Here's a converter that will turn your 120 volt US plug into 220 volt plug.

[Sparky10]

Was trolling on eBay and found these. Looks cool. It'll convert a standard US plug into 240 volt for the APW3. No need to install dual pole breakers to get your 240 volt line going.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/110v-120v-to-220v-240v-3000W-step-up-transformer-Voltage-Converter-Transformer-/151821295088?hash=item2359411df0:g:PoAAAOSw9r1V--CS

[sidehack]

Cool, and it's only $200 and inherently lossy.

[Sparky10]

Its cheaper if you click around found exact same thing for $80 and $60 shipping.  Still cheaper then wiring 240 at your home, or if you live somewhere where you can't get 240 volt.

[alh]

In general, it would make more sense to try and figure out a way to work out a 120V solution instead of killing your efficiency even more by putting in a step-up (i.e. 120V --> 240V) transformer. For example two 120V power supplies instead of a transformer & 240V PSU.

[Prelude]

Cool, and it's only $200 and inherently lossy.

Not to mention Chinese. Very Chinese.

Its cheaper if you click around found exact same thing for $80 and $60 shipping.  Still cheaper then wiring 240 at your home, or if you live somewhere where you can't get 240 volt.

No, it isn't cheaper, and it won't give you any of the benefits of running proper 240v besides getting the bitmain PSU to power on. It's a very bad idea for mining.

[Soros Shorts]

Pretty cool. It looks like the you can plug the input into the output so if it is a dumb transformer you can do 2 units back-to-back and get 480V to play with.  

Three units would give you 960V!

[Prelude]

Pretty cool. It looks like the you can plug the input into the output so you can do 2 units back-to-back and get 480V to play with.  

Three units would give you 960V!

[Exoskeleton]

Pretty cool. It looks like the you can plug the input into the output so you can do 2 units back-to-back and get 480V to play with.  

Three units would give you 960V!

960V!!!

And the sickest death of all time.

Seriously people, don't get shocked with 240V or more. Instant death is to put it lightly. There's a reason US went with 120V, and while I usually don't agree with lowest common stuff I can see why we went with it. When I was young I walked away with a 120V shock burned but OK. If I was younger and shocked with 240V or more I'd be dead. Dead.

[Prelude]

Pretty cool. It looks like the you can plug the input into the output so you can do 2 units back-to-back and get 480V to play with.  

Three units would give you 960V!

960V!!!

And the sickest death of all time.

Seriously people, don't get shocked with 240V or more. Instant death is to put it lightly. There's a reason US went with 120V, and while I usually don't agree with lowest common stuff I can see why we went with it. When I was young I walked away with a 120V shock burned but OK. If I was younger and shocked with 240V or more I'd be dead. Dead.

Please don't post things when you're not 100% sure of what you're saying. Voltage doesn't kill, amperage does. FYI USA is 240v. It's simply a different "type" of 240v than Europe.

I'd even go as far as saying 120v is MORE dangerous than 240v or higher. Getting stuck on live 120v wires can be worse because the low voltage doesn't "blow" you away, you can lose muscle control and stay clamped to the wire until you fry. Higher voltages will have a tendency to knock you back or off the wires more easily.

[Exoskeleton]

Please don't post things when you're not 100% sure of what you're saying. Voltage doesn't kill, amperage does. FYI USA is 240v. It's simply a different "type" of 240v than Europe.

I'd even go as far as saying 120v is MORE dangerous than 240v or higher. Getting stuck on live 120v wires can be worse because the low voltage doesn't "blow" you away, you can lose muscle control and stay clamped to the wire until you fry. Higher voltages will have a tendency to knock you back or off the wires more easily.

I know about how we get stuck to the sockets here in the US from stories and I think it was my body weight going limp and detaching me that made me survive. If this is the case, and I believe your right, then I'm 100% wrong.

240V/480V might just shoot you out, thus causing less timeframe damage.

Sorry if I was wrong about that and I'll stop giving info about a subject I know almost nothing about to be honest. All I could think of was 8X the Volts going into my body. But if it was more over a lesser time I can see how that could be better than less over a much longer time. Last thing I want to do is get any one hurt, and thank you for the quick correction.

