Question about 50hz vs. 60hz

Neil_Ireland

Hi all,

I am looking into getting an air compressor from america, its rated at 120-240v 60hz.
Will it work on our 50hz supply, or will the motor burn out after a while.
I have been given conflicting information about this and want to know for sure.

Thanks,
Neil.

Victor

You would need to get a specific transformer combined with I think an alternator(?)

lomb

Neil_Ireland wrote:

Hi all,

I am looking into getting an air compressor from america, its rated at 120-240v 60hz.
Will it work on our 50hz supply, or will the motor burn out after a while.
I have been given conflicting information about this and want to know for sure.

Thanks,
Neil.

should be grand if anything 50hz is less taing on it, the fact its variable votage means it will be fine. also there is a hugh variation in quality of electricity. one minute it could be 80 hz, next minute 30 hz, so ul b fine

Lex Luthor

Neil_Ireland wrote:

Hi all,

I am looking into getting an air compressor from america, its rated at 120-240v 60hz.
Will it work on our 50hz supply, or will the motor burn out after a while.
I have been given conflicting information about this and want to know for sure.

Thanks,
Neil.

You'll be fine...the fact that it's rated for up to 240V. Only thing is, it will run 16% slower than in US due to the lower frequency here but you'll hardly notice the difference.

Jnealon

lomb wrote:

should be grand if anything 50hz is less taing on it, the fact its variable votage means it will be fine. also there is a hugh variation in quality of electricity. one minute it could be 80 hz, next minute 30 hz, so ul b fine

The frequency here is 50hz. If the freq goes up or down by 1 or 2hz it's lights out for the whole country

Your best bet is to ask the company that make the compressor what the operating frequency range is

Lex Luthor

Jnealon wrote:

The frequency here is 50hz. If the freq goes up or down by 1 or 2hz it's lights out for the whole country

Your best bet is to ask the company that make the compressor what the operating frequency range is

I brought a Hifi and juicer back from the states a few years back. Ok they were both 110V units, so I had to buy a transformer for them. However the transformer only steps the 230V here down to 110V, it doesn't change the frequency also. So, both units were running here at 110V 50Hz, when in the states they worked off 110V 60Hz.
It's voltage you need to be concerned about...a change in 10Hz in frequency shouldn't make much of a difference only to the running speed of the compressor.

clarkee

The frequency here in ireland varies slightly between 49Hz - 51Hz never a constant.
This will not affect the compressor to any extent but you do need to get a "step-up" transformer from 110v - 230v, also you will need to check what amps the compressor pulls(10a 15a 20a etc) as you will have to match this up as well.

Lex Luthor

clarkee wrote:

The frequency here in ireland varies slightly between 49Hz - 51Hz never a constant.
This will not affect the compressor to any extent but you do need to get a "step-up" transformer from 110v - 230v, also you will need to check what amps the compressor pulls(10a 15a 20a etc) as you will have to match this up as well.

clarkee, he will need a step-down transformer as he is coming from 230V to 110V.
Transformers will be rated in either Watts (W) or Amps (A) and sometimes KVA

To figure out what rating transormer you need, either get the power rating or current rating of the compressor. Apply the formula Power (Watts) = Volts x Current (A)
The compressor more than likely will be high enough power rating so you might have to get one of those industrial transformers...As far as I know they can be very expensive so I would get the details of the compressor and cost a transformer and weigh up the savings over getting a 230V unit here

Sparky

it will work fine over here and he does'nt need any form of transformer because his compressor is rated 110-240v so it will take up to 240v, the one thing that bugs me is why the manufacter has it only rated at 60hz where as most vari voltage equipment has a 50hz- 60hz rating.

Plug it in and see, and if its a compressor and your using it on a normal socket breaker rated at 20amps it may trip because compressors can take a good so call pull on the elec. when starting up so you may need to change your breaker from a B rated to a motor rated D breaker.

what is the wattage rating on the machine.

Victor

Neil_Ireland wrote:

its rated at 120-240v

Ooops, I think a lot of us missed the 240V bit here.

Lex Luthor

Victor wrote:

Ooops, I think a lot of us missed the 240V bit here.

I didn't and then I did...I was on lllllllllloooooooonnnnnnnnngggggg weekend time when I typed the 3rd reply

Sparky

Lex Luthor wrote:

I didn't and then I did...I was on lllllllllloooooooonnnnnnnnngggggg weekend time when I typed the 3rd reply

Its Ok its the lllllllllllllllooooooooonnnnggg weeeekkkkeeeennndddd, we can be all let away with it.

rooferPete

Hi,

Does that mean I can buy 110 Volt standard US tools and run then through my 110 V transformer ?

