220 volts & Sigmarion III : EASY !

Well, maybe everybody knows it already ... but, in case ...

In France, we have 220 volts sector.
As everybody knows the Sigmarion III power suply is " AC 100V 50/60Hz 220mA"
So i used abig and heavy converter to transform my 220V to a 110 V.

I just bought for a friend a second hand Sigmarion III on eBay.
It came with only a plug converter, you know, just a little plastic thing that changes the plug type and doesn't change anything to the power ...

Surprised, i asked to the selle, and he told me that it is allhe had and used for monthes ...

So i gave it a try ...

And it works perfectly.
Nothing burned, no charging problem, the power suply is just warm, like any other one ...





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Interesting. At first, I'd think the convertor converted 220VAC to 110VAC electrically in addition to the physical conversion. It probably did.

There's not a chance that that converter (the white thing) converts from 220 to 110v! It's simply not got enough stuff in it to do so

Verrrry interesting. Have you checked the voltages coming out of it?

It'd be interesting to crack the adaptor open and know what's in there - I suspect it's auto ranging otherwise it would have gone *bang* very quickly!

Yeah check the voltages coming out beacuse although devices will run on incorrect voltage you could easy cause battery damage and/or reduced charge in battery with wrong voltage.

No convinced about auto ranging as they sold another adapter for sig 3 that was autranging...
Be nice if it was.

John

My guess is that, in fact, this power suply is double voltage ready, like most of the ones used for this kind of device since many years ...
Maybe they didn't print it on the sticker because it was intended only for Japanese market ?

I don't believe there is a danger because the machine was used for monthes with this system exclusively ...

stick a volt meter on the end of it and see what your getting. Plus they actually sold a muti voltage item as an accessory.



Edited by mr-mac 2008-06-26 4:36 PM

huh, sorry i don't have any volt meter ...

I would not be surprised if they sold the same thing under another name ... and more expensive ...

I'm not into electricity things ... but i suppose that if the adapter is not 220V ready ... it would burn everything as soon i plug it on 220volts, no ?

you normally get a brief display of something melting as it'll basically fry itself... Well, certainly for simple things like lightbulbs you will (power is approximately the square of voltage divided by resistance, resistance is the same, so the power of the device will be quadrupled if you double the voltage)

well i know that other people used it on 220V (primarily in china as the plug is same as japanese BUT they have 220V there).

but i wouldn't try until someone confirms with a voltmeter

Well i think it's safe since it was used like this for monthes and the unit runs perfectly well.
I tried with my first unit too and same, it works flawlessly ...

By the way ...
Is there a detailed topic about battery rebuilding somewhere ?
Because i have 2 batteries, a good one, and an old one i would like to rebuild if it's possible ...

Someone did a guide... saw it the other day when searching on google....

Still wouldn't use it without voltmeter test. to make sure it's in spec. If it is then great I would be delighted to find this were true...

In fact I may have a foreign to UK plug at home will try and find my original PSU and pop my voltmeter on it.

John

John, did you manage to do this test?

Havn't happened accross the A/C unit... then my brakes failed and kinda ruined any chance of anything HPC related last weekend as I was under car fixing it.

Will have a look tonight if I remember.

John

Just tested oroginal plug at 240V and 110V and at both voltages the original PSU indicates 9.6V DC on my volt meter.

John