Sunday, July 08, 2007

How to - American Appliances in India

And I got a 1800 watt and 280 watt appliance, blenders to be precise from Canada. I have no idea what kind of converters I should use, if there are any.
I heard about all these step-up and step-down converters. I bought one from nearby, a step-down, and it started smoking. Even after the guy tested the appliance there.
Can anyone help?
TIA.

28 comments:

Selvam said...

Please try this link:

http://www.dvdoverseas.com/store/index.html?loadfile=catalog1_0.html

You will need the one rated for a max of 3000 Watts. Good Luck !!

Chinmayi Sripada /Chinmayee said...

thanks..!

Raju said...

As you are probably aware, Watt is different from 'volts'; In US and Canada, the potential is usually 110 volts; so you probably need a step-up transformer for the different wattages of power. Anyway just ensure that the voltage is 110 V and the frequency and max. current are within the range used in India.

Narayanan Venkitu said...

I bought one from Ritchie street in 1997. Works fine even today.

Important - Check out the wattage before you buy. Tell those guys what you are planning to connect.

1900/2800 Watt blenders? Wow..isn't that too much? :)

Karthik Murali said...

hey chinmayi ,
ur problem is a simple one
cananda and us products use 110 v supply
so all u need to buy is a 110- 220 v converter (Step UP and not step down which u bought)
that costs 150 bucks
u can get it any electrical shop
my friend uses the same blender bought in the us
let me know if it works , ok?
bye
Take Care

SARAS said...

if u get it from us it might be 11o volt u need to get converter to chnage the volt 110 to 220. dont worry abt the watts. please check the volt. In india the volt is 22o to 230

Karthik Sriram said...

ur wattages are too high - I'm not too sure that just one converter will solve the problem - check the power rating on the converter.. if it cant handle watts in 1000s u need a better one. And funny thing is these appliances will work in the shop where u just test it for 2-3 secs... try to run the appliance for 2-3 times, each time running the appliance for 3 minutes at the shop.

Nazreen said...

Hey chinmayi, check out these links if u still haven't decided what to buy..
http://www.international-electrical-supplies.com/india-plug-adapters.html

http://www.international-electrical-supplies.com/electricguide.html

Hope it helps..

Anonymous said...

Hold on for a year... Sagaro I will become electrical engineer and solve your problems :P

Selvam said...

I forgot to mention that you may need to check the surge wattage. For some appliances such as TV, it is about 3 to 5 times of the rated wattage. So, check that as well to determine the needed wattage. Another thing to consider is a stabilizer, depending on the fluctuation of the power source in India.

Chao.

Flavin said...

I'm sure you've got a lot of info about purchasing a step-down (220V -> 110V) transformer for your appliances so I don't need to mention it.

However, personally speaking, I would never get a high power appliance in the range of wattage that you mentioned if it doesn't match the voltage in India. I'm not sure if people are aware about it, but there is something called a 'Reactive component' to power. This is like an invisible component of power. 'Invisible' only to the power meter at your house, but visible to the Generator at the power station. A Step-down transformer actually consumes a lot of reactive power (this is a property of Inductive loads). This can be calculated from the power factor rating on the converter. Normally it will be designed for a value around 0.2 or 0.45 (1.0 being the most efficient). Combining a step-down converter with a high wattage inductive load like your blender can be a deadly combination. Deadly not just for our economy (although in a very small percentage) but also for the environment, because more fuel is required to generate the required power.

My suggestion would be to purchase high power appliances outside India only if they match our specifications (220V ~ 50Hz).

More on the hidden elements of electric power can be found on this page.

Anonymous said...

Next time when you buy an appliance you can look for one thing - Voltage range. Some appliances work with 100 to 240 Volts with 50 or 60 Hz, and these do not need any converters. They will automatically switch (or may have to manually switch) depending on the incoming voltage. For these you will only need an adapter to fit into the electrical outlets in India. Quite simple to use, no smoke to be afraid of.

Unknown said...

i am glad ... but there is one 'e' less in my name ... because i am a boy ... hahaha .....

vijay varadharaj said...

chinni akka! pesaama andha appliance a kondu poi fridge la vaingo!
sariyaa poidum!

ipadiku
ungal anbu thambi

kodambakam govaalu!

B said...

http://www.voltagetransformers.com

Another link I was given by a colleague who moved from US to Europe.

Anonymous said...

Sorry...I have no idea. naaney oru thiruva US la irundu oru fone vaangittu vandu ada direct ah plug point la connect pannen, idey maadiri daan smoke vandadu. aprama adu velayeee seiyalla.

enga appa kitta enakku kadacha advice daan micham

tekvijay said...

1st remove the power and check the FUSE of both Converter and Device. Lucky are u if only that is blown.

what smoked? converter or device? it shud be converter, probably unable to deliver the needed power

Indian power outlets can max deliver ~3500 watts and there are 2 types small plugs outlets(6Amps) and bigger ones(16Amps). mostly for washing machines the bigger outlet is used. if u see the backside of a washine machine plug it would be printed (230V, 16A) sometimes 15A

thats Amperes and multiply that with voltage to get max power, 230*15 = 3500 watts

So the next thing to make sure is see the Watt or Amp rating of the converter u got.

For power ranges like 1900/2800 Watts its must to use the bigger socket(16A) not the smaller one(6A)

tekvijay said...

what blogger karthik murali said is incorrect. only 2 options, it can be either 110V or it can be universal(like what u see in laptop adaptors). so if its 110v intake, step down is correct. Only the watts looks like problem. if u hav no problem u can mention the product\paste a link for its specs, it will be easy to suggest the right solution

Exile from the Real World said...

http://users.pandora.be/worldstandards/electricity.htm

http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/2001-04/988615032.Sh.r.html

Anonymous said...

hi chinmayi
i am sorry being late. if you had not solved your appliances voltage problem, let me know. I have quite a few people who is conversant with this in Chennai especially with TNEB itself. Your appliances are too high wattage and it needs a stepup transformer of good quality.
send me a comment if u need help

cheers
kanna

Anonymous said...

hi chinchin
it is me again... i donno whether u have solved this voltage problem or not. just i wanted to correct my earlier posting that read "it needs a stepup transformer"... it shd read "it needs a stepdown transformer" because the appliance u hv is 110-120 V and in Chennai it is 230-240 V. Be careful about the power outlets and their wattage.. don't use two of your appliances together...
By the way what kind of appliances they are with such a high wattage... R U starting a Chinmayi Bhavan Restaurant? just kidding...

cheers
kanna

Yogendran said...

745.7 watt = 1hp.
so, 2800watt= 2800/745.7 hp = 3.75hp.

hp-> Horse power. Our house water pump is 1hp.

3.75hp blender. :-O

Chitra said...

Chinmayi: Is your problem solved? Else lemme know...will ask my dad to help :)

Chinmayi Sripada /Chinmayee said...

yes my lady.. thanks for all the nice comments as well :) @chitra

Nadia said...

This blog is really informative; I have gone through all the posts.

Anonymous said...

How did you solve your problem? I bought a Singer sewing machine for my mom from US.. 65 watts. Used a high wattage converter, still wont work. How did you manage?

Unknown said...

can u please tell us what solved ur problem?
Which converter u finally used?
I also have a blender from US.

Unknown said...

Any appliance in US is designed to work on 110 volts as the supplied voltage in your wall plug is 110 volts where as in India the supplied voltage is 220 volts. now the appliance from US is designed to work on 110V. so when you want to use a US appliance in India you need to step down the supply from 220V to 110V. that is you are making the supply of electricity compatible with the design of the appliance. Hence you need a STEP DOWN VOLTAGE CONVERTER