Congratulations

[ptonsparky]

A customer stopped in to pay his bill and I had to congratulate him on winning 1st prize. He was pleased!

He was the first and only customer, so far, that had 240v serving the GFCI receptacle at his bathroom countertop receptacle. One of the items that was being used there survived the experience while another did not. The GFCI would trip via test button and reset. The guys were there for another issue and happened upon it. IDK the full details but my most experienced guy was scratching his head for awhile. It had been that way for quite some time.

So maybe a member is worrying too much about proper GFCI protection being used on 240v systems. Just grab an<IDK the brand device, but I will ask> and use it! :happysad::happysad:

JK

 

[kwired]

A customer stopped in to pay his bill and I had to congratulate him on winning 1st prize. He was pleased!

He was the first and only customer, so far, that had 240v serving the GFCI receptacle at his bathroom countertop receptacle. One of the items that was being used there survived the experience while another did not. The GFCI would trip via test button and reset. The guys were there for another issue and happened upon it. IDK the full details but my most experienced guy was scratching his head for awhile. It had been that way for quite some time.

So maybe a member is worrying too much about proper GFCI protection being used on 240v systems. Just grab an<IDK the brand device, but I will ask> and use it! :happysad::happysad:

JK

Couple years ago I put in a temp service for a project, builder requested a couple "110 outlets" and a "50 amp GFCI outlet".

You probably would presume same thing I did and put in a couple 5-15 or 5-20's (GFCI protected) and a 14-50 (on a GFCI breaker).

When I come back to do rough in work, he had removed my 14-50 receptacle, and replaced it with a 5-15 GFCI receptacle, and cut out the mounting plate in the Midwest box to make it fit. It was still supplied by the 50 amp GFCI breaker, and was 240 volts. The reason for this is he had an air compressor that had a dual voltage switch on it (think you did have to remove a cover to access it, but changing voltage was simple operation of the switch). But it had a 5-15 cord cap on it and he said he always uses it on "220" with a regular GFCI receptacle, but does switch the voltage if "220" isn't easily available - but it tends to trip breakers easier in that setup.:blink:

I asked what about others that come to the site and don't realize what they are plugging into - "I marked the cover "220 volts". I guess he did and that was good enough for him.

I was amazed the electronics of the GFCI receptacle survived being supplied with 240 volts. It did still trip when tested. Think this one was a P&S receptacle.

 

[ggunn]

Couple years ago I put in a temp service for a project, builder requested a couple "110 outlets" and a "50 amp GFCI outlet".

You probably would presume same thing I did and put in a couple 5-15 or 5-20's (GFCI protected) and a 14-50 (on a GFCI breaker).

When I come back to do rough in work, he had removed my 14-50 receptacle, and replaced it with a 5-15 GFCI receptacle, and cut out the mounting plate in the Midwest box to make it fit. It was still supplied by the 50 amp GFCI breaker, and was 240 volts. The reason for this is he had an air compressor that had a dual voltage switch on it (think you did have to remove a cover to access it, but changing voltage was simple operation of the switch). But it had a 5-15 cord cap on it and he said he always uses it on "220" with a regular GFCI receptacle, but does switch the voltage if "220" isn't easily available - but it tends to trip breakers easier in that setup.:blink:

I asked what about others that come to the site and don't realize what they are plugging into - "I marked the cover "220 volts". I guess he did and that was good enough for him.

I was amazed the electronics of the GFCI receptacle survived being supplied with 240 volts. It did still trip when tested. Think this one was a P&S receptacle.

Put the 240 outlet back and buy him an adapter.

 

[kwired]

Put the 240 outlet back and buy him an adapter.

This was in a temp service and is not on that site anymore. But yes he needs some better system for handling that air compressor at two possible voltages. For one thing, it doesn't need to be on a 50 amp breaker, it should run fine on a 15 amp circuit @ 240 volts.

 

[Jraef]

There are a lot of devices being sold now that have a power supply built-in, because the device actually uses LV DC power inside. A recent development in power supplies is to make them "auto-ranging" in that they detect the voltage level coming in and automatically adjust to it so that the DC remains the same. So you will see on the nameplate of the device that the input voltage is shown as something like "90-264VAC". My shaver is like that which is nice because I can take it with me when I travel overseas and not have to use the voltage transformer, just the plug adapter.

 

[hbiss]

Agreed. Most manufacturers today design for the world market. Much cheaper to manufacturer one product that can be sold in all countries than to manufacturer different products to work only in specific countries.

I recently bought some electronic equipment that came with a wall wart that came with a bunch of different plug "inserts". Just slide the one that fits your receptacle on to it and you're good to go. It didn't care if it was 120 or 240, 50 or 60 Hz.

-Hal

 

[Netpog]

Those "110 to 250 volt" wall warts work pretty well. Usually.

I bought a cheap one, a few years back, as a phone charger. It worked perfectly, here in the States. And it worked the first night I used it in London, for a few hours.

About 3 a.m. the thing went "BOOM!", and filled my tiny hotel room with smoke and the smell of over-cooked cheap electronics.

(It also tripped the breaker, which was easy enough to locate in the hallway.)

Took me hours to get back to sleep, between the adrenaline rush and my expectation that the police would drop by any minute. But nobody seemed to notice.

 

[kwired]

Those "110 to 250 volt" wall warts work pretty well. Usually.

I bought a cheap one, a few years back, as a phone charger. It worked perfectly, here in the States. And it worked the first night I used it in London, for a few hours.

About 3 a.m. the thing went "BOOM!", and filled my tiny hotel room with smoke and the smell of over-cooked cheap electronics.

(It also tripped the breaker, which was easy enough to locate in the hallway.)

Took me hours to get back to sleep, between the adrenaline rush and my expectation that the police would drop by any minute. But nobody seemed to notice.

If it woke you up, might have seemed like gunfire to you. Possible nobody else even heard it though.