Plug In Voltage Checker

[romany]

Trying to find one of the above on internet reason being while away in Holland before Xmas our fridge would not work on the mains electric we had, Luckily before I went into strip down fridge mode our next door neighbor said he had the same problem and he had a meter fitted showing the incoming voltage as 208 volts which he told me was the reason fridge would not operate.
Sure enough next site we went to fridge perfectly ok on mains.
So thought if I had a voltage checker instead of the polarity plug in device I would know when voltage is the culprit for something not working

 

[andyman]

Try Amazon,

Amazon product ASIN B07SF5VST6

 

[Jaws]

Trying to find one of the above on internet reason being while away in Holland before Xmas our fridge would not work on the mains electric we had, Luckily before I went into strip down fridge mode our next door neighbor said he had the same problem and he had a meter fitted showing the incoming voltage as 208 volts which he told me was the reason fridge would not operate.
Sure enough next site we went to fridge perfectly ok on mains.
So thought if I had a voltage checker instead of the polarity plug in device I would know when voltage is the culprit for something not working

You already have one.. The fridge !

 

[tonka]

Energy monitor plug. Lots on eBay. Has digital display to show voltage.

 

[rickwiggans]

We use one like this:

Plug in Electricity Power Consumption Meter Energy Monitor Calculator Usage for sale online | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Plug in Electricity Power Consumption Meter Energy Monitor Calculator Usage at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products!

ebay.us

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[Stewart J]

Use one of these cheap on eBay, it’s a panel meter fitted it into a small plastic enclosure (box) and attached a short lead with a plug on the end, it’s plugged into a socket we never use

in the cupboard

 

[Stewart J]

A link if your interested there maybe other sellers cheaper.
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/710-...0001&campid=5338547443&icep_item=183207023036

 

[Rapido925M]

Many of us travel with a multi-meter: so useful for anything electric!

Set it to V (ac - may be a wavy line eg ~), a value higher than 250V, ensure leads are in COM & V (and that they are insulated!), plug into the two lower socket holes (use a screwdriver in the top hole to depress the guards) et voila! [Assuming you have switched the meter on and its battery is OK!]

No responsibility accepted for errors or omissions [nor for folk who cannot follow instructions (see TOTM thread)]!

Gordon

 

[SuperMike]

Amazon product ASIN B07GNPKHQ9

You can thank me later.


Bugger andyman got there first, three days ago.
Note to self ; Do try and keep up.

 

[Gellyneck]

You already have one.. The fridge !

Ah but it disnae tell yi by how much it's no working!

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[Off da Grid]

Must have been too low for the fridge to register as on mains.
Did you switch it to the mains or was it on auto, assuming it’s a AES 3 way fridge.
The element should still work but at a lower voltage and more amps.

 

[Lenny HB]

Must have been too low for the fridge to register as on mains.
Did you switch it to the mains or was it on auto, assuming it’s a AES 3 way fridge.
The element should still work but at a lower voltage and more amps.

If it's a Dometic, on AES if the mains voltage is too low it will try to light on gas. The only problem is Dometic's firmware sees a mains supply and keeps the gas solenoid closed. So the ignitor is sparking away trying to light a non-exsistant gas jet while the fridge gets warmer. You have to switch to gas manually, defeats the object of an AES fridge.

 

[dbnosey]

Hi Stewart J can you post a link for the plastic enclosure please
Colin

 

[Richard n Ann]

We use one like this:

Plug in Electricity Power Consumption Meter Energy Monitor Calculator Usage for sale online | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Plug in Electricity Power Consumption Meter Energy Monitor Calculator Usage at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products!

ebay.us

I've thought about buying one of these, taking it all to bits and installing the electronics into a box next to the van's fuse box. So it will read wattage, voltage, kwh, amps and cost (if you set the rate)

Good idea or what? ? You can never have too much data to analyse when on holiday ?

