[janders57]

I don't have a set timeline yet, but sometime in the next 6-30 months, will be moving to rural Cootamundra, NSW. I own a small machine shop here in California, and am planning on bringing the whole lot if I can. Oh, I'm married to a gal in Coota, and moving whether or not I can bring the shop. Been there several times now, this isn't pie in the sky dreaming.

I am working to sort out issues of power, what I can and cannot run on 50Hz.
That part is mostly settled, but I have questions regarding possibility of tapping one power leg to get 110v as I have a lot of hand power tools that will run happily on 50Hz. If that won't fly, then run a transformer to drop the voltage. In either case, need to know if I can, in a commercial setting, have a special sub-circuit wired with US spec outlets, this would avoid the possibility of mixing up tools and power. Makes sense to me, but your electrical codes might not agree. I have a small fortune in such tools and they are all industrial quality. Not only do I not want to replace them all, some are older vintage specialty tools and if modern equivalents are even available, they'd cost a fortune.

If I was just bringing personal tools over for home use, would probably just bring a gas generator, but I'm looking to do this up as a full and legit commercial enterprise. Need to know what I can and cannot do and stay within code, and really get an approximate cost on getting things wired up as I work out my budget for this expensive venture. I'd like to find and electrician close enough to Coota that they could do the work for me when I make the move.

Thanks,

Jon Anderson
Grass Valley, CA

[epineh]

Hi Jon, you won't be able to tap 110 from our power supply, 240 is as low as we go

Your idea of wiring a dedicated circuit and having a 110 volt transformer is most likely the best option, this will stop cross plugging of appliances. Most motels here have 110v shaver outlets and these would be ok for small things but they only have small transformers behind the plate and wouldn't be large enough for power tools.

You would have to work out what kind of current you will need and size the transformer to suit, plus add a bit for good measure. A lot of machinery comes here from overseas that is designed to run on 110 volts and they generally just use transformers. You should be able to source one somewhere, worst case is to get one wound to suit.

You will still have to find a local electrician though, I live on the other side of the country, I think traveling charges may be a little too high to get me over

Cheers.

Russell.

[mactec54]

janders57

It is not that much of a deal as I came from over that way & brought a lot of 230V to the US I have a transformer that I had custom made its about 2000VA & you can run it both ways 120v in to 230 out or 230v in 120 out, You can mount these transformers in a circuit just like you want to do, just take the US plugs & fittings that you want to use
many others have already done this, I know of some houses that are wired for both 120v & 230V single phase the 120V they use a transformer that can handle the max amps you are going to draw

[janders57]

Thanks guys, that's a help. Here, I have 220 and 110 in my shop, with the 110, one side of the 220 is tapped, the other leg goes to neutral, which is really just tied to ground at the panel. That's what I was wondering if I could get away with there. But a transformer is not a big deal.

The bigger question really was if it was OK to run dedicated circuits off that transformer and use US spec plugs. As tools die, I'll of course replace with local equivalents, but really really didn't want to have to replace them all at once. And most of them will likely outlive me...

[mactec54]

janders57

The only way you can get your 120v there, is with a transformer as I said above you can wire in a dedicated circuit using a transformer & the US plugs, In the US you have 2 110/120v wires to make your 230/240v single phase, over there you only have 1 wire that is 230v single phase, so the only way to reduce to 120v is with a transformer