Posts: 495
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All electrics and electronics work off of smoke contained inside the device. When you use incompatable voltages with said equipment you will let the smoke out and thereby the device will not operate properly.
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24-11-2009, 00:00
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#14
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Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Long Beach, Ca
Boat: Endeavour 32
Posts: 73
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You will burn up your tool
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24-11-2009, 00:21
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#15
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Moderator

Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Denmark (Winter), Cruising North Sea and Baltic (Summer)
Boat: Cutter-Rigged Moody 54
Posts: 35,303
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bzzzzzt! phwwwwwww.
You are probably confused by the fact that computer power supplies and mobile phone chargers are almost universally dual power. All you need is a pin adaptor, and you're good. Not so with poiwer tools, unforunately.
You will need different power tools for when you are travelling in the 220/240 parts of the world, unless you can get your AC power from a genset.
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