I thought there was a difference between AC (Alternating Current) and DC (Direct Current) ?

Allow all hangovers etc to subside pre answers

.

lomb

rooferPete wrote:

Hi,

Does that mean I can buy 110 Volt standard US tools and run then through my 110 V transformer ?

I thought there was a difference between AC (Alternating Current) and DC (Direct Current) ?

Allow all hangovers etc to subside pre answers

.

why not pete? if they(transformer) can take the amps.

Victor

Can you get DC transformers? What with AC being the whole basis of transformers?

gregos

Hi Pete. You might be thinking of a rectifier to turn alternating into direct current. Not required in this case. It's all AC. You can run most American tools off your transformer, but check to make sure they're not 100V or 125V (some of them are, believe it or not). DeWalt are fine, as are most big names.

Lex Luthor

rooferPete wrote:

Hi,

Does that mean I can buy 110 Volt standard US tools and run then through my 110 V transformer ?

I thought there was a difference between AC (Alternating Current) and DC (Direct Current) ?

Allow all hangovers etc to subside pre answers

.

there is a huge difference.
A transformer basically steps up or steps down AC voltage.
A rectifier will convert AC to DC

rooferPete

Thank You,

I have been looking at a nice electric slate cutter only available in the US ( I know it's against all the rules )

Traditional work is great but anything that would speed up the work without compromising quality can't be a bad thing

My idea is to cut off the two pin plug and fit a nice round yellow one to run it off my 110 v box.

Worth a try now.

.

Lex Luthor

Pete, as a rule of thumb you will very rarely find any home or garden/diy appliance run off DC voltage (only thing that comes to mind is a cordless drill).
Anything rated in the 110V/220V is 99.99% AC power.

DC appliances normally are 12V, 18V & 24V and you will rarely find an AC unit at these low levels.

Maybe you can let Neil know where you bought your 110V transformer as it looks like he could be needing one soon...they're not half heavy...!!!!!

gregos

rooferPete wrote:

I have been looking at a nice electric slate cutter only available in the US .

I reckon it will probably work fine for you. Just check, as we said in earlier posts, that it actually is 110V.

air

Just an FYI, line frequency varies very little in this country or elsewhere for that matter.
AC analogue clocks rely on this fact to keep accurate time.
If you have a decent multimeter (fluke or similar) check it out for yourself (assuming you're competent).

rooferPete

Hi Lex,

I use the standard I think 3 KVA transformers 110 volt with 2 outlets, the cheapest way to buy them is the hire shop, know the price before you go in and very often you can haggle on the price but not by much.

Most of the big providers stock them at almost cost because you are usually buying more goods from them, Mc Quillans are fairly good with the prices.

For Neill it may not matter if it has two outlets but the KVA is important, the lighter box will not run an angle grinder or a power saw with a heavy draw on the power.

The actually power output is the same but it's when the tools are heavy the lower rated box's trip, I know there are small lighter ones but not worth the small price difference.

.

galwaydude18

gregos wrote:

Hi Pete. You might be thinking of a rectifier to turn alternating into direct current. Not required in this case. It's all AC. You can run most American tools off your transformer, but check to make sure they're not 100V or 125V (some of them are, believe it or not). DeWalt are fine, as are most big names.

Hi I have bought a Dewalt DW708 sliding mitre saw off Ebay and I am getting it shipped in from America. If I do what Pete has said he will do cut the end of the american plug and connect mine to one of those yellow site plugs and plug it into a 110V site transformer everything should be ok so? If it will work I should be able to pick up a cheap transformer tomorrow in the market

air

Will be the finest.
Dewalt stuff is great value in the states

galwaydude18

savage! can't wait to get the saw. I hope to have it before friday. I need to lay a load of laminate wooden floors at home! I'll buy the transformer tomorrow afternoon!!!!!!

Lex Luthor

galwaydude18 wrote:

Hi I have bought a Dewalt DW708 sliding mitre saw off Ebay and I am getting it shipped in from America. If I do what Pete has said he will do cut the end of the american plug and connect mine to one of those yellow site plugs and plug it into a 110V site transformer everything should be ok so? If it will work I should be able to pick up a cheap transformer tomorrow in the market

will you have to pay duty on the saw?

I got caught recently for duty on a couple of fishing rods I got shipped from the states....seems to be if fed-ex is used, they always nab you. friend of mine bought me stuff from amazon US before and shipped to me here but just put a zero value on the package and said they were old books.