Can i change 240v to 120v

Email Save Comment 4. Sort by: Oldest. Newest Oldest. Like Save. Ron Natalie 11 years ago. Hi, I was under the impression that anything electrical from usa that isn't dual voltage ie.

I'm from Oz and am moving back home after being here in the states for 5 years. I also have ceiling and wall lights still in the box. I was thinking of taking, but by what I've read in the forum it looks like it might not be worth it. But for my lamps and appliances -I'm pretty sure I will need converters and wall plugs.

If only the ac plug was altered by a sparky to fit into the Oz wall outlet, wouldn't the voltage still be wrong and potentially dangerous? I'm referring to donnaspiller's comment about her sparky only changing the prongs in the lamps.

All my lamps here are volts. So wouldn't they also need to be upgraded to volts or else need to be used with a converter. I would love to have this for a guest house you could make this space awesome. Donation of time is not always so easy to have accomplished.

You can have fund raising etc. I will tell you one of the fastest and easiest methods, if you have some healthy workers or teens who can bend etc.

When we were trying to get more electric in our home for impossible costs and at risk of great damage, I decided on another approach. He was well known in our small town. He told us what wire to use. It really is just a matter of going in a straight line as much as possible and being sure it not run through water etc.

All approved by authority, who did not even bother to check his work. Perhaps, if you are willing to do the heavy lifting, one might do the important bit for free. Even with full rewiring and conversion boxes, the change in voltage and amperage is too much for them. All those containers that have Euro25, worth of beautiful German appliances will lose those units well before they decide to return home to Germany.

American units with the money they saved. But Hausefrauen don't give up their hard earned Miele appliances without a fight This happens the other way around as well. Then I only have V on either the red or black with the other not being connected to anything. The biggest issue I have with this is that it seems I have to take the wire from the current breaker and connect it to the new breaker but I believe there isn't a way to kill power on that wire because it's in the main panel and not a sub panel.

Or does the quadruple A switch kill power to all the other breakers in the main panel? In any case, the MWBC is preferred if it's up to code. Edit: Based on comments I added a drawing if making the change in the service anel. Please see the hand-drawing at the bottom. This is not really want I want to do, i. First, congratulations. This is the most well-thought-through presentation of a plan that ai have ever seen on this forum, and your thoroughness has paid off - you got everything right, including an ambitious use of a MWBC, with all its details right.

Well done. Is absolutely fine and I would not mess with it. Even if you were to downgrade to a simple V circuit, it is fine to just use half of the 2-pole breaker and disconnect the other wire from the breaker and cap it in the panel. Your idea to go with a single breaker isn't wrong but it will leave a gaping hole in your panel. That lets you provide the GFCI protection for both half-circuits in a dry location, so you aren't paying extra for outdoor GFCIs or enduring their horrible failure rates.

If there's a big main breaker, that will do it -- however if this breaker sits in a zone of breakers marked "Main Breaker", then you cannot de-energize that section. Fortunately you don't have to - modern breakers like these "tip and snap in".

You can snap the breaker out, wires still attached, and hold it in your hand while you change the wires. If you have a main A breaker in the service panel or ahead of the service panel, it should cut power to everything. Use an electrical tester and make sure anyway. You CAN share that neutral white , if the two hot wires red and black are on different legs and you use a 2 pole breaker like the one in your picture.

The 2 pole breaker ensures simultaneous disconnection of both circuits, which is absolutely required legally, and is the only safe way to do this. The use of the 2 pole breaker also essentially guarantees that your hot wires will be on different legs because the buses are staggered all the way down the panel. Every other single-pole breaker is on a different leg. Danger: If you ever inadvertently disconnect the neutral and energize the circuit, your two V circuits will instantly become a V circuit and burn up equipment or start a fire.

Sharing the neutral is possible because your V transformer on the pole outside has a center-tap neutral, creating two out-of-phase V legs. The degree out-of-phase legs cancel each other out, similar to the way active noise cancelling headphones work with sound waves.

The neutral will not carry too much current in this situation. However; if you share a neutral between two hot wires on the same leg, the current amps is additive, the neutral will be overloaded, and become a fire danger. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group.

Locate the two terminal screws on the new breaker and loosen them. Slide the wire previously connected to the old breaker into one terminal and tighten it. This step must be done carefully, in order to achieve V transform to V.

Install the V Receptacle Slide the prongs of the neon voltage tester into the existing socket to ensure it does not contain a current.

If the lamp on the tester doesn't light up, you can proceed. Remove the screw holding the V outlet cover in place, and pop it off. Remove the screws holding the receptacle in place, and slide it out of the electrical box. Remove the white, black, and ground wires from the receptacle by loosening the screws on the corresponding terminals. Locate the green ground terminal on the new outlet, wrap the end of the ground wire in a clockwise U-shape around the screw, and tighten it firmly.

After this step, we finally managed the operation of V to V converting. Test the Device Turn the power back on at the main service panel, slide the prongs of the neon voltage tester into the new socket, and test to ensure it is working. Additional lamps will light up to indicate the new, higher rating.

Be sure that the new breaker only covers the new V outlet, since more coverage can cause electrical or operation problems with additional powered components. Now, you can safely use your appliance on the V to V power outlet. Purchase a Step-up Voltage Converter for V to V Converting Step-up voltage converter is widely applied to all types of imported V low-voltage electrical appliances, such as television, hair dryer, electric heater, rice cooker, induction cooker, coffee machine, battery charger, electric knife, fax machine, air conditioners and other equipment.

Voltage converter can be used to convert voltages as long as power requirements are met. For example, you can change V v to V v, v.

Your electrical appliances can be used in your home assured. Thank you for this explanation.