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Author Topic: Voltage transformer from 120v to 220v??  (Read 942 times)

What_clutch

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Voltage transformer from 120v to 220v??
« on: June 22, 2016, 01:42:38 AM »

Well as my title states out of curiosity would you or have you guys ever used a transformer to get more voltage out of your 120-125v house plugs?
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Kocho

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Re: Voltage transformer from 120v to 220v??
« Reply #1 on: June 22, 2016, 01:49:19 AM »

Are you asking about charging the Zero or in general? If the latter - yes, I used to have some European  appliances in the US that needed a transformer. The Zero I think only needs a plug adapter as I'm pretty sure the charger works on all voltages worldwide.
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frodus

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Re: Voltage transformer from 120v to 220v??
« Reply #2 on: June 22, 2016, 02:13:15 AM »

Why would you want to do this?

More voltage, lower current, same amount of power to the charger.
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Travis

What_clutch

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Re: Voltage transformer from 120v to 220v??
« Reply #3 on: June 22, 2016, 02:20:44 AM »

I'm new to this electric world. I've takes a basic electric class but it was a aviation specific. I live in an older house with an ancient fuse box and I'm not sure I can pull 220 volts from it so I figured by getting a transformer to pump out 220 it would charge quicker with the quick charger being able to use the 220 instead of 120.
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MrDude_1

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Re: Voltage transformer from 120v to 220v??
« Reply #4 on: June 22, 2016, 02:52:42 AM »

I'm new to this electric world. I've takes a basic electric class but it was a aviation specific. I live in an older house with an ancient fuse box and I'm not sure I can pull 220 volts from it so I figured by getting a transformer to pump out 220 it would charge quicker with the quick charger being able to use the 220 instead of 120.

With the stock onboard charger, the limit is not the input power. 


The charger accepts anywhere from 90vac to 240vac without issue.
The charger will put out almost the exact same power, regardless of the voltage presented to it.

Now, it is SLIGHTLY more efficient if you feed it 220v than 110v. That means it charges a little bit faster... but we're talking minutes of diff over the full charge of the battery.

Assuming you are in the USA... your house gets 220v single phase sent to it.  the house itself splits it off with a middle neutral lead, giving you two 110v lines for your house to use.
your larger appliances (dryer, oven/stove, AC, etc) will use both lines to run on 220
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Doug S

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Re: Voltage transformer from 120v to 220v??
« Reply #5 on: June 22, 2016, 03:08:57 AM »

Assuming you are in the USA... your house gets 220v single phase sent to it.

Minor correction: The 220VAC delivered to homes in the US is referred to as "split phase", which refers to the fact that it has two hots (180 degrees out of phase) and a neutral, in addition to ground. The two hots can be "split" and make two 110VAC circuits with the neutral; in all cases, ground is used only for safety and should always carry NO current.
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There's no better alarm clock than sunlight on asphalt.

MrDude_1

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Re: Voltage transformer from 120v to 220v??
« Reply #6 on: June 22, 2016, 07:31:30 AM »

Assuming you are in the USA... your house gets 220v single phase sent to it.

Minor correction: The 220VAC delivered to homes in the US is referred to as "split phase", which refers to the fact that it has two hots (180 degrees out of phase) and a neutral, in addition to ground. The two hots can be "split" and make two 110VAC circuits with the neutral; in all cases, ground is used only for safety and should always carry NO current.
We're both correct. Lol
It's technically  a single phase connection,  that is split in the middle. Lol
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What_clutch

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Re: Voltage transformer from 120v to 220v??
« Reply #7 on: June 22, 2016, 08:10:09 AM »

I gotcha fellas..so here's what I'm working with for some of you electrical geniuses. I know to buy a 30amp double pole breaker box, independent breaker box, possibly a 10/3 with a ground wire and a weather proof electrical outlet. It's for the cabin house, I had never bothered reading the cover of this so obviously I can pull 240v and according to this there's both a 1 phase and 3. So how would I wore this up? Thank you in advance.



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frodus

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Re: Voltage transformer from 120v to 220v??
« Reply #8 on: June 22, 2016, 10:20:24 PM »

That is confusing terminology, but what they mean, is that you have a 2 wire 240V (L1 and L2, no neutral) you can use, as well as a 3 wire 240V (L1, L2 and neutral).

There are 2 hots in that panel, and one Neutral. You can get 240V out of that panel easily, but I doubt it'll help at all going from 120V up to 240V just for a small savings of efficiency, it's very minimal.
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Travis

mrwilsn

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Re: Voltage transformer from 120v to 220v??
« Reply #9 on: June 23, 2016, 01:01:25 AM »

Assuming you are using the stock 1.3kW charger the main benefit I from charging at 240V vs 120V would be the ability to use a longer charge cable at a given gauge.  At 120V the max would be 25ft 14 AWG. You can go longer than that at 240V without over heating the cable which might be useful at a cabin.

Aside from that it's not doing much good to run at 240V vs. 120V unless you have a charge tank or other fast charger.

Sent from my XT1060 using Tapatalk

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hein

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Re: Voltage transformer from 120v to 220v??
« Reply #10 on: June 23, 2016, 01:32:55 AM »

Wow, that's some seriously old stuff shown on that picture.
You may want to consider to update that for a variety of reason (including local economy :-)

There is a power max on the the standard charger.
For the charger it matters very little whether it gets say 110V x 14A, or 220V x 7A
For your cables/wires it does matter.
For 7A you can yse 16 guage, whereas 14A will warm up 14A wires and plugs
That signifies losses, and becomes a fire risk with marginal components.

Is the house wired for a STOVE or Electric Dryer?

I made my own 'converter cable' from US - Dryer to European 220 plug.

Cheers,
Hein


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