Questions tagged [appliances]
The appliances tag has no usage guidance.
100 questions
18
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Can I safely use a 6 A, 600 V diode in place of a 6 A, 400 V diode?
Inexperienced electrical person here, but trying to save significant cost to repair an oven. The oven I have has a MR754 diode off the main convection heating element, that has failed. Unfortunately,...
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16
votes
4
answers
8k
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Why is the neutral pin hotter than the live pin?
I frequently use an Immersion Rod Water Heater (shown below) and I have noticed that the after unplugging the heater, the neutral pin of the 3 pin plug is quite hot (about 5 degrees more - but not ...
- 339
13
votes
1
answer
10k
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Symbols: Double-arrow circle enclosed "10" on electronic appliances
What does the symbol that says 10 inside the double arrowed circle mean? I have seen a similar symbol on another appliance that had the number 25
- 135
8
votes
4
answers
4k
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Is it true that when extending a high watt appliance with a extension cord I should use a thicker (higher AMP) cable than the cable of the appliance?
I am an European, so I am not sure if that matters.
All I know is that I need a cable with the right amp or wattage throughput capability. Our cables are named as 3x1.5, 3x2.5, 3x3.5 etc, I guess ...
- 81
6
votes
2
answers
1k
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What is LED starter?
What exactly is LED starter?
The producers ship it with only a vague explanation that it is needed to replace the original fluorescent tube starter when replacing the fluorescent tube with its LED ...
- 161
5
votes
1
answer
9k
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Why does a mains appliance give a shock after it is completely unplugged
My wife has a food processor, bought a few weeks ago, powered directly from the A.C. mains, i.e. not via a "wall wart" power supply, and, after it has been switched off at the wall and fully unplugged,...
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4
votes
2
answers
889
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Is it possible that an outlet can kill AC motors?
I have two recently dead tower fans. The first, I've had for over 6 months, no problems. Recently, I moved it to a new room an plugged it into a different outlet. It died within a day: it seems to be ...
- 161
4
votes
1
answer
101
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Why do European motorized appliances draw less inrush current than their American counterparts?
I have been trying to tease apart the history and evolution of arc fault circuit interrupter requirements, and in the process, came across a curious historical sidenote early in its genesis, namely ...
- 9,018
3
votes
3
answers
1k
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Beginner: Solder won’t flow onto thermostat tabs
I’m trying to repair my espresso maker with a new thermostat but am unable to get the solder to flow. I’m a beginner but have had some experience soldering my own guitar pedals using stripboards in ...
- 31
3
votes
2
answers
1k
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3 phase induction hob, single phase wiring [closed]
While installing this 3-phase appliance I came across these diagrams which have been bugging me a bit, therefore it would be nice to find out what is the correct way to wire this up and what is the ...
- 109
3
votes
4
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How does a domestic appliance "know" how much current to draw?
I have a small wall plug which takes 240V 50Hz AC from the mains, and can give me 500mA 5V DC. I suspect there is a transformer stepping the voltage down and a bridge rectifier converting the AC to DC....
- 165
3
votes
2
answers
1k
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Inductance in Power cords
Why doesn't the Inductance/Capacitance of Laptop charging wires and other appliances effect the performance of the devices/ power supplies?
An inductance would be introduced if the wires are lying in ...
- 2,406
3
votes
1
answer
6k
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Minimum resistance for a home circuit to not have short circuit
Say the circuit breaks at 10A, and we got 220V like in Europe. If I stick a wire directly from one hole in the outlet to the other, there will be a short circuit. But what is the "treshold resistance" ...
- 33
3
votes
2
answers
412
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AC powered microcontroller issue
Context:
I got this fancy freezer from Liebherr a while ago and it stopped working. The compressor would fail to run continuosly. I have narrowed down the issue to the control board (behind the front ...
- 35
3
votes
1
answer
116
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Transient Current Effects from Independent Charging Circuit
I've been working to automate a household appliance. The device is normally controlled by a switch that must constantly be depressed in order for the device to operate. Instead, I replaced this ...
- 133
3
votes
1
answer
7k
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Design of a nichrome heating element - achieving predetermined power dissipation
I want to make a nichrome heating element with 1500 watts of heat being produced while running on 120v AC. This will be part of a air heater as a fan drives air over a circular coil of nichrome wire.
...
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2
votes
5
answers
9k
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Appropriate relay for water heater rated for 220VAC/1500W
I've created a complete hardware platform using a Raspberry Pi as master/controller, an Arduino nano and two RF24l01 transceivers, which should control some household electrical appliances. The ...
