Hello,

Thanks for the help with using my power tools on the U.K. 110 volt supply.

I have an american Makita battery charger that is marke 120 volt 50/60Hz. It is also marked for the correct battery I'm charging.

Just wondered if the input voltage of 110 volts has any effect on how these things work.

Regards

David Lloyd

Dave,
I'd imagine that you could expect a slightly lower output from the Charger, it wouldn't be much though.

The chargers for power-tool batteries (which I assume this is) have regulator circuitry which will almost certainly adjust for the slightly reduced input. Don;t forget that the 110 and 120V rating are only nominal voltages.

An American 120V supply can drop several volts under load, and a U.K. 110V site transformer can easily be a few volts over if not fully loaded.

Good point Paul!.
I was under the impression that a Voltage regulator in this case, only adjusted downwards, not upwards as well?.

The usual types of regulators can indeed only adjust downward from whatever voltage is fed into them, but the supplies are designed in such a way that the input voltage will still be sufficient even when the AC line drops to its lower limit.

You should probably be allright, as a bunch of these chargers use switching power supplies nowadays. They will adjust internally to accomidate for line voltage variations. Even if your charger is one of the lower tech xfrmr types it will most likely be no problem as 110V is well within tolerance here in the states.
Ian