I know that modern electronics (smartphones, laptops) have dual voltage and frequencies (100-240V 50/60Hz) however when you discuss appliances (toasters, blenders, refrigerators, clothes iron, dishwashers, dryers, etc). those are region locked (besides plug type) into a single voltage and frequency. For example: if you have a electric blanket that only supports 120V 60Hz, you can’t plug that directly in a 230V 50Hz outlet as that’ll blow the fuse.
There are ways to circumvent that restriction but involves using transformers to lower the voltage (step down from 230V to 120V), as stuff like hair dryers or microwave ovens can be damaged upon using the wrong grid. If moving abroad permanently, it’s best to purchase new appliances that supports their electrical grid rather than importing them if you have only 120V versions whilst living in a country where 230V is standard.
Are you going to pay for a feature you’ll never use?
Engineering for 220v/50hz requires completely different wiring and componentry than for 110v/60hz.
Also, it’s not “region locked” - these are truly incompatible electrical systems.
I travel to different countries with my phone and would like to be able to charge it.
I dont travel with my toaster/kettle/washing machine
I buy a plane seat for my washing machine. It’s for emotional support. If the plane goes down, my underwear is clean.
It costs more to make things multi-voltage. For small electronics that run off DC, it turns out that the ‘costs more’ for having an auto-switching power brick is less than the ‘costs more’ of dealing with stocking multiple different power supplies to be sold to different regions.
With higher-power appliances that don’t just run off DC, where you actually need the thing itself to be different, it turns out that having multiple variants (or only selling to one region) is cheaper.
Toasters are a great example because you’re pretty much just shorting a wire into the plug, but it’s a wire whose resistance is very carefully chosen so that it gets hot but doesn’t burn up for the voltage of the grid it’s being plugged into. To make something like that multi-voltage you would need multiple paths for the power to flow and some sort of ability to switch things, all of which costs more money than not having that.
Of course, that’s all ‘in general’. It’s always going to come down to the specific factors related whatever the thing is, who’s making it and who it’s trying to be sold to.
The wrong frequency in itself is bad for transformers, then some motors wouldn’t run at the correct speed
Edit: the Japanese grid is fantastic in that regard
Tell us more about the Japanese grid, please.
From memory (dating back Fukushima, 2011) they have both standards, the country is cut in half.
It was not even possible to export energy from one side to the other after the tsunami
Neato. Apparently it had to do with when each grid bought its starting supplies. Generators bought from the US were 60hz and Germany were 50.
In the same idea, those geniuses in Texas aren’t connected to the national grid to be free from federal regulation.
Add the UK is not synchronous with the continent so the ‘NEMO’ link has to operate in direct current (bidirectional 1GW or so…)
It’s because of the way these kinds of devices work. With a lot of electronics there is a power supply that converts AC to DC, sometimes a single voltage, sometimes multiple. It’s relatively easy to have these kinds of power supplies be able to switch between voltage ranges, or support a wide range so it doesn’t even matter. These kinds of power supplies also don’t really care about the frequency, so that helps as well. Often these have a standard socket on the back, so you can just have different leads to make it compatible all around the world.
However when the device includes a large heater, like in the home appliances you mentioned, having any kind of power conversion would be very inefficient and not needed. All we need is the raw energy and a resistor to be able to convert the power into heat. But the way that works is using Ohms law (V = I x R), where the power being converted into heat is P = I x V. The heating element has a fixed resistance, since it’s a physical thing. That means whenever the voltage changes, the amount of energy being converted into heat changes as well. Now this is fine if the voltage is somewhere between 230 and 250V like in Europe, that’s a small change that probably doesn’t impact the function of the machine. But when the machine is made for 240V and you put in 115V, that’s a huge difference.
The machine would technically function, but the heating would be piss poor. This means the iron takes ages to heat up, the water in the washing machine won’t get hot enough etc. This might also impact the design, for example the programs the machine can run, or how fast the water flows over the heating element etc.
The other way around is just dangerous, putting too much volt into components might damage them, heating elements will just burn out and melt causing a fire hazard. So that’s just dangerous and a bad idea.
As for things like blenders and refrigerators, that would depend more on the actual design of the machine. Sometimes it’s due to a motor running directly on the AC, but in my experience that’s rare these days. Often they are driven using DC and a motor driver which can provide things like 3 or 6 coil drives for smoother function and better efficiency, speed control etc. Something like a blender might be a bit too small for a physical switch or replaceable cord. So it depends and the reason might not be electrical in nature.
(looks at rule 2.)
