Newbie to electric work here, so please bear with me. Just an average consumer who purchased an expensive piece of electronics in Australia that I now need to use here at home in the U.S. so I bought a Philmore ST-2000 Step Up/Step Down Transformer, going with the 2000 because the specs on the Australian machine say it draws max 1200 and I wanted to be covered.
Problem is, it's working, but erratic. Panel lights dim up and down, transformer hums to the same pattern, and then bingo, circuit breaker trips. Sometimes it can run for a while, other times it trips after a few seconds.
I basically have two problems:
1) The first socket I was using is now completely dead since the initial circuit breaker trip, even after re-setting the breaker from the main box. And also dead is a set of seemingly connected sockets in a whole other room. Have I burnt out the wiring? The breaker? Both? What should I do to determine the extent of the problem/damage?
2) Using another socket now (the Aussie machine is an unfortunate necessity), which has so far not fried out like the first, but the breaker keeps tripping. I can turn off the product and transformer, re-set the breaker, and turn on both and resume, but after a few minutes it will trip the breaker again.
Help. What more do I need besides this $250 transformer to run this darn thing? I have checked this forum, and heard of things like "time-delay breakers". Wondering if I need something like this installed also? Is there some obvious missing step here? I thought the transformer itself would solve the issue.
Any suggestions from you guys would be much appreciated. I am no expert in electronics, and if I need to bite the bullet and hire an electrician, I would at least like to have a clear understanding of what I'm up against.
So thanks again in advance for any help!
Problem is, it's working, but erratic. Panel lights dim up and down, transformer hums to the same pattern, and then bingo, circuit breaker trips. Sometimes it can run for a while, other times it trips after a few seconds.
I basically have two problems:
1) The first socket I was using is now completely dead since the initial circuit breaker trip, even after re-setting the breaker from the main box. And also dead is a set of seemingly connected sockets in a whole other room. Have I burnt out the wiring? The breaker? Both? What should I do to determine the extent of the problem/damage?
2) Using another socket now (the Aussie machine is an unfortunate necessity), which has so far not fried out like the first, but the breaker keeps tripping. I can turn off the product and transformer, re-set the breaker, and turn on both and resume, but after a few minutes it will trip the breaker again.
Help. What more do I need besides this $250 transformer to run this darn thing? I have checked this forum, and heard of things like "time-delay breakers". Wondering if I need something like this installed also? Is there some obvious missing step here? I thought the transformer itself would solve the issue.
Any suggestions from you guys would be much appreciated. I am no expert in electronics, and if I need to bite the bullet and hire an electrician, I would at least like to have a clear understanding of what I'm up against.
So thanks again in advance for any help!