- 123
2
votes
3
answers
369
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How to discern earth from neutral?
I have a three cable circuit in the kitchen1, I know that one is live, one neutral and one is ground. However, there is no colour2 matching between the standard and the real cables, so I can't use the ...
- 206
2
votes
1
answer
2k
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Why do we need a waveguide in a microwave oven?
Why do we need a waveguide to move microwave power from the magnetron to the microwave cavity?
Can't we just push magnetron antenna into the cavity?
Why does it have to go through a waveguide?
- 517
2
votes
1
answer
650
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Need help designing a hairdryer
I'm designing a hairdryer as project for a university class, but I'm having trouble regarding the choice of the motor. I need it to have two possible speeds. My first idea was to use an AC motor and a ...
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2
votes
1
answer
164
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How can there be 0 volts difference and yet I can feel electrical tingle? [closed]
While the background for this question is quite practical and probably off-topic for this site, what I'm asking here for is why this happens and not how to fix it. I want to understand the electrical ...
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2
votes
2
answers
525
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Can I safely remove the buzzer from a Philips air purifier?
I am trying to silence my air purifier (Philips AC5659/10). I think it uses a piezo-buzzer (front & back of PCB visible on page 4 of this document). In a similar vein to this question, I would ...
- 131
2
votes
3
answers
159
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Sensing state of an electrical appliance [closed]
I know nothing about electrical engineering however... Is there a way I can detect when an electrical appliance is on? For example when I turn on my tv, a small blue light turns on so I know, but say ...
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2
votes
1
answer
149
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Projection clock: how to make a custom display?
I have a projection clock which projects a red image of the current time on the ceiling. I want to know if it's possible to find/build a similar display that would be computer-controlled (project ...
- 21
2
votes
2
answers
468
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Can a household device limit consumption to avoid tripping circuit breaker?
A common problem for resistive loads, like household heating appliances, is that peak current is drawn on startup.
I have come across ICLs (inrush current limiters), which are cheap components. Do ...
- 2,462
2
votes
2
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3k
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Household appliances frequency conversion
I'm curious as to how household appliances are able to convert frequency, obviously they can change voltage through transformers. If anyone could just tell me what devices change frequency and I can ...
- 111
2
votes
1
answer
440
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How could one "inverter control" convector heater be more electrically efficient than another?
I'll have to explain it step by step so that you have no chance to misunderstand what I'm asking about.
First, what a convector heater is. It's a plasma TV shaped box usually made of sheet steel. ...
- 12.5k
2
votes
0
answers
96
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EU appliance use on US circuit - grounding concerns
I've been reading through old posts about people wanting to use European kettles and other appliances on a 240v US circuit. Forget the 50hz/60hz frequency difference for resistive loads and universal ...
2
votes
0
answers
955
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In an induction cooktop, what happens to the coils resistance when there is no pot? Does it vary between pots? How does the appliance respond?
An induction cooktop (or an induction rice cooker) uses a copper coil with a high-frequency alternating current going though. The magnetic flux heats any iron-alloy pot placed above.
But what ...
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2
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1
answer
10k
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Is there a way to identify which wire is L and which is N on an appliance (the electrical device itself, not the wall socket)?
I have a specific question but I thought it could also be made more generic. I have this device, a Fakir HQ1200 heater:
I am an idiot and disconnected the wires before taking a picture/marking them, ...
- 121
1
vote
2
answers
504
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Powering AC Appliance with DC
I have an AC speaker set and it is plugged into an outlet. Then the outlet is put into a transformer where the transformer output is 17V 2.5A AC. Then from the transformer is put through a bridge ...
- 11
1
vote
2
answers
173
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Which circuit or device can I use to lower my electronics power usage
Resistance device uses 1.0 kW on standalone usage load measurement. I tried using diodes in series to half the power rate to 500 W, Wondering whether to use a 220V to 110 V step down or reduced the ...
- 13
1
vote
1
answer
153
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Are there non-unscrewable microwave oven bulbs? [closed]
I recently emptied a Samsung microwave oven of its components and came across the lightbulb, which appeared at first glance to be fitted in a diamond shaped holder.
Though when I looked through the ...
- 190
1
vote
2
answers
211
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Laptop battery - Appliance class - Is it safe for ungrounded outlet? [closed]
I have some ungrounded receptacles in my house that are GFCI/AFCI protected. I wanted to check if my laptop (power brick) can be safely used on these receptacles. On the power brick I see this ...
