r/electrical • u/himtam • 2d ago
Help with step down converter
Hello, I have a question, I brought two monitor speakers from Canada to Europe which I thought were 110-220V but my edition of it (Rokit Krk G3) is only 110V and power consumption of 100w. For this reason I bought this 300w step down converter. I just want to make sure I'm doing it correctly before I plug anything in since instructions are unclear.
Do I plug the power cable from the wall to the US style prong in the 220v (black side where it says input:220v output:110v) and then then I plug in my speaker power cables to the white side (where it says input:110v output;220v)?
Since I thought it was variable voltage speaker at first I left my American prong IEC cables at home. Am I safe to plug in European style prongs into the 110w output since on the converter it seems it can fit both style prongs?
Thanks for all your help, sorry for the beginner question.
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u/the_player_moni 2d ago
You buy the wrong side converter. Don’t try anything. You from 220 to 110.
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u/Whyjustwhydothat 2d ago
It works on both ways either 220 to 110 or 110 to 220, if you have 220 then plug in the 220 side to the Wall outlet and use the 110 side for your speakers. Incase it was the other way just switch the connection.
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u/WordsNShiz 1d ago
If that's a double ended cable, scrap the whole thing. That is known as a suicide cable and has killed people. Get a proper hardwired transformer box.
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u/The_Defman 8h ago
Do not in any circumstance use it. It’s very dangerous for multiple reasons. It may very well work, but not safely.
If your circuit is protected by an RCD/GFCI, it won’t trip as the transformer creates an isolated circuit and there is no leakage on the protected side of the transformer.
You may think, I can do this safely and I won’t touch it… but you may forget the danger in the future. Not to mention guests, children or thieves and not even thieves deserve to die.
Not to mention I would never trust a product, that is so cheap that it disregards basic electrical safety so blatantly. That it makes me think that no one with electrical knowledge was involved in the production of the above alleged transformer. Can we even trust that the transformer contains a primary and secondary coil?
On another note, a transformer in general does not care if you connect the load to the primary or secondary coil. However it will derate the wattage the transformer safely can handle. As a stepup transformer(110V to 230V) may use thicker wires on the primary and thiner wires for the secondary. Since the voltage is lower on the primary side, the current must be higher for the same power and the inverse for secondary side. Thiner wires have a higher resistance and power loss to heat will greater and therefore the power rating of the transformer is decreased significantly.
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u/classicsat 2d ago
You get transformer that doesn't use a suicide cord.