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bbear2
Premium Member
join:2003-10-06
dot.earth

bbear2

Premium Member

Running a 220V device on 110V?

A friend bought this massage thing overseas that he thought was compatible with 110V. I'm still trying to get the specs/manual for it, but it appears that it only says 220V. What happens if he plugs it into a 110V source?

The best I can tell it is some sort of massage thing and probably has a motor and the control panel might be electronic vs. a mechanical only switch. His concern is that he might blow out the electronics.

Would something like this solve the problem if you don't think it will work directly on 110V? »www.amazon.com/Philmore- ··· nsformer

leibold
MVM
join:2002-07-09
Sunnyvale, CA

leibold

MVM

The electronics are probably fine (they may not function correctly but should not get harmed by only getting 1/2 of the voltage).
The bigger problem are electric motors which can easily get damaged by both too high and too low voltages.
bbear2
Premium Member
join:2003-10-06
dot.earth

bbear2

Premium Member

Thanks. So with the 110V, it might take more current and hence heat up the motors, etc?

Any concerns about the 50/60Hz difference?
And then what about a stepup stepdown transformer, if he uses that will all be fine?
TheMG
Premium Member
join:2007-09-04
Canada
MikroTik RB450G
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TheMG

Premium Member

said by bbear2:

Thanks. So with the 110V, it might take more current and hence heat up the motors, etc?

Depends on the type of motors used, how they are powered (direct from AC or from a DC power supply?), and the type of mechanism they are driving.

What can happen with motors run at too low of a voltage is that the motors may not have sufficient torque to come up to operating speed. Motors that are not at operating speed draw more current. Worst case scenario is if the motor isn't able to spin at all, it would draw much more current.

Induction type motors are much more susceptible to this than universal and DC motors.

Anyways, overheating doesn't happen instantly, and it should be pretty obvious if the motor isn't running at the proper speed due to half the voltage. I'd say the risk of plugging it in and giving it a quick test run should be relatively low, but chances are high that if it is only rated at 220V on the device, it probably isn't designed to run at 120V and will probably not function properly or at all.

How is the massaging device powered anyways? Does it connect directly to mains or does it have an external power brick?
said by bbear2:

Any concerns about the 50/60Hz difference?

If it uses induction motors they would run a touch faster. If the electronics use the AC frequency as a timing source (for a clock, timer, etc) it obviously is going to be inaccurate (too fast). But other than that not a huge concern.
said by bbear2:

And then what about a stepup stepdown transformer, if he uses that will all be fine?

As long as the transformer is rated to handle the load of the device, yes, there is no problem with using a step-up transformer.
bbear2
Premium Member
join:2003-10-06
dot.earth

bbear2

Premium Member

said by TheMG:

...How is the massaging device powered anyways? Does it connect directly to mains or does it have an external power brick? ...

Thanks for the further information. The device is powered directly from the mains with an AC plug at the end of a 1 meter cord. No external power brick unfortunately.

Based upon your comments I'll tell him to plug it in briefly and see what happens.
bbear2

bbear2

Premium Member

Here's an update. Based upon the input here, I told him to plug it in and see what happens. Turns out the electronics seemed to work as expected. The motor or massaging part also seemed to work, but he didn't keep it on long enough to tell whether or not it will get hot. Decided to test it slowly at first.
TheMG
Premium Member
join:2007-09-04
Canada

TheMG

Premium Member

It might very well have a universal input switchmode power supply powering the electronics and motors.

Otherwise I would not expect the electronics to work at all, and it would be very noticeable if the motors aren't getting enough juice.

Gabrio
join:2014-08-15

Gabrio to bbear2

Member

to bbear2
Had better not do so.

cowboyro
Premium Member
join:2000-10-11
CT

cowboyro to bbear2

Premium Member

to bbear2
These massage "things" use DC motors, so in most instances they use some power adapters. Chances are it will be fine with 120V, easiest would be to see the label.

aurgathor
join:2002-12-01
Lynnwood, WA

aurgathor to TheMG

Member

to TheMG
said by TheMG:

It might very well have a universal input switchmode power supply powering the electronics and motors.

And it doesn't even have to be universal -- a 240V switching power supply, even if it's not officially rated 120V may still work at half the input voltage. Of course the opposite is much more risky.
Mr Matt
join:2008-01-29
Eustis, FL

Mr Matt to bbear2

Member

to bbear2
said by bbear2:

A friend bought this massage thing overseas that he thought was compatible with 110V. I'm still trying to get the specs/manual for it, but it appears that it only says 220V. What happens if he plugs it into a 110V source?

Review this thread, which beat this topic to death:
»[Electrical] Advice on making a European Espresso Machine work in the USA