electronic equipment from USA

[lolitasweet]

recently i bought a plug in unit (fragrance diffuser) from the USA and i used it in my home in Singapore, the unit came with a bulb that lights up when plugged in and switched on.

however within minutes, the light went off and the whole thing doesn't seem to work anymore. i tried plugging it into other sockets in my home but it still doesn't work.

could it be that the voltage is different which caused the problem? is the plug in spoilt now?
on it, it says 120v, does it mean we can't plug into our sockets here in Singapore?
what can i do to make this work?

Thank you.

[Valmont]

heyya ,

thats right, the proper voltage here in singapore is 220-240 volts AC, 50 cycles per second. your fragrance diffuser prolly blew a fuse if it had one, otherwise i'd say it's a goner. wouldn't really know that for sure.
anyways, there are 2 different types of voltage converters, namely the step-up & step-down converter. for your case, you'll need a step-down converter (converting the 240V from the output to 120V for your fragrance diffuser). You can get these from any hardware stores.

ta!

[sundaymorningstaple]

Alternatively, if the wiring hasn't melted, if you can find a bulb of the same Wattage and dimensions and thread size but 240V you may be able to just use a plug adapter for the 2-pin flatbladed US plug. Or use the more expensive step up/down transformer as noted above (more expensive solution).

However, I am assuming the fragrance diffuser works on the heat of the bulb and not another type of heating element. You must, however, be careful as if the bulb's dimensions are bigger or the wattage higher, you could possibly create a fire hazard because it might be possible that the tolerances are too tight and could cause a melting of the housing.

[lolitasweet]

hi
thanks for the replies!

the fragrance diffuser doesn't have any wiring attached to it.
it is simply a gadget that has 2 pins on it so that all i do is actually to plug it into my electronic socket.

i actually have 2 diffusers, one has a small tiny bulb inside that lights up when switched on, and another one doesn't have a bulb, the one that doesn't have a bulb.

[sierra2469alpha]

You must, however, be careful as if the bulb's dimensions are bigger or the wattage higher, you could possibly create a fire hazard because it might be possible that the tolerances are too tight and could cause a melting of the housing.

Yep - cannot agree more strongly with this - mixing different voltage and wattage is a sure way to create a fire hazard.

There are similar products you can buy here in Singapore - maybe have a look at those and consign your cremated one to a suitably marked recycling container!

HTH, P