I have a Sanyo toaster (10 years old) with me which stopped working yesterday. It was a gift from a friend. Its a 220V 700W 60/50Hz toaster. So, had to run it off my 110V to 220V 1500W voltage converter for this long.
Upon inspecting I noticed that there are two terminals for the LIVE and NEUTRAL. The nichrome close to the live terminal has broken off (more like burned off)and split. So, I may loose like 1 to 2cm of nichrome to rejoin it back to the LIVE terminal. I tested and it works.
I measure the resistance of the nichrome wire and its 393.7 ohm/in. The nichrome wire strips are on some heat resistant plates, with wire length of 4.92 inches. There are total of 10 such strips per plate face. there are 4 such plates. Total 196.8 inches.
So, my question are:
1. Can anyone help to mod this toaster to run on 110V?
2. If I where to run at 115V 700W, do I need to more nichrome or less?
3. If I need more length, will it work by reducing the wattage(like 350-400W) for 115V to get same amount of heat?
NOTE: the third question is kinda dumb. The reason I asked is because my room heater which is 1500W at 115V. When I checked online most counterpart 220V heaters are rated for like 2200W. So, it seems like it needs have the watts half voltage for the= particular temp range. This is just my assumption.
Of course I can go and buy a new 115V toaster, but the point is I would like to know if I can get this back to life if possible.
Best Answer
You want to use exactly the same nichrome wire that is already there.
The trick is to find the mid point and run it as two resistors in parallel instead of the whole wire in series as it is now.
Think of what you have now as two pieces of nichrome wire in series. Each piece sees 110 V across it. Arrange them in parallel, and you can put 110 V across the whole thing and each piece won't be able to tell the difference.
Added
As Trevor pointed out in a comment, while the nichrome wire won't see a difference, the rest of the unit will see twice the current. You have to make sure that the line cord, switch, and everything else where the full current passes thru can handle it. You say this is a 700 W device, so will draw about 6½ A at 110 V.
Another issue is whatever is in the toaster that decides when the toast is done. There are various mechanisms for that, and most probably won't work right with half the intended voltage.
All around, if your aim is simply a toaster that runs on 110 V instead of 220 V, go buy one. If your in this for the adventure, then go ahead and experiment with what you've got. Don't expect great results, though.