Breeze Senior Member Joined: 3 Dec 2006 Posts: 292 Location: St. Croix, V.I. Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Pasquini Livia S Grinder: Mazzer Mini Vac Pot: Ford Ranger Drip: TechniVorm Roaster: Toper 1 kilo
Posted Sat May 10, 2008, 3:17am Subject: Re: Power Conversion-220v to 110v
I think you're out of luck there. The heating element you have in your machine is designed for 220 volts. If you cut the energy supplied to the element, in half, the "work" won't get done. You also have a pump with an electric motor designed for the higher voltage and control circuitry that expects to see 220 volts.
220 volts is not however that difficult to obtain. It consists of two separate 110V wires from separate connections at the breaker panel. If you're operating in the same location with your cart, this can be provided without a huge expense. If you are operating in different locations without 220 volts you have an insurmountable problem, I would imagine.
I'll throw this last statement in which if incorrect will attract a correction from someone that knows more than I (not hard).
You can step 220volt power down to 110volt easily but creating 220volts out of a 110volt line is impossible, other than perhaps a short burst using a capacitor.
The only thing more likely to attract a response than a good question, is a wrong answer. Let's see what happens!
If you have a local Home Depot you may wish to go there and talk with their resident licensed electrician. Most Home Depots have one on their payroll. I have used one in my area and have been provided with excellent electrical advice.
arewethereyet Junior Member Joined: 9 May 2008 Posts: 3 Location: Chicago, Il Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: silvia Grinder: cuisinart burr Drip: mellitta Roaster: poppery I
Posted Sun May 11, 2008, 8:53am Subject: Re: Power Conversion-220v to 110v
Hi LiisahMariie Is your mobile cart truly "mobile", or do you have a "semi-perm" spot at a venue? I'm asking because if you have a semi-perm spot then check with the venue manager to see if you can get 220v wiring to that location. Normally, it isn't that difficult to pull an extra wire to a pre-existing outlet. If not, I'm afraid Breeze is right. You cannot step up from 110v to 220v from the outlet alone. Also, what kind of espresso machine are you using?
Posted Sun May 11, 2008, 12:00pm Subject: Re: Power Conversion-220v to 110v
Breeze Said:
You can step 220volt power down to 110volt easily but creating 220volts out of a 110volt line is impossible, other than perhaps a short burst using a capacitor.
The only thing more likely to attract a response than a good question, is a wrong answer. Let's see what happens!
Stepping up to 220V is just as easy as going down from 220-110 with AC. You use a transformer for either. The biggest issues you are going to run into is that you're looking at quite a bit of power there.
This site has examples of what you're looking for. (I have no connection to them and have no knowledge of their reliability or lack thereof) Look at the step up/down transformers. You'll probably need a 5 or 10KW version.
You should look for the sticker on your espresso machine that tells you exactly how much power you need. To the best of my knowledge, in the "DIY" category you top out at around 5000W. (Eg: plug it into the wall and then plug your machine into it. At 10000W of capacity that you'll need an electrician to wire it for you. Still simple to do, I doubt a professional would need to charge you for more than an hour to get it done.)
One other thing you should make sure you're good on is having enough total capacity on the circuit you're running your cart on to run all your gear safely.
Finally, as has been mentioned, if you can get your power supplier to run you a 220V line, that would probably be best long-term.
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For anyone that's interested, AC voltage can be converted up or down by a transformer. A transformer at it's basic consists of a ferrous 'core' around which 2 sets of wire are wrapped a primary and a secondary winding. Using the following equation: Vs/Vp = Ns/Np where Vs = voltage secondary, Vp = voltage primary, Ns = Number of turns of wire of the secondary and Np = number of turns of wire of the primary, you can change the input voltage to a new voltage based on the ratio of the turns of wire. By appropriate selection of the numbers of turns, a transformer allows an alternating voltage to be stepped up — by making NS more than NP — or stepped down, by making it less. Transformers are very efficient (~99% in some cases.), so almost all of what goes in comes out at the new voltage. Wikipedia has a decent article if you are interested in more.
Thank you, I did not have it right. I was quite sure that one could step down but didn't understand the process of stepping up. Ah...those magic electrons!
arewethereyet Junior Member Joined: 9 May 2008 Posts: 3 Location: Chicago, Il Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: silvia Grinder: cuisinart burr Drip: mellitta Roaster: poppery I
Posted Mon May 12, 2008, 3:40am Subject: Re: Power Conversion-220v to 110v
Transformers......more than meets the eye. Totally forgot about those......blush...anyway, I never really deal with plug-in step up transformers. I would still like to know about the machine you're runnin.
LiisahMariie Junior Member Joined: 10 May 2008 Posts: 3 Location: Portland Expertise: Just starting
Posted Tue Jun 3, 2008, 1:35pm Subject: Re: Power Conversion-220v to 110v
Thanks for all the answers everyone, but it turns out it can't be done.
I went ahead and got the european converter/transformer stepup/stepdown. I plugged it in, and the power cord got REALLY hot. So then i called the company (which i should have done first) and they explained to me that European 220v is NOT the same as American 220v.
So what I am trying to say is that you can convert 220v european to or from 110v american
but you cannot convert 220v american to 110v american
i hope this helps someone. I learned alot about electricity along the way :)
220 volts equals 220 volts, period. American voltage is 60 cycle regardless of the voltage and in Europe some places have 50 cycle power. I don't know the effect of the 10 cycle per second difference in the current alternating but your conclusion sounds off the mark. Usually a hot power cord means that too much amperage is flowing through the circuit. Amperage is the amount of current at any voltage, like the amount of water flowing through a hose.
Were I you, I would grab a licensed electrician in your area and get to the bottom of your situation. I don't think you're there yet.
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