Electronics question

garak112 · 22 Jan 2014 at 23:01

I bought something from Korea and at the time I bought it I didn't realise they used 60hz and not 50hz like us.

The plate on the back states a required supply of 220v 60hz so I removed the case to see if there was anything different marked inside. The power cable connects to a matchbox sized device marked 894HN-2BH-F-S-110VDC 5
250v 50/60hz.

I cant find much about this online but from the markings it appears to convert from up to 250v at 50hz or 60hz to 110v dc. From my understanding this should work fine in the UK, am I right?

lord filbuster · 22 Jan 2014 at 23:30

It could be fine, or it could have serious problems, depending on what it actually is. Anything with a motor in it is likely to run quite hot, and I'd imagine audio amps might not be too happy either.

EDIT: Is this the box you saw? If so it is a relay, so it doesn't affect the frequency or voltage of the power supply. Could you upload a picture?

bitslice · 23 Jan 2014 at 03:31

garak112 said:
I bought something

A good job you didn't tell us what it is, because that would be completely irrelevant and a total waste of time.
It is a lesser known fact that all engineers are psychic.

garak112 · 23 Jan 2014 at 07:14

lord filbuster said:
It could be fine, or it could have serious problems, depending on what it actually is. Anything with a motor in it is likely to run quite hot, and I'd imagine audio amps might not be too happy either.

EDIT: Is this the box you saw? If so it is a relay, so it doesn't affect the frequency or voltage of the power supply. Could you upload a picture?

Thats exactly it, boo. I was hoping the whole lot was being converted to DC inside the unit and it wouldn't then matter what the frequency was.

From the sound of it I am not going to know whether it works until I actually plug it in and try it (it does have a motor and pump).

Jono · 23 Jan 2014 at 09:22

garak112 said:
From the sound of it I am not going to know whether it works until I actually plug it in and try it (it does have a motor and pump).

Aren't those things usually swedish-made?

tom_e · 23 Jan 2014 at 09:23

Jono said:
Aren't those things usually swedish-made?

Oh behave!

Burnsy2023 · 23 Jan 2014 at 11:44

What is the device? Depending on what it does depends whether the frequency is likely to have an impact. Many devices use the power supply frequency for various timing circuits so it can lead to unpredictable behaviour depending on the function of the device.

bitslice · 23 Jan 2014 at 11:47

Burnsy2023 said:
What is the device?

Don't tell him Pike! :mad:

Sliver · 23 Jan 2014 at 11:50

Burnsy2023 said:
What is the device?

I'm guessing some kind of mains powered sex toy. Hey, why else is the OP keeping it a secret. My money's on the Anal Intruder Mk7.

Burnsy2023 · 23 Jan 2014 at 11:54

Sliver said:
I'm guessing some kind of mains powered sex toy. Hey, why else is the OP keeping it a secret. My money's on the Anal Intruder Mk7.

Should have gone for the mk8, fixes some of the issues that the previous gen had re reliability... :eek:

Sliver · 23 Jan 2014 at 11:56

Ken · 23 Jan 2014 at 12:00

Just plug both ends in and find out.

lord filbuster · 23 Jan 2014 at 13:40

garak112 said:
Thats exactly it, boo. I was hoping the whole lot was being converted to DC inside the unit and it wouldn't then matter what the frequency was.

From the sound of it I am not going to know whether it works until I actually plug it in and try it (it does have a motor and pump).

It'll probably work, but the motor and pump may run hot, and down on power. If you get lucky, they may run almost as well as normal, if you get unlucky it will probably burn out the motor and pump, smoke a lot, and maybe catch fire. To be honest, it will probably be ok, but the lifetime might be shorter than you expect.

garak112 · 23 Jan 2014 at 14:12

lord filbuster said:
It'll probably work, but the motor and pump may run hot, and down on power. If you get lucky, they may run almost as well as normal, if you get unlucky it will probably burn out the motor and pump, smoke a lot, and maybe catch fire. To be honest, it will probably be ok, but the lifetime might be shorter than you expect.

Would it matter on what the specs of the motor/pump were? I.e. If i took a look and they were 50hz/60hz would this improved the likelihood that it would function correctly and not catch fire?

Amp34 · 23 Jan 2014 at 14:49

Burnsy2023 said:
Should have gone for the mk8, fixes some of the issues that the previous gen had re reliability...

I heard they would sometimes disintegrate in situ. A friend had to go to hospital, that was an embarrassing trip. He can still remember the doctors face when they told him... It haunts his dreams...

lord filbuster · 23 Jan 2014 at 15:19

garak112 said:
Would it matter on what the specs of the motor/pump were? I.e. If i took a look and they were 50hz/60hz would this improved the likelihood that it would function correctly and not catch fire?

Yeah, those are really the only components I can think of that would suffer at 50hz. If you know what a transformer looks like, you may want to make sure that it can run at 50hz, as they are sensitive to frequency too. It would help if you could upload a picture somewhere though.

garak112 · 23 Jan 2014 at 19:50

lord filbuster said:
Yeah, those are really the only components I can think of that would suffer at 50hz. If you know what a transformer looks like, you may want to make sure that it can run at 50hz, as they are sensitive to frequency too. It would help if you could upload a picture somewhere though.

The motor and pump are both DC (the frequency doesn't count here does it?). The transformer is only marked KCB-9000 and I can't find anything about it on the internet.

I will try and get a pic tomorrow.

bitslice · 23 Jan 2014 at 21:37

garak112 said:
The motor and pump are both DC (the frequency doesn't count here does it?).

You are being a bit odd here and not saying what it is, so I could comment, but then I'd be relying on tiny bits of information which only results in a crap answer.