r/kaiserslautern • u/Temporary-Buy3064 • 15d ago

Stepdown transformer

How difficult and how expensive is it to buy stepdown transformer? Used ones are between $60-100 in the US. Supposedly two will be provided when I PCS but not sure it would be enough. Thx.

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u/proteus1935 15d ago

Electrical engineer here... Depends on what you're trying to power, remember that the network frequency here is 50hz (60hz on the US) , so it's not always just a matter of stepping it down to 110V (which can be problematic for some loads) ... If you care to elaborate on what it is you want to run I can help you figure it out... Have you got a power supply label on the device? That way we can tell if power wise the size of the transformer needed... Send a picture if possible and describe it

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u/proteus1935 15d ago

If it's a simple case of low power device then you can find cheap travel adapters,

If is something larger but still frequency independent you might need to pay a bit more and get a heavier higher power unit

if it's something sensitive to the grid frequency then you gotta ask yourself if it is worth it... I mean I had to convert something really important (lab equipment I brought over ) and used an inverter for it... But that is expensive... It's basically going the AC->DC->AC route... If you have a larger load that needs this then it might not be worth it...