"Jacques Carrier" wrote in message
om...
....
| Sam is right.Power must be eliminated!!
|
| I was thinking about a simple 220V SCR dimmer adjusted to fire around 45
| degrees on each positive half cycle of the 220V line input.I guess that
could
| give about the 1500W required by an hair dryer,a toaster,etc. which
operate
| normally at 120V.
|
| I found one of those 1500W converters (very small) but I cannot crack it
open
| to peek inside........They cost about $20 in Montreal.
|
| The 50W model costs only $5 .It is a simple autotransformer.(220V to
120V)

That's correct. And the high power units use a triac - basically a light
dimmer preset to provide 1/4 power to a resistive load. The switchable ones
combine these two.

NM