Using a 60hz mains device in the UK

[monchavo]

On holiday in South Korea I noticed a plethora of coloured energy saving bulbs which looked rather aesthetically pleasing. I bought a blue one and brought it home (UK) plugged it into the UK mains (into a circular screw thread lamp fitting) and it appears to be working fine. The operating conditions on the side of the box said 220v at 60 hz which is what I believe S. Korean electricity runs at.

Now, a rice cooker from Korea has just arrived, telling me that it too will operate at 220v/60hz (500w at 2.3a)....

Clearly, a lightbulb is a less complex object than a rice cooker... Do I require a converter, or will the rice cooker work okay on my UK mains? Are there risks? Possible component stress? Anything I should be aware of (apart from changing the plug...)

Your valuable experiences much appreciated

monchavo

 

[rbulsara]

Thats why I am not a cook...

 

[ScottyUK]

Hi Skogs,

The UK is still firmly 240V, although 'officially' it is now 230V! We're just right up at the very top end of the permitted tolerance of +10% on nominal. 230+10% = 253V. Our old standard was 240V +6% which conveniently is 254V. Thus the UK infrastructure technically does comply with the new requirements. The cost of changing all the 240V distribution transformers for a lower voltage equivalent en-masse would be astronomical. They'll just get replaced as they reach the end of their service life. For a distribution transformer that could be 40 or 50 years.

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I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy it...

 

[Skogsgurra]

Hi Scotty,

I have noticed that the power factor for some motors has gradually got worse during the 220 -> 230 V adaption (which took 15 - 20 years and also means that 380 V is now 400 V)). Also, many incandescent lamps seemed to live shorter lives until we got the 230 V rated ones everywhere.

I will bring a DMM next time I go to UK (heck, don't I always bring scopes and voltmeters and what have you wherever I go?) so I can verify that high mains voltage. But you have gone metric? Haven't you?

Gunnar Englund

http://www.gke.org

 

[ScottyUK]

Yeah, we're definitely metric! I guess there will be a few transformers at the new voltage where modern development has occurred, but I've just checked my house mains and it is 242V tonight. It was built in 1993, so it's not old, but not young enough to have seen the new standard.

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I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy it...

 

[btrueblood]

logbook wrote:

Just to make your day I should point out that bringing a non-CE marked electrical appliance into the UK (effectively importing it) and putting it into service is actually a criminal offence. If you get electrocuted the government will probably imprison your dead carcass just to make a point.

Actually, don't they just brand your forehead (aka for'hd) with a "V"?

 

[TurboXS]

I have seen a lot of electrical equipment brought over from Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan into Australia and run on Australian 240V 50Hz (yes I know Australia is also now supposed to be 230V).

These electrical appliance range from clocks, radios, hifi, video games to rice cookers.

So far all the rice cookers operate fine and cook properly. They don't cook any faster as far as I can see.

Occasionally some of the simpler appliances with small transformers in them such as radio clocks work fine but do seem to run slightly hotter. In one case the thermal fuse monitoring the transformer failed.

I won't even mention how some people even just bend the pins of the plug to fit into Australian power points!!!

 

[Warpspeed]

If your recently arrived rice cooker from Korea fails to do the job, send her back.

I am sure there are plenty of other Korean ladies that know how to cook rice, whatever the mains frequency or voltage.

 

[monchavo]

Very funny, Warspeed.
My girlfriend would readjust your internal voltage if she heard you saying that.

 

[jraef]

As itsmoked said, it will not cook the rice any faster, rice cooks as fast as it cooks. The heater elements will get hotter faster, but that just means they will get cycled on and off more rapidly to maintain the required temperature setting.

Gunnar,
As much as I enjoyed your thinking that I had made that nice block diagram, I must admit to plagiarizing it from a rice cooker mfrs website. I imagine that the weight sensor is total combined weight of rice and water so that it can tweak the time for the batch size. The cook must externally determine the rice/water ratio based on volumetric measurement as they have for countless eons. Some things don't need improvement. I also find it interesting that they sense the upper lid temp and feed that into the comparator with the cooker temp, probably to tweak for ambient conditions. For instance, if cooking rice in a igloo, the heat losses through the top might make it take longer to cook. That also might possibly be your detection circuit for the lid left up!

I still want to find the moving parts though... Motorized stirring paddles? Fluffing fork?

http:/

http://www.jraef.com

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