Sauce LightWasher on 220-230V ?

Anybody out here who knows how to convert a LightWasher from 110 V to 220-230 V ?

Thanks,

Bart

Two ways- 1, modify the internal power supply circuit (which uses a big capacitor and a few other bits, probably a Zener diode or 2 to drop the voltage), but this requires good working knowledge of transformerless power supplies, is risky and potentially expensive if you make a mistake.
2, use a small plug-in 220-110v step down transformer. They shouldn`t be too hard to find in your equivalent of Radio Shack or Maplin Electronics.


Thing is, I don`t think the mains powered Sauce stuff is designed to run from a 50Hz supply as we get in Europe. In the US, they have 110v 60Hz and to get this from 220v 50Hz would require a load of complicated or expensive equipment.

I had a Sauce Lightwasher plugged into my 110v/50Hz supply (I mainly use to power some of my xmas lights and a US-origin neon display voltmeter), and the silly thing died after about a month. Not sure of the exact cause of death as I havn`t "post mortemed" it yet. It could have been due to a big nasty spike in the mains supply when I hooked up a bad 3KVA transformer and it blew out the power, cos it wasn`t long after this that I noticed it`d quit working. Those big huge transformers can give quite a kick when they feel like it...


If you want to risk it, get a 220-110 converter transformer and try it- the smallest 15-20va ones would be more than enough to run a Lightwasher, and hopefully you`ll have better luck than I did!


Our resident Sauce insider is mr Craig Johnson- Craig, have you heard anything from them about plans for European 220-240v models yet? I think they would do well over here.

Thanks Chris, I don't have the washer yet since I've ordered some more 'goodies', wich are shipped to a US-friend, and he will send everything (Infinity, Lightwasher, Lightwand, some Coollights and some E-bay keyring leds in blue and purple)in one parcel to keep shipping costs down.
I was thinking more in the line of a small regulated power supply and bypass the mains part , or would that be the difficult way to go? I'm not sure if having a 60 Hz ac is needed, doesn't the pic use an internal clock?
Any further info is greatly appreciated.

Bart

I'm not sure if having a 60 Hz ac is needed, doesn't the pic use an internal clock?


Probably. Even if it didn`t, wouldn`t all that would happen is it`d run a bit slower? I don`t know PICs.

What I was referring to is the power supply circuit itsself. It uses a capacitor to drop the bulk of the mains supply, it acts kinda like a resistor except it only works on AC and the "resistance" (known as impedence) is dependant on the frequency. Lower frequency, lower resistance, I think that`s right...... X = 2 x (pi) x F x L. That`s about as math-y as I get, cos maths makes my already muddled brain even more confused.

Basically, as far as I`m aware, the capacitor will not drop enough voltage at 110v 50Hz, compared to 110v 60Hz, so there will be more power to dissipate in the Zener diodes or other voltage regulation bits, eventually making them roast, which is when critical parts like the main IC die too.


I havn`t studied how the power supply part operates yet, cos all I seem to do at work is fiddle with electronic bits, so the last thing I want to do when I get home is do the same! But it`s probably possible to remove the mains power supply parts and hook to a DC power supply/battery, I don`t see why not. I`ll have to take it to bits and see if I can come up with some sort of low voltage "hack". No guarantees tho- cos if the IC in mine has frazzled, there`s little I can do (Color Kinetics probably wouldn`t supply me another one), and it`ll be spare parts only for my poor Lightwasher.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Basically, as far as I`m aware, the capacitor will not drop enough voltage at 110v 50Hz, compared to 110v 60Hz, so there will be more power to dissipate in the Zener diodes or other voltage regulation bits, eventually making them roast, which is when critical parts like the main IC die too. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Guess that rules out the 220-110 converter

I'll try to get some info on the capacitor-Zener solution, but my electronic skills don't go much further than beeing able to read a schematic, so it will take me some time...
Good thing I don't have it yet, I'd probably have a hard time not to try anything (probably stupid).
Thanks so far,
Bart

Found these...
off-line power supply
transformerless power supply
now to find the right values...

I have bypassed the lightwashers power supply and used a "12VDC" transformer isolated power supply, unregulated (17VDC output).
The lightwashers LEDs are driven with 16VDC from 2 8V zeners in series.
The pic is supplied with 3.3V from another zener, and uses it's internal oscillator.
If it's of interest to anyone, the LEDs are in series pairs, controlled by PWM, and have a 75 ohm current limiting resistor. The driving transistor is a 2n2222.
I've added an optoisolator in series with each set of LEDs, to drive any number of external LEDs...I just need 100 Blues

Well, I finally managed to draw something...

I still would like it best to keep everything in it's original housing when converted.

Suggestions?

I have designed sevreral simple AC-powered LED projects, using a capacitor as the series input voltage-dropper (think of it as an AC resistor). To calculate the reactance of a capacitor, the formula is Xc = 1/(2*PI*F*C), units are in Ohms, Hz and Farads.
To simplify things greatly, this works out to
1,000,000 / 377 X C (in uF). So a 1 uF cap
would have 1,000,000 / 377 or approximately
2620 Ohms effective "resistance" at 60 Hz,
and 1,000,000 / 314 = 3180 Ohms at 50 Hz.
(Figures approximate, I don't have my calculator handy)
A varistor should be used across the LED circuitry to protect from any transients or spikes on the line.
As an example, I use a 2.2 uF, 250 VAC cap, and a 47 Volt Varistor, and a full wave rectifier bridge to power a 36 White LED light, using one of the B.G. Micro IR Illuminator boards. I use 330 Ohm resistors,
(one in each series string of 9 White LEDs, and a 50 to 100 uF, 50 VDC cap to smooth out the DC and eliminate the "flicker". I have had one of these units running for well over 2 years and it is still going strong.

Disclaimer: If you are not really thoroughly familiar with working with AC-powered circuitry, don't try this, one little mistake can be lethal, so have a friend who is good with electronics do the work for you.

/ed brown

Thanks Ed. A varistor? how do I recognize such a thing? doesn't look like there is one beeing used here... Just a couple of resistors and a capacitor...

looks like my image host isn't working anymore, I'll have to find another one

edit: fixed

Well, finally the thing works on 220V.
Thanks Wayne Y.! It turned out to be fairly simple. All I had to do was replace the original capacitor C2 (2,7mF, 250V) with an ~1.3mF 400 V one... Replace the fuse with a suitable rated one, and voila, one converted lightwasher.
I used three smaller caps, so I could stuff them in the original housing.
Neat little nightlight.