Vaporizers - Voltage Question

[Richi]

Would a European vaporizer designed for 240V work at all in America, where the voltage is 110V?

I imagine that it would only get half as hot, since it is a whip style vaporizer the metal element wouldn't heat up as much.

The other question is whether or not it would be possible to fit it with an adapter of some sort, and how much this could cost.

[Johan73]

Originally Posted by Richi

Would a European vaporizer designed for 240V work at all in America, where the voltage is 110V?

I imagine that it would only get half as hot, since it is a whip style vaporizer the metal element wouldn't heat up as much.

The other question is whether or not it would be possible to fit it with an adapter of some sort, and how much this could cost.

Hi. Does the unit have a power adapter, or does it just plug in directly and power its heating element?

If the heating element is just the plain resistive type element (likely if it doesn't have a power adapter), then the heat would be 1/4. For a simple resistive element, power = voltage squared / resistance, so half the voltage actually means one quarter the power. If the element were 100 watts on 240 VAC, then it will put out only 25 watts on 120VAC. But then it might not get hot enough to vaporize the material, or at the minimum take longer to reach that temperature.

If the unit has a power adapter to convert to say 12 volts DC or something like that, then check what the power adapter says the allowable input voltage/frequency is. Many modern adapters will accept 100VAC-240VAC at 50 to 60 Hertz as in the pic at the right, which would cover most parts of the world.

If swiy needs/wants an adapter to convert 120VAC to 240VAC to operate it, those are available. Swiy would need to get one with at least the wattage rating of the device, for example the one in the pic to the right is 100 watts.

Swim usually carries a simple set of plug adapters which works for most areas swiy has been to.

Reputation Comments on this post:

	Thoroughly answers the question. Images are a nice touch
	excellent post! very well written

[Richi]

Ahh... I always hated physics. Chemistry is my thing, and I could never remember those various electricity equations.

It is rated for ~240V. There are other models rater for ~110V. Unlike a laptop for example, which is able to convert any voltage to an appropriate one, these vaporizers are made without an adapter for one voltage or another.

I will have to purchase a converter like the one shown.

[Richi]

Any idea how man watts a vaporizer like the Noble Vapor VP300 uses?

[Johan73]

Originally Posted by Richi

Any idea how man watts a vaporizer like the Noble Vapor VP300 uses?

Hm, swim isn't sure. He couldn't find anywhere that listed specs such as voltage and power for the unit. However if swim were completely guessing he would guess it is no more than 100 watts. But he could be wrong. If anywhere lists the current/amperes and voltage then the power can be calculated.