- 113
1
vote
2
answers
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Switches and functions of microwave oven unresponsive on cold start
I have an old microwave oven which performs most of its functions, considering its age.
There is a slight problem that the switches go unresponsive and the LCD display fails to operate correctly if I ...
- 121
1
vote
1
answer
51
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Sourcing an alternative strain relief adapter [closed]
I'm doing a simple modification of my old Sony sound system. It came with no earth wire and I wish to replace the cable and connect the earth to the metal chassis of the stereo. My issue is that the ...
- 111
1
vote
5
answers
2k
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Is there a reason that dryers aren't grounded [closed]
One minute ago I cried out in pain, after being electrocuted again by my clothes dryer; probably the thousandth time in my life that this has happened.
I was taking out clothes after they're dry, ...
- 648
1
vote
1
answer
1k
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Can i use an AC 15A 250V / 30A 125V rocker in place of a 15A 125V / 10A 250V one?
Amazon sent me the wrong replacement switch so i am wondering if i can use it?
Original switch is AC 15A 125V / 10A 250V
new one is AC 15A 250V / 30A 125V
can i use it without damaging the ...
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1
vote
1
answer
290
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How does this 230/400 V induction hob draw current? [closed]
The instructions that came with a new Electrolux EIS62441 induction hob didn't specify any recommended breaker sizes or supply cable cross section requirements. The hob comes with more than 1 m of ...
- 13
1
vote
1
answer
104
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How to Test Battery Health in GRUNDIG VCP 3930 with a Multimeter, Arduino, or Raspberry Pi?
As a follow-up to this question, I own a GRUNDIG VCP 3930 vacuum cleaner (which uses a 25.2V, 2000mAh Li-ion battery) that has stopped charging properly. I am being told that the battery on this ...
- 243
1
vote
1
answer
75
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Why does my food mixer have voltage across input cable leads even when unplugged?
I have a technical problem where the cable of a food mixer has voltage across its cable when unplugged. When I measure it with a multimeter at various times after being unplugged it shows a voltage ...
- 356
1
vote
1
answer
83
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What kind of displays and processors are used in consumer electronic products (like a coffee machine)? [closed]
I am presently working on the development of a smart kitchen appliance, which will eventually be sold in the market. As part of this project, I need to incorporate a touch display for the operation of ...
1
vote
1
answer
117
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What causes an induction cooker to lower heat level by itself [closed]
It's more than 5 years old. It is difficult to cook in high temperature because the minus sensor appears to be activated all the time. I end up going from 1600 to 400 every time. What must be the ...
user124629
1
vote
2
answers
722
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Why would bridging a varistor with the multimeter leads on any setting have caused the unit to turn on?
So I've been working on fixing this window AC unit for a while, and when I started I knew next to nothing about circuits. At present today, I know a bit about circuits -- enough that i at least know ...
1
vote
1
answer
77
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Help in bypassing a defective knob in an airconditioning unit [closed]
I would like to ask for help fixing my airconditioning unit.
Please see image for a clearer picture of my problem.
So I have a defective knob for switching on/off my airconditioning unit.
Since its ...
- 11
1
vote
1
answer
5k
views
Spark in blender motor [closed]
I was trying to repair a blender whose speed buttons were not working. I thought of removing the speed regulating circuit altogether and directly connect power to the motor. Now, when I run the motor ...
- 121
1
vote
0
answers
111
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Class III appliance with metal chassis connection
I am designing a SELV/Class III appliance (lab/industry type, IEC 61010), supplied via two-pin isolated DC power. For mechanical reasons, the chassis has to be metallic. As a result, there are going ...
- 23.4k
1
vote
3
answers
4k
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Wattage in US vs AU/EU household appliances
This oven is listed in both the US and Australia. You can see that it's the exact same model (BOV845). Yet if you open the specifications, the only difference is that the US model uses 1800 Watts ...
- 21
1
vote
1
answer
102
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Convert a blender into a dimmer lamp
I was sitting around and suddenly wanted to convert my old blender into a lamp. The control panel would act as a dimmer switch. (And maybe the pulse button would be a big hit at raves.)
Can I just ...
- 111
0
votes
8
answers
7k
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Can I utilize 3 phase power in a single phase appliance by connecting all 3 lines in parallel?
I can't seem to find an answer to this. Assume we have a 400V three phase power source. Connecting phase-to-neutral will give 240V. If you connect them in parallel you should still end up with 240V AC....
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