Be cautious on foreign goods purchase

[sakitram]

Be cautious with foreign goods item operating voltage/cost

Hi,

I would like to share my experience of the global purchase of an electronic goods.

I bought my Yamaha V667 receiver 45 days back from US through eBay. And then I came to know that the power requirement for that is in US standard. Then I started to study about transformers and requested for suggestion from forum gurus. Finally I purchased Isolated transformer as suggested at 4.2K for 500W after two weeks. But unfortunately I missed it in auto rickshaw when I bringing it to my home and I could not find the auto afterwards to get it back. It is my mistake.

I waited for one week with the hope of auto rickshaw driver will bring it back to me, but he did not come at all. Then I decided again to purchase one. But this time I planned to purchase auto transformer in order to reduce the cost of unnecessary expense. And as everyone suggested Maxine brand for auto transformer, I purchased the same at 3K for 1KW. This time I made it to deliver at my home. :yahoo:

Then I started operating my receiver just near one month later since I got it. :yahoo: Now the everyday concern is that, as I am using the Auto transformer, I used to check always the output voltage before I connect it to my receiver just for safety.

Though the major concern is that these Transformers (both auto and isolated) just have short span of life (just 2-3 years, on every day usage of 2-3 hours). So for every few years, I have an expense of around 3K (auto) or 6K (isolated) for the Transformer.

Therefore it is suggested to everyone that always check before purchasing any expensive electronic goods from abroad that whether it does operate with Indian standard volts (ie 220V). Otherwise consider the transformer expenses as well with the electronic goods.

I just purchased the AVR from US to reduce cost around 10K, but I already spent already 4.2K + 3K = 7.2K extra to operate my AVR. If I known about the future expense with Transformer, I could have waited for sometime for the price reduction of the same product in India.

I thought that my experience can be helpful for some people, so I shared it.

All the best to you :thumbsup:

Sakitram

 

[pdhanwada]

If your concern is on the purchase you make and its input voltage, I guess you need to make sure everything is right.

On the other hand if you are talking about the stepdown transformers, The ones which are available in india are as good as they can be. All my equipment, 1 power amp, preamp, av receiver , microwave all run on 110 output step down transformers. I have three in my home. They have been doing good for the past 5 years.
Thanks
pandu

 

[baijuxavior]

Re: Be cautious with foreign goods item operating voltage/cost

Therefore it is suggested to everyone that always check before purchasing any expensive electronic goods from abroad that whether it does operate with Indian standard volts (ie 220V).

And also no to use autorickshas

Have you filed any complaint with the law? If not then do it immediately.

 

[marsilians]

Re: Be cautious with foreign goods item operating voltage/cost

And also no to use autorickshas

Have you filed any complaint with the law? If not then do it immediately.

Thats not going to do anything. Its purely based on trust now. Even the rickshaw guy might not have noticed and the next passenger would have easily taken it home.

 

[marsilians]

@sakitram - Like all hobbies, there is a cost to entry and exit for AV as well. To me it appears that you did not do your research or ask enough questions if the costs are truly a surprise to you. With that said, I empathise on the loss of the transformer. A bigger lesson for all of us is that not everytime a cheap purchase is the sound purchase due to replacements. I would suggest to buy quality products like your AVR even though its the power supply and ensure you dont have headaches.

Your post is a good reminder for all future purchasers. Also I would warn people to not get very expensive stuff from ebay unless a manufacturer is selling items and can vouch for warranty or support. Its a double edged sword with very sharp edges!

 

[borg]

if you buy a 110v equipment you will need a stepdown transformer ofcourse, and for functioning auto tfr is enough, however i fail to understand why the need to replace the transformer every 2-3 years. It is not a battery which needs periodic replacement.like other electrical stuff it can fail anyday or not fail at all. For extra protection you can ask the manufacturer of tfr to include a thermal overload protector (TOP)

 

[pnreddy]

Re: Be cautious with foreign goods item operating voltage/cost

You are wrong when you say that the auto transformer needs to be replaced every 3-4 years. If you do not exceed 80% of the rated wattage you can use it indefinitely. I have auto transformers that are more than 40 years old. The auto transformer is no different from the transformer used in the equipment. You don't replace transformers in the equipment every 3 - 4 years. The only precaution you have to take is that you do not overload the transformer. If you overload it, it may not last even a few hours.

 

[anm]

you can't get 220V receivers in the US easily

 

[spirovious]

Re: Be cautious with foreign goods item operating voltage/cost

Hi,

I bought my Yamaha V667 receiver 45 days back from US through eBay.

Though the major concern is that these Transformers (both auto and isolated) just have short span of life (just 2-3 years, on every day usage of 2-3 hours). So for every few years, I have an expense of around 3K (auto) or 6K (isolated) for the Transformer.

You got AVR 45days back & how do you say that Transformer has life of 3yrs(Both)?Have you been using similar product before?Then you must be knowing that most of US products are 110V operating.
Pls.specify.

 

[spirovious]

you can't get 220V receivers in the US easily

You get very hardly-
110 240v YAMAHA | eBay

 

[sakitram]

@baijuxavior
first I though to complain but after two days as I had hope that the driver will bring it back. And also I was lacking about the auto identity. Later I thought that there would be no use of complaint about this and possibly the auto driver might not have seen it and the next passenger could have taken it as marsilians said. So I did not go for complaining about this and taken it as a lesson.

@borg, @pnreddy
I read at many places (even in this forum I think) that the Transformers are sensitive to the voltage fluctuation and able to get damaged very easily and due to that it will function improperly like instead of stepping down it will output full input voltage. I think I am not wrong with this point.

@spirovious
I was not known about that the product input voltage requirement until I receive the product as it is not described in the page. Though I guessed it can be either 220 or 110 or both 220/110 with voltage adjustment.

 

[captrajesh]

One of our forum members had purchased a Behringer Active crossover from US which obviously had 110V supply. He was planning to mod it by changing the transformer but to his surprise, he found an additional wire which happened to be a 220 volt tap. It might be a good idea to check if such an additional wire exists in the transformer.

 

[thatguy]

'So for every few years, I have an expense of around 3K (auto) or 6K (isolated) for the Transformer."

Transformers are hardy equipment and there is no reason for them to go bad after three years. However, after seeing one get made in SP road, I can understand where you are coming from.

I needed a 1 KW step down transformer last year and went to Universal Transformers in SP road to buy one. Since he didn't have one ready, he started assembling one. Everything looked good till he started to solder the wires to make connections. When I told him that a soldered joint was not a good idea for a 1 KW transformer, he laughed at me and continued his work.

Needless to say, I got the box home and it has been lying unused since. I do hope to find the time and energy to crimp the connections some day.

 

[borg]

infact if properly done soldering is a better connection than crimping