3 Oct
2008
3 Oct
'08
1:29 p.m.
But all wall-wart supplies that I've seen here
(which is about the
only easy way to obtain small power transformers) have a single
Ah... The wall-warts we have over here generally have a single primary
winding too. But I don;t consider those to be particularly useful
transformers.
I generally buy 'loose' transformers from RS or Farnell. Although at
least one of those companies sells 230V-only transfoemrs in some sizes,
they certainly also sell the dual-primary ones I mentioned.
120vac primary. It might be that the cost of the
extra copper
required for 220vac operation justifies a separate product run for
North America and Japan. (Somewhat OT is that Japanese mains power is
spec-ed somewhere around 100vac. Expats who brought their US-rated
Indeed. I've worked on many devices, particularly HP, which have 4
voltage selector settings -- 110V, 120V, 220 and 240V. There were
typically 2 types of transformer used - -one had 2 primaries tapped
0-100-120V, the other had 1 primarly like that and a second primary of
120V (no tap). The settings worked as follows :
100V --For the first type, the 2 100V sections of the windings in
parallel. For the second type, mains to the 100V sectionm, then this
acted as an autotransformer providing 120V to the other winding which was
connected in parallel with it
120V -- the 2 120V windings in parallel
220V -- A 120V winidng in series with a 100V one
240V -- The 2 120V windings in series.
The HP THinkjet printers used the latter type, with a mains input module
that contained the IEC connector, mains filter, fuse holder and a set of
5 contacts operated by a rotatable drum for the voltage selection. For
some reason the exact operation of this is not in the Thinkjet service
manual (even though all the rest of the schematic, PCB layouts, theory,
etc are).
The 9836 I've been talking about in another thread was the former type.
Why, I don;t know, the votlage regulator PCB in that machine (the only
thing run off the single secondary winding on the transformer) is happy
with inputs from avout 18V up to 32V at least. So a simple 115/230V
selector should have been fine.
appliances (such as a refrigerator) were often
disappointed by the
short motor life when run on Japanese power).
I am suprised that motors objected to too low a voltage. Wasn't there a
frequency difference too -- I thought that some of Japan was 50Hz. That
might have been more of a problem
Totally OT, but if you're trying to run one
of those valved portable
radios that used a 90V HT supply, it's worth noting that a 30V
transformer (the ends of a 15-0-15 winding, for example), voltage
doubled, gives about 84V. That's run all the radios I've tried, including
an AM/FM (yes, a valved FM portable radio) Vidor set.
Given that many battery-powered sets used a 45vdc "B" battery, I
would agree with you.