 

[Stewart J]

Hi Stewart J can you post a link for the plastic enclosure please
Colin

Colin pm me with your address I will post you one gratis Tuesday of next week currently away visiting relatives in the midlands home at weekend. I purchased them a several years ago for another project they came in a pack of 10 your more than welcome.

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[Rapido925M]

.
The element should still work but at a lower voltage and more amps.

Where did you invent that from?

If the volts go down then the amps go down! The resistance stays roughly constant; it’s not like a transformer where the power remains constant!

Gordon

 

[Off da Grid]

Power is constant regardless off the other values volts and amps are inversely connected if one goes down the other goes up and vic versa.
you divide the power watts by the volts to give amps.
e.g 120w power of fridge heating element divided by volts 230 normal line voltage = 0.52 amps
120w at 200v = 0.6 amps
The 12 volt element 90 watts will pull 7.5 amps
that’s why you need really big cables when you drop the voltage to 12 volts.
a 1000 w inverter can pull 30+ amps even on a fairly small load

 

[autorouter]

Power is constant regardless off the other values volts and amps are inversely connected if one goes down the other goes up and vic versa.

Nope, sorry, for a plain old dumb resistor like a heater element, when you apply different voltages to it the thing that stays (approximately) constant is the resistance. If the voltage reduces by 10%, the amps reduces by the same, 10%. The power (volts x amps) reduces by about 20%.

You're right that converting power between different voltages (transformer, inverter etc) the power is (approximately) constant and the volts and amps are inversely connected.

 

[tonyidle]

The element should still work but at a lower voltage and more amps.

Lower Volts means lower Amps. The resistance of the element doesn't change. (Well it does slightly 'cos it's running cooler but not enough the change things.)

 

[Ninjabob]

On a site near Bath just before Christmas l saw a voltage as low as 183volts on my Chinese panel wired in series and parallel with the EHU. I suspect a badly designed mains circuit on the site was causing the drop on site during peak periods. My ALDE heating struggled. This is the kind of voltage l see at home.

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[EMS]

As some of the others on this site we have fitted to the mains input a box that monitors the voltage etc. Thus if the mains supply is too low then the unit cuts the mains supply, this is called a "brown out" (no comments please!) as too low a voltage could damage the equipment on board.

 

[autorouter]

As some of the others on this site we have fitted to the mains input a box that monitors the voltage etc. Thus if the mains supply is too low then the unit cuts the mains supply, this is called a "brown out" (no comments please!) as too low a voltage could damage the equipment on board.

In countries where mains voltage brownouts/surges are a problem, it is common to fit a 'Voltage Regulator', which takes in whatever the grid throws at it, and puts out a nice steady 230.0 volts.

If you had one of these powering the fridge element, then Off da Grid would be right. As the voltage goes lower, the regulator draws more amps from the grid to keep the voltage output and power output the same.

 

[romany]

Thanks for all the input folks as said before I am not an electrician chap in the van next to me was and explained why fridge was not working on the lower voltage, now the truma heating was working but distinctly less efficient than normal and our low wattage kettle and toaster worked (never tried the altogether) mine is a dometic fridge with a manual change over between gas/12v/mains it worked fine on gas and fine on 12v with engine running as it should but no way on mains as I say next site mains was also fine. Just glad there was this bloke next door as I may nave been tempted to start stripping things.
Oh and Happy New Year Everyone

 

[Stewart J]

Thanks for all the input folks as said before I am not an electrician chap in the van next to me was and explained why fridge was not working on the lower voltage, now the truma heating was working but distinctly less efficient than normal and our low wattage kettle and toaster worked (never tried the altogether) mine is a dometic fridge with a manual change over between gas/12v/mains it worked fine on gas and fine on 12v with engine running as it should but no way on mains as I say next site mains was also fine. Just glad there was this bloke next door as I may nave been tempted to start stripping things.
Oh and Happy New Year Everyone

Happy New Year to you and we appreciate your acknowledgment of everyone’s input many OP’s never bother there is a phenomenal amount of knowledge amongst our membership all freely given when asked.