Take a look at the specs. on your EU adapter. Chances are, if it is like almost any other switch-mode adapter sold in EU, it will run off anything from weird US 110v to sensible EU 220-240V. And maybe also certified to more stringent standards.
If so, just buy a passive plug adapter, as sold to travellers, and be glad you got a worldwide multi-standard PSU.
Oh, and a PS, connect the bits together first, before plugging into mains. Do it the other way, i.e. final step connect PSU to charger, and you can’t be surprised if you might get a fat spark.
I'm curious. In the US, our 220 lines consist of 3 wires. Two of the wires are hot (one is 110v and the other is also 110v, but 100% out of phase with each other to give 220v), and then a ground wire. Well, sometimes 4 wires. The 4th being neutral (kind of like ground). It that the way the the EU lines work too?
No, I believe most countries uses a 3 phase system. That means 3 live wires, each with 230VAC to neutral and 400VAC between any two (The values may look weird if you are not used to 3 phase systems). Neutral is the nearly the same as Earth, but each have its own wire (Neutral is grounded at the transformer, Earth may be grounded locally, this depends on country and installation type).
Normal mains outlets has a Live and a Neutral, i.e. 230VAC, some special power outlets has all 5 wires.
To clarify, in most of EU domestic properties are connected to one of the three phases. Traditionally in a street, each consecutive house gets the next phase, to try to balance things.
Between phases there is up to 440V. So plug e.g. a drill on an extension lead and do some work at your neighbour’s house and be very careful.
Voltage is between live (phase) and neutral, which is nominally 220V, but in reality in UK is 240V (harmonisation, but not really).
Neutral is nominally ground. Typically made so with a big earth electrode or connection to metallic buried water pipes, or both.
So in the EU you can get a hell of a belt by touching the live conductor. Or a faulty domestic appliance where an earth strap has dropped off. And our switches typically just interrupt the live supply. Wire a plug the wrong way around, swap e.g “neutral” and live, and if the appliance is not “double isolated” (lots aren’t even now) and expect surprises.
Which is why modern “consumer units” where the power comes in and is distributed have “residual current devices” to trip. Except for the majority of older UK housing, where we still have fuse wire to make the connections, which I personally still like.
The benefit of 2xx volts is we can draw huge amounts of power on relatively light gauge conductors. With the UK (frankly bonkers) ring mains (when they are in good repair), we can take 6 Kw plus, and a cooker or shower point can take 10 KW or more. Plenty to run a big arc welder for example.
Nice safe US 110V is only 55V above “ground” and not strapped to it, so you would really have to try hard to get a decent shock off it. Otherwise, that is it’s only redeeming feature.
Really interesting. I kind of wondered about each house getting all the phases. Seemed like a lot of potentially unused wiring, but then I realized we get 2 phases here. We balance it by having some outlets get one phase and other outlets in the same house getting the other (180 degree different) phase. By law, all 110v outlets in a single room have to be the same phase.
I would really appreciate the higher voltage. I would love to arc weld in my shed, but the underground line from my house to the shed is not adequate to carry the needed amperage. At 220 to neutral, I would be good to go.
Depends on country, here many houses gets all 3 phases and stoves often can run on anything from 1 to3 phases (They work best on 3). The outlets and light circuits are distributed on the 3 phases. We typically have 10-16A fuses on a phase, UK often has 32A fuses and requires a fuse in each plug.
Yes in the UK we use a rather unique system of “ring mains” to distribute the power, rather than individually fused radial connections. This means at any point on the ring you can draw up to 30A (typically from two 13A sockets) Because the ring connection to the mains has a large fuse or trip, each appliance needs it’s own fuse inside it’s plug, usually either 13A or 5A (used to be 1A fuses also, but scarce these days). Fuses were all very well back in the day, but nowadays miniature circuit breakers back at the consumer unit, each feeding an individual radially connected outlet are so much better, and the norm everywhere else in Europe.
It’s a horrendous system really, so many ways invisible faults could develop, in particular if one of the ring conductors becomes incomplete. and the potential for overloading it is always there. Often the first sign is e.g. a socket becoming noticeably hot, or e.g. lamps dimming when a kettle is turned one elsewhere in the house.
Our plugs are also a dreadful design, and learning to re-wire one properly is something many never manage to learn.
I agree. Having a fuse in the plug protects the downstream flex or other simple appliances (e.g. table lamps) and the design of the plug itself is very good. The fact that it’s polarized is nice, plus the ground-opened shutters are very reliable and work well (unlike the fiddly shutters in Schuko outlets). Lastly, the fact that the outlet does not have a recess for the plug means the outlet itself can be quite “shallow” and I image it’d be easier to fit in the standard round 35mm deep wall boxes used here in Greece for switches and outlets.
Where do I get them? How much do they cost? And what is their physical dimensions? Has their capacity been tested by anyone on the BLF? I own 3 versions of 26650’s - 3200, 4000 & 5000. The 5000’s are way fatter than the 3200’s and barely fit in my L6. :>)
Good thinking. You are right they seem to have identical spec’s. So now I have a twofer. And I will be ready when I buy my European villa!!! I wouldn’t have thought of that.
Also let’s Liitokala’s Ebay factory store off the hook. I wrote three times and never received a reply. Not great customer service. I held off giving them a rating until I could work out a solution. Now I can give them a rating.
sorry if this has been asked before, but I’m wondering when performing a nor test does the ma matter. I know that at 1000ma it will charge at 1amp and discharge at .5amp and would obviously be faster than the 500ma selection but my question is when selecting 1000ma charge will it make the test more/less accurate than the 500ma selection?
Depends on the battery.
Check my battery reviews, some batteries are nearly the same at any discharge current, at least up to a very high value, other are much more sensitive to discharge current:
I own mostly Xtar batteries, 16340, 18350, 18650 and 26650 and I find that the rate does effect the NOR test. I can’t give you a hard number but I would say by 10%.
... weird US and sensible EU .../Klarus%20LiR16340%20700mAh%20(Red)-Capacity.png)
/Vapcell%20INR18650%202000mAh%20(Black)-Capacity.png)
