zxes Posted January 7, 2019 Report Share Posted January 7, 2019 Hi there lovely potters I am based in Auckland, New Zealand. I am in need of some HELP in getting my pottery wheel to work which I bought second hand from ebay. But before buying I didn't check that it is made for US electric requirement of 115v Excitingly I opened up the box and plugged in the wheel, and that's when I realised that it wrong voltage for NZ! I bought the step down transformer from 230 to 115v 500W and hooked up the wheel again, this time the green light on the side of the wheel was lit, but still the wheel was not going. I checked the troubleshooting manual on Shimpo website, it said that if the two LED lights on the circuit board are not lit then the board is faulty. I followed the steps and the LED lights were not lit. But I am still in doubt that if it's a faulty/damaged board or it's something to do with wrong voltage. the seller is absolutely sure that the wheel was perfectly fine when he shipped it. I should also mention that when I first plugged in the wheel without the transformer, there was a small spark on the power socket, But I guess that it may have been the loose adaptor and I hope that I haven't blown off the motor!! Are there any folks out there who have experienced similar situation or have better knowledge of these things? Much appreciate your time. cheers, Hitesh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liambesaw Posted January 7, 2019 Report Share Posted January 7, 2019 The small spark on the power socket was probably the circuit reacting to a sudden jolt of twice the pixies it normally wants. I'm going to guess something blew, if it did and you need to replace the controller, see if you can replace it with the 230v version. The motor itself should be fine. Check to see if there are any fuses or a protection circuit that have to be replaced/reset. And you should also see what shimpo thinks would have happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Kielb Posted January 7, 2019 Report Share Posted January 7, 2019 Check for direct solder fuses, I believe Shimpo has them. With any luck they are blown and can be desoldered and replaced. In your picture, I believe they are brown, just downstream of the power input and labeled F1 and F2. 10 amps each. Here is one time when rooting for blown fuses is a good thing. good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark C. Posted January 7, 2019 Report Share Posted January 7, 2019 (Check for direct solder fuses, I believe Shimpo has them. With any luck they are blown and can be desoldered and replaced. In your picture, I believe they are brown, just downstream of the power input and labeled F1 and F2. 10 amps each. ) As he said above with luck you may find these are blown-you need to check them out 1st-Direct solder means you can solder in new ones from an electronics store or take the board down and have them do it.Auckland has many such shops as it plenty big for those to thrive.Wish I where there now enjoying some summer sun. Just a second of 230Volts would blow those fuzes and hopefully they did blow as they are cheap to buy and easy to replace with a soldering gun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zxes Posted January 7, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2019 Thank you liambesaw, Bill Kielb and Mark C for your quick feedback. I had read on some forums that Shimpo machines have some kind of breaker for overload protection. But as you guys mentioned if the fuse is blown then I will check that first and do as you have suggested. Will keep you posted. Mark C, yes the summer at the moment is indeed hot as! Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted January 7, 2019 Report Share Posted January 7, 2019 Definitely check with Shimpo. I'm sure they've dealt with this before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyK Posted January 7, 2019 Report Share Posted January 7, 2019 Just out of curiosity, how were you able to just plug the wheel in to an outlet? Didn't you have to use some sort of adapter to go from the wheel's 115V plug to the outlet's 230V socket? Anyway, it sounds like just one of the fuses is blown if the wheel's external green light came on when it was plugged into the transformer. I'd replace both of the fuses at the same time if that is what your plan is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liambesaw Posted January 7, 2019 Report Share Posted January 7, 2019 12 minutes ago, JohnnyK said: Just out of curiosity, how were you able to just plug the wheel in to an outlet? Didn't you have to use some sort of adapter to go from the wheel's 115V plug to the outlet's 230V socket? Anyway, it sounds like just one of the fuses is blown if the wheel's external green light came on when it was plugged into the transformer. I'd replace both of the fuses at the same time if that is what your plan is. Not all countries have a different plug scheme for different voltages. I still remember plugging my radio in when visiting family in the Philippines. Talk about a hot mixtape! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zxes Posted January 8, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2019 8 hours ago, JohnnyK said: Just out of curiosity, how were you able to just plug the wheel in to an outlet? Didn't you have to use some sort of adapter to go from the wheel's 115V plug to the outlet's 230V socket? Anyway, it sounds like just one of the fuses is blown if the wheel's external green light came on when it was plugged into the transformer. I'd replace both of the fuses at the same time if that is what your plan is. JohnnyK, I was using the universal adaptor to plug the wheel in to NZ outlet. I have also contacted Shimpo with this issue and hoping for some reply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mariam Posted October 23, 2019 Report Share Posted October 23, 2019 hi , have you had any luck? my wheel has done the same thing. I plugged it in and switched it on, it went pop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curt Posted October 23, 2019 Report Share Posted October 23, 2019 I got a brand new Shimpo VL Whisper from the US a couple years ago, and directly on the circuitboard there is an option to change voltage from 110 to 240 by unsoldering a connection and resoldering it into another connection nearby. Then you don’t need a voltage adapter of your own. I did this and it worked fine. Just need the physical plug adapter, but make sure it is grounded! For a while mine was not and I can tell you that is not good. Shimpo had instructions on how to do the soldering change which were able to be downloaded from their website if I recall. Not sure if your wheel would have this option but worth investigating while you are figuring this out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smurphy917 Posted January 4, 2021 Report Share Posted January 4, 2021 On 10/24/2019 at 12:54 AM, curt said: I got a brand new Shimpo VL Whisper from the US a couple years ago, and directly on the circuitboard there is an option to change voltage from 110 to 240 by unsoldering a connection and resoldering it into another connection nearby. Then you don’t need a voltage adapter of your own. I did this and it worked fine. Just need the physical plug adapter, but make sure it is grounded! For a while mine was not and I can tell you that is not good. Shimpo had instructions on how to do the soldering change which were able to be downloaded from their website if I recall. Not sure if your wheel would have this option but worth investigating while you are figuring this out. Do you have any links or anything on this? I’m looking to change a US-wired whisper my wife has had for a decade or so to be used now we’ve moved to the UK. I’ve found plenty of shops willing to sell me a new board, but they’ve told me they just have to swap a jumper in the board or something to switch the voltage so it sounds pretty easy—I’d love to avoid the cost of a whole new controller! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Kielb Posted January 4, 2021 Report Share Posted January 4, 2021 @smurphy917 I would call Shimpo and ask for tech help. I believe some were switch selectable but believe the early ones required changing a wire in the input power cable from pins 1&2 to pins 1&3. Generally it is printed on the circuit board if this is the case. They will be your best source of knowledge though. Plugging this in to 220v without the change, you will ver likely blow one of the solder in 10 amp fuses. If not capable then adapter or new board Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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