Where I am, there are at least 3 different power standards (US, UK, and the rest of Europe), but I have only US appliances. Everywhere is charging like $150 for a 1000 watt transformer, or $200 for 2000 watt. The place we moved into has only generator-powered British standard, and it trips very easily. I plugged this transformer in just fine when many of my suite mates were having problems with theirs tripping the power. This one did not trip.
There is also no noise. My roommate got a free military transformer though some connections, who knows how old it is? We put it in the corner under thick blankets and it still makes a loud buzzing. With this one, you only hear it for 1 second when you first turn it on, and it is completely silent even under full load. Disclaimer: DO NOT pack insulation or anything like blankets around any transformersJust erring on side of fire and electrical safety. Honestly, this thing is not producing any amount of heat that I can tell.
It has a power selector on the back to switch input from 110V, 200V, 220V, and 240V. Comes with 3 fuses, one in the unit and 2 replacements. Has 2 outputs-one US and one universal.
It has a heavy duty US-style power plug with a ground/earth pin, and comes with a solid-feeling Europe-style plug adapter with grounding/earthing side-leads, but I am using it plugged into a British style "surge protecting" plug adapter with grounding/earthing. I hear transformers aren't meant to be used with surge protectionwhether it's plugging into or being plugged into I don't know. If you need a transformer you need to research this.
This was definitely a lucky first-find and after seeing all the hassles my peers have had with their converters, I'm already thinking of getting another. If they found a good one, they had to pay way more than $115, and many paid more for boxes that shorted after a week. What is it then? Just a heavy door stop.
Also, don't try to replace the fuse with the unit plugged into an active outlet, even if the switch on the unit is OFF. I haven't blown any yet, but I just wanted to check. Anyway, don't ask-let's just say I'm bleedin' out the ears and I may potentially be cured of my crippling depression. Fine, yeah I shocked myself. It didn't feel great. So what? Big whoop. Wanna fight about it?
UPDATE!!-- Since writing this I left my camp and sold this converter. I came back and bought another one. The new one I received produced a noticeable smell from manufacturing but NOT the smell of frying/shorting/stressed electrical equipment I'm somewhat familiar with (unrelated). It slowly went away and was completely unnoticeable after about 2 or 3 weeks. The smell was like heated crayons or something-probably from the enamel finish on the box. I have been using this converter to push mostly a VERY hungry hot water kettle. It was also very expensive and the kettle is still going strong. I also use a big burr-mill style coffee grinder that uses much more power than the spinning blade type. I also keep a very large air purifier running at various speeds all the time. The converter handles all 3 very demanding appliances brilliantly.We use this to run a treadmill we bought in Europe. With other transformers of comparible size, we found our circuit breaker would shut down when we energized the transformer. But this one has no such issue. There seems to be no impact at all on our electrical system when we energize this. And the treadmill works great.
Buy Power Bright VC3000W Voltage Transformer 3000 Watt Step Up/Down 110 Volt - 220 Volt Now
Have been using this over in the UK now for 6 months with my gaming system, monitor, phones, routers and 2 seperate 5.1 surround sound speaker systems plugged in. Never had a fuse blow out, no flickers in power. Perfect to date!Bought this machine from Amazon and it worked 3 times and then died. Used a powerful blender, Vita Mix, and was excited that it made perfect smoothies, however; very short lived! After making 3 smoothies in 3 days, the machine just died on me. Checked the fuse and it's alright but changed it anyway just to make sure. Still not working! Very frustrated. Tried a 200w transformer and thank God, the Vita Mix is sluggishly whirring but this tells me that my blender works and not the 3000w transformer. Googled PowerBright and their website is down. Where do you contact the manufacturer for a replacement. It's driving me bananas! Problem is it was bought 3 months from US and we are now in the Middle East.... and this thing is very heavy for shipping. Is it worth is to spend more to ship it that what the product is worth.Want Power Bright VC3000W Voltage Transformer 3000 Watt Step Up/Down 110 Volt - 220 Volt Discount?
I've been using my 3kW-rated Power Bright transformer to power my UK-spec hi-fi system in Canada continually for four years now without any problems at all. It competently supplies my amplifier, CD-player, turntable and active sub-woofer without any surges, trips, noise or excess heat whatsoever. The product looks and feels reassuringly rugged and industrial, but it's otherwise inconspicuous in my living room in all other aspects besides appearance. Note that it converts mains voltage but not frequency, so check that your equipment is happy with AC 50-60Hz.
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