A 110 volt to 220 converter ?? good or bad??

No experience Bob, but I went to look at the link and it appears to be broken.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

Try it now Wayne.
There is something strange happening to the link when I post it.
Just tried it several times and it only works with this doubled up postiing. ??

Martin help ?

Bob

-- A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner

Hi Bob. I have always made my own temporary plugs when the need arose so I don’t have any experience with these type of adapters. That being said, did you notice that you need to supply this device with voltage from two separate potentials? What that means is that you will have to find power from each side of your subpanel providing you have one. On the other hand, if this is a garage that is supplied with breakers from the main panel there is a small chance that the only open slots left were on the same side. The only other thing I would like to mention is the “draw”. When using that 220 adapter, it is going to pull however many amps it needs to supply the equipment equally from each plug. If you need 220@14 amps, it will pull 7 amps from each plug. That can lead to nuisance tripping. I don’t see any safety related issues with it but if you are looking long term, put the 220 line in and be done with it.
Hope this helps,
Doug in AZ.
I’m not an electrician, but I play one at work.

-- Failure is not an option.

Ya, I agree with Doug, given that you need two separate 110 circuits that are out of phase, it wouldn’t be that convenient in my shop. I would rather run the extra 220 circuit to the shop.

unless you have an abundance of 110 circuits and only need to 220 very infrequently.

I hear what you guys are saying and it makes sense to me.
I was more or les thinking of the odd situation where you might need a 220 circuit at some distance from your source.
I suppose I could just as easily make up a 220 extension for the odd time.

What am I thinking? <g>

Bob

-- A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner

All of my 220 tools are running from extension cords. none of them are close enough to the plugs with the exception of dust collector. I buy 10 gage extension cords that are used for generators and then cut them to size if needed. Look at the amps of your tools. My jointer I run with a 12 gage cord but the planer with a 10 gage.

The table saw is different because it’s a three phase that I use a phase converter on. but it’s probably 8 gage.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

I wouldn’t use that thing on a bet Bob. The principle is there but this is an accident looking for a place to happen. Like Doug said, you’ll need to find and use two separate outlets to power this thing. I would suggest you have an outlet put in and use 220V extension cords like Karson suggested. 14awg=15 amps, 12awg=20 amps, 10awg=30 amps. You really don’t need anything larger than 10awg for residential use…Unless of course, like me, you’re needing higher power to reanimate your creature or for other “lab” experiments!

-- Bob Vila would be so proud of you!

I checked out the site referred to and as an electrical engineer who doesn’t know everything but having a lot of experience in this ares I’ll make a few comments about what I read here on this forum and on the manufacturer’s site.

1. The principal is sound electrically and safety wise. Whether or not is is a practical solution to your 230volt need begs answers to your specific situation.

2. Comment on “Doug in AZ. I’m not an electrician…” Your statement “If you need 220@14 amps, it will pull 7 amps from each plug.” is just technically not correct according to all electrical laws. In a circuit the same current flows in all legs. If the load draws 14 amps that current has to flow exactly the same in both wires forming the circuit. Therefore both ‘plugs’ will have to supply 14 amps.

3. I ask DADOO “Why wouldn’t you use that thing on a bet?” Of course its your privilege to use or not use it as you want. And if your uncomfortable with something you probably should not use it for instance a table saw. But there is nothing more unsafe about it than using any 230volt outlet other than the possible inconvenience of having three cords to plug in insteasd of one. And of course as stated one might have to be connected using an extension cord in order to find a 120volt outlet coming from the other leg of your panel. I do agree with your suggestion that it is best to have a standard 230volt outlet put in. That is what I’ve done several times and its not that difficult if you have a spare double breaker or two free single breaker spaces on opposite legs and IF you know what you’re doing and IF you can easily get the new 230volt feed where you need it.

How do you find out which circuit is from which pole of a breaker box?
I understand the principle but am lost as to how one finds the phases from the outlet ends.

Bob

-- A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner

Bob
According to the product site there is an internal sensing circuit that indicates when a proper one iis found.

Bob here’s what their wording is.

The amber lamp on the front cover will light when connection is made to an outlet on an independent circuit. If the lamp doesn’t light, try different outlets until it does. (Technically, an “independent” circuit is one that is 180 degrees out of phase with the first. In practice, Quick 220 systems automatically test for this. No special knowledge or action is required by the user.)

It would be kind of nice to find out if you had two phases available before you get one of the devices.

I was wondering if there is a specific tester on the market that detects this? I have little GFI testor but not anything to compare the phases over separate lines.
If I know what circuits run back to the box there is no problem because I can see the terminations. That becomes a bit of a puzzle in the real world.

Bob

-- A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner

Technically it’s not two phases but half of your service entrance power panel is 180 deg out of phase with the other half because of how it is wired from the power company transformer feeding your house. If your house has 220 volts as used in an electric range and/or electric chothes dryer you have what is needed. All homes in US and Canada are wired that way.

Gotcha!
Thanks

Bob

-- A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner

Look in your circuit box for two breakers that are side by side.

Each will one half of a 220 circuit.

If you know where one outlet is for each breaker then you will know that each is
one half a 220 circuit.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

I wholly agree with you wmodavis, as this unit, if properly installed, is electrically sound and safe. But I wouldn’t use it, or suggest anyone else use it because there are just too many variables that have to be met first.

#1: The pigtails provided are short. One needs an extension cord to power the second pigtail. Most shops don’t have 12ga. cords lying about so they’ll use that 100’ 16/3 that is available. Too weak, too long and too bad.

#2: Modern garages are now wired with Ground-fault breakers or outlets. You can’t use this device with these.

#3: Most 240v equipment requires a minimum 20amp circuit. These outlet devices will handle that. But most garage circuits are wired into 15amp breakers. Bad news again.

#4: The outlets provided in the box might not fit your equipment. So now you add on the cost of changing the plug as well.

Yes my friend, we’ve opened up a major can of worms here. This unit can be used if it’s installed correctly. But it still would be cheaper and safer to wire in the correct outlet and be done with it.

-- Bob Vila would be so proud of you!