Using HDR outside US (120v)

[Himalayan Hermit]

I ran my HDR unit for the first time since Sept. 2011 (believe it or not) esp. since I was not sure whether it will work in India where power is 220-240v. I noticed that in a space of 5-6 mins. the Electromagnet got SERIOUSLY hot, at which point I had to shut off the unit.

 

[Einstein]

Were you using a voltage step down converter?

 

[Himalayan Hermit]

No, Sir. I took a gamble and plugged it in via an adapter (with built in surge protector, but no votage converter). Perhaps it got hot due to the double volt being supplied to it since it's built for 120v? I remember in US, it used to get warm at the 8-9 minute marker. Another thing I did was that I ran it for 3 mins as a warm up, which I won't do next time, so it basically ran for total of 6 mins, at which point I thought it was TOO hot. But even at 3 min marker, it was as hot as it would get after 12-15 mins in US

 

[Einstein]

It is possible you may have damaged the diodes in the HDR. They aren't able to handle voltage that high.

 

[CDS]

Semi-conductors as a whole are not very capable of handling voltage spikes...

 

[Num7]

Man, I believe you when you say it became hot way faster!

I'm not sure I'd have the balls to try it with 220v current at all. I'd have concerns about the device, but about my own safety too. I'm glad you didn't hurt yourself.

 

[Himalayan Hermit]

I think 3 min warm up is not needed. I'll try only with a 3 min cycle next time and see

 

[Einstein]

There is a quick way to determine if you damaged the diodes. Just see if the magnet will pickup anything made of steel or iron. If the diodes are damaged, the magnet wont work. The unit has to be turned on for this test.

Here is a video I made showing my magnet in operation.

 

[Himalayan Hermit]

I'll check this today and report back. Electromag seems to be working ok with whatever limited knowledge I have. So, when it's off - it's not picking anything up and when I turned it on, it starts emitting and also the polarity test worked, while it emitted a north pole and repelled the north face of the small magnet.