[QuintLeo]

120v vs 240v are pretty much equally dangerous.
 Both are well over the threshold to electrocute you, both have plenty of amperage, both are AC so they tend to "vibrate you" rather than having a 50/50 chance to blow you away like DC has (the other part of DC is the possibility to lock you TO the line).


 Transformers tend to be VERY high efficiency - 98% or BETTER is quite common if you're not throwing wierd waveforms at them.

 The input cord to these things look VERY VERY iffy for the current they're rated to handle - look like *maybe* 10 amp cords when they should be AT LEAST 25 amp rated for the wattage these devices alegedly handle.

 Cost is also fairly high - it's cheaper to wire up a 220 circuit, breaker and all, even adding in retail pricing on a 6-15 or 6-20 socket/plug pair.

 They also seem very very small for a supposed 2500 watt solution - I suspect that's an INTERMITTANT rating, not a continuous one like a miner NEEDS.


 I'd be very cautious trying to run a miner via one of these things, monitor the temperatures on them like a hawk on both the device itself AND the cord.

[Unacceptable]

You'd be better off finding 2 seperate outlets on the different legs to make 220 & run them to a little box with a 220 receptacle   

Much cheaper & easier....but you'll have a cord or two running thru a hallway/rooms to trip over 

[VirosaGITS]

Its much cheaper to just use a good 120v PSU, there's both ATX and server solution here. You're adding costs at no gain, you're adding a point of failure and i bet these things are prone to catching fire.

You'll be losing efficiency, which you won't really gain back from using 240v PSU.
If you have this much money to throw around, just get a P/T rated PSU for cheaper than this thing and you'll have more efficiency than 240v gold.

[yslyung]

gives u the vlots but NOT amps ! that thing will either melt or blow up in no time.

[VirosaGITS]

gives u the vlots but NOT amps ! that thing will either melt or blow up in no time.

Well it says 2500w, so running a single S7 might be doable, but in the best case scenario, you're raising your costs for nothing. I don't see a gain on using this and you're just adding one more iffy Chinese thing that can burst into flame.

[yslyung]

gives u the vlots but NOT amps ! that thing will either melt or blow up in no time.

Well it says 2500w, so running a single S7 might be doable, but in the best case scenario, you're raising your costs for nothing. I don't see a gain on using this and you're just adding one more iffy Chinese thing that can burst into flame.

edit : not for 24/7 use & yes it has a VERY good chance of bursting on to flames & hopefully not burning the house down for home miners.

[philipma1957]

SPARKY10  nice name for a power story.

http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10001_10001_152582_-1

this weighs about 20 pounds I used it for tube amps when I was into audio.  It is 90% effiecient



http://www.jameco.com/Jameco/Products/ProdDS/152582.pdf

SO the one I had was 90% and was so so Chinese gear.



http://The ebay gear you link  looks like junk.


The one below is the way to go (as a  Guess)

you want to have fun with  an ebay variac

this one may be far better


http://www.ebay.com/itm/GE-VoltPac-Variac-Input-120-240V-Output-0-140-280V-117-14A-Continuous-3-9kVA-/331550971721?



http://www.weschler.com/_upload/sitepdfs/voltpac/voltpac_catalog.pdf


99% efficiency

I would look into this  one it will do finksy/j4bbrwocky  2880 watt psu non-stop

[sabercatt]

thats not the same thing

[philipma1957]

thats not the same thing

the  difference is the one I picked is variable.

Most every one has also failed to mention

that my pick needs 6 gauge wire  and a 50 amp circuit breaker


the op's  pick needs 10 gauge wire and a 30 amp circuit breaker



My variac pick would pull  33 amps  of 120 volts if it was maxed at 3900 watts

The op's step up would pull 21 amps of 120 volts if it was maxed at 2500 watts.


I have played around enough with 120 and 240 step ups and variac's

to know that just put in a 220 line is better.
the ge variac is a distant second choice.
the op's gear  pick would not be used in my house.

[sabercatt]

i didnt think the variac did any step-up. thought it was only for regulation (up to 117% step-up i guess). maybe i was reading that wrong. i thought it meant 120 in - 0-140 out. 240 in -up to 280 out.