Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange
Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [appliances]

87 questions
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Can I safely use a 6 A, 600 V diode in place of a 6 A, 400 V diode?

Inexperienced electrical person here, but trying to save significant cost to repair an oven. The oven I have has a MR754 diode off the main convection heating element, that has failed. Unfortunately, since it is part of the wiring, the…
LTB
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Why is the neutral pin hotter than the live pin?

I frequently use an Immersion Rod Water Heater (shown below) and I have noticed that the after unplugging the heater, the neutral pin of the 3 pin plug is quite hot (about 5 degrees more - but not very hot) compared to the live pin. How is this…
ilyas
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Symbols: Double-arrow circle enclosed "10" on electronic appliances

What does the symbol that says 10 inside the double arrowed circle mean? I have seen a similar symbol on another appliance that had the number 25
user161207
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Is it true that when extending a high watt appliance with a extension cord I should use a thicker (higher AMP) cable than the cable of the appliance?

I am an European, so I am not sure if that matters. All I know is that I need a cable with the right amp or wattage throughput capability. Our cables are named as 3x1.5, 3x2.5, 3x3.5 etc, I guess that is 3 cords that are 1.5 cm thick, 2.5 cm thick,…
A. Newb
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Why does a mains appliance give a shock after it is completely unplugged

My wife has a food processor, bought a few weeks ago, powered directly from the A.C. mains, i.e. not via a "wall wart" power supply, and, after it has been switched off at the wall and fully unplugged, she experiences a slight, but significant shock…
Harry Weston
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Why do European motorized appliances draw less inrush current than their American counterparts?

I have been trying to tease apart the history and evolution of arc fault circuit interrupter requirements, and in the process, came across a curious historical sidenote early in its genesis, namely that the use of a 5x-or-so (IEC "B" curve) magnetic…
ThreePhaseEel
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Is it possible that an outlet can kill AC motors?

I have two recently dead tower fans. The first, I've had for over 6 months, no problems. Recently, I moved it to a new room an plugged it into a different outlet. It died within a day: it seems to be just the main motor, the controls still work as…
Michoel
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Design of a nichrome heating element - achieving predetermined power dissipation

I want to make a nichrome heating element with 1500 watts of heat being produced while running on 120v AC. This will be part of a air heater as a fan drives air over a circular coil of nichrome wire. My first thoughts where that this would be very…
Maximilian89
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How does a domestic appliance "know" how much current to draw?

I have a small wall plug which takes 240V 50Hz AC from the mains, and can give me 500mA 5V DC. I suspect there is a transformer stepping the voltage down and a bridge rectifier converting the AC to DC. BUT... the amount of current which flows... how…
xxjjnn
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Inductance in Power cords

Why doesn't the Inductance/Capacitance of Laptop charging wires and other appliances effect the performance of the devices/ power supplies? An inductance would be introduced if the wires are lying in a loop or mixed together.
Sherby
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Transient Current Effects from Independent Charging Circuit

I've been working to automate a household appliance. The device is normally controlled by a switch that must constantly be depressed in order for the device to operate. Instead, I replaced this switch with an NPN transistor that I control via an…
Max Feinberg
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3
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AC powered microcontroller issue

Context: I got this fancy freezer from Liebherr a while ago and it stopped working. The compressor would fail to run continuosly. I have narrowed down the issue to the control board (behind the front panel). The micro-controller would constantly…
Denis
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How can there be 0 volts difference and yet I can feel electrical tingle?

While the background for this question is quite practical and probably off-topic for this site, what I'm asking here for is why this happens and not how to fix it. I want to understand the electrical forces involved, not just get a quick fix. With…
Vilx-
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Can I safely remove the buzzer from a Philips air purifier?

I am trying to silence my air purifier (Philips AC5659/10). I think it uses a piezo-buzzer (front & back of PCB visible on page 4 of this document). In a similar vein to this question, I would like to know if it's safe to just remove the disc,…
Karol J. Piczak
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Need help designing a hairdryer

I'm designing a hairdryer as project for a university class, but I'm having trouble regarding the choice of the motor. I need it to have two possible speeds. My first idea was to use an AC motor and a diode as in the schematic below, when the…
gabs136
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