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Hi, I have a machine I am sending to Turkey and it operates on standard American single phase 240 vac. The problem is the place its going in Turkey can only supply single phase 230 which is one single hot wire and a Neautral/ Ground wire. Is there a transformer or converter of some sort that I can add to my machine to achieve my goal?
 
What is this 'machine' and how big is it? What's the current draw? Frequency is also different, 60Hz US and 50Hz in Turkey.
 
What is this 'machine' and how big is it? What's the current draw? Frequency is also different, 60Hz US and 50Hz in Turkey.
Your correct the frequency is the other issue because I require 60 Hz And they are only providing 50Hz. The machine is spec'd out at 50 amps.
 
Can you check with the manufacturer if it really needs 60Hz?

Also check if it has to be 120-0-120V split phase USA-style.

You can get fancy supply converters for voltage and frequency, but it ain't going to be cheap!
 
Can you check with the manufacturer if it really needs 60Hz?

Also check if it has to be 120-0-120V split phase USA-style.

You can get fancy supply converters for voltage and frequency, but it ain't going to be cheap!
My machine requires the 120 120 240 usa style
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My machine requires the 120 120 240 usa style
Also , Yes it needs the 60 Hz to function upto par.
 
It would be easier and cheaper to swap all the electrical components to ones that run on 230 volt 50Hz.
 
It would be helpful to know more about what electrical equipment the machine contains.

As PC1966 says, it is possible to convert the entire supply to 120/240V 60Hz, but might be prohibitively expensive and also unnecessary if much of the load is not frequency-sensitive, such as heaters. Relatively speaking, transforming the voltage is easy, although again it might be sensible to transform only the 120V part of the load and power the 240V parts directly from the 230V supply. More info would be needed to get a measure of whether this is practical.
 
It would be helpful to know more about what electrical equipment the machine contains.

As PC1966 says, it is possible to convert the entire supply to 120/240V 60Hz, but might be prohibitively expensive and also unnecessary if much of the load is not frequency-sensitive, such as heaters. Relatively speaking, transforming the voltage is easy, although again it might be sensible to transform only the 120V part of the load and power the 240V parts directly from the 230V supply. More info would be needed to get a measure of whether this is practical.
As far as the 50 hertz and 60 hertz I wired a lot of European equipment that was 50 hertz with US voltage and never had a problem
 
If it will run off USA style single phase 240vac
Then it will also run off Turkeys single phase
The only differance being the frequency
How the motor will handle that is unknown,
Try it and see
worse case senareo motor runs a little faster
maybe even a little hotter, so if it don't over heat
then you may be ok.
A variable frequency drive can be used if needed,
 
My machine requires the 120 120 240 usa style

Also , Yes it needs the 60 Hz to function upto par.
If that really is the case then you need to look in to rotary convertors (motor-generator arrangement that is the traditional way: simple, robust, but with some noise and vibration) or the solid-state equivalent that can transform the 50Hz supply to 60Hz.

Off hand I don't know the price as never had to buy one, but at a guess you are looking in the $10k or more price bracket.
 
As far as the 50 hertz and 60 hertz I wired a lot of European equipment that was 50 hertz with US voltage and never had a problem

But we don't know what devices are in his equipment, and whether it would be tolerant of the difference in frequency.
 
if it will run off USA style single phase 240vac Then it will also run off Turkeys single phase

Not necessarily true. If it uses all its current at 240V and does not rely on a neutral connection, then yes it will be compatible as far as voltage is concerned. But if it uses any current at 120V, i.e. part of the load is returned from one hot to the neutral of the US supply, then a transformer would be required to work on an EU supply.

worse case senareo motor runs a little faster maybe even a little hotter, so if it don't over heat then you may be ok.

Induction and synchronous motors will run 20% slow, and motors and transformers may run hot if they are not designed for 50Hz. Generously designed 60Hz magnetic components are usually OK, but ones that run close to saturation are not so happy with the reduced frequency.
 
The voltage in Turkey is : 1st leg 230,2nd leg Neutral 0volts, 3rd leg ground 0volts. I need a way to convert their voltage to our American single phase 220-240: 1st leg 110,2nd leg 110, 3rd leg neutral and then the ground. Changing machine components to run on their 230 single leg is not an option because they already have the machine. My apologies for the delayed response.
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The voltage in Turkey is : 1st leg 230,2nd leg Neutral 0volts, 3rd leg ground 0volts. I need a way to convert their voltage to our American single phase 220-240: 1st leg 110,2nd leg 110, 3rd leg neutral and then the ground. Changing machine components to run on their 230 single leg is not an option because they already have the machine. My apologies for the delayed response.
Also I wanted to achieve having 60 hertz in the end but the machine can run on 50 hertz it will just run slower .But at least it would be running where as its not at this moment
 
Does the machine need a neutral? (ie line, line, neutral, ground)?

If the machine currently has only two hots and a ground it should work on Turkey's system provided the machine is ok with 50Hz.
 
I'm assuming that it needs split-phase because it has a neutral use (i.e. some loads are on the 120-0 configuration). It might need split phase if the insulation is not rated for 230V to earth, but that would be a little unusual.

Basically if you can live with 50Hz then the problem can be solved with a suitable transformer. It won't be that cheap for the 12kVA sort of figure mentioned earlier, but I would guess it is in the $3k region, so an order of magnitude cheaper then if you also want to do frequency conversion.
 
Ok, I appreciate everyone's input. I am listing my remedy, I found a 15 kva transformer that will convert their single wire 230 vac in Turkey to our normal American single phase 240. I attached the spec sheet for it.
 

Attachments

  • Q015XEKF.pdf
    2.3 MB · Views: 6
Good to see you found something cheaper than my guess :)

It will probably need fed by a breaker that allows for the switch-on surge (e.g. C-curve or D-curve), that might be separate from any double-pole breaker on the output of the transformer that protects your equipment.

Also make very sure that someone checks the output voltages before they connect it to your equipment, just in case someone has screwed up with the transformer tap configuration...
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that might be separate from any double-pole breaker on the output of the transformer that protects your equipment.
Remember that a 50A breaker on the input of the transformer will act like a 100A breaker on the output if your fault is phase to ground/neutral, instead of phase-phase.
 
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