Help!

I am not really an engineer (although I did Mech Eng it was a long time ago)

All I know about electrical stuff is that you have to keep the smoke in - what I mean by this is that generally if smoke pours out the back of your electrical appliance, it is usually broken!!!

Anyway, jokes aside, I was hoping for some advice re: stepdown transformers.

I have a low wattage but expensive Hi-Fi appliance that I will probably bring back from the US, it is a 120v (60hz?) DVD/SACD/MP3 player which is rated at 17W consumption.

I want to get a continuous use stepdown transformer for this device, can anyone recommend a suitable one? Preferably one which comes with some form of 'attached equipment' warranty to cover me should my DVD player go pop when I plug it in back in the UK.

So far, I have been looking at this, 100w unit...does this seem suitable for continuous use? Seems very cheap to me at $7, and on the basis you get what you pay for, would you use it with a $400 DVD player?

http://www.110220volts.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=100-WATT&Category_Code=DownVoltageTransformer

What about this one? Smaller but no mention of suitability for continuous use?

http://www.110220volts.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=7-ss200w&Category_Code=DownVoltageTransformer

I've also seen much smaller and cheaper plug-in devices which look like a plug in AC Adaptor (like the 'black box' mains plug of your mobile phone charger) and are rated to 100w, but I get the impression that they are not for continuous use?

What I am really asking I suppose is can anyone recommend me a better transformer than the ones at this website?

Thanks in advance...

TJ

It's not as simple as just using a transformer for the voltage as the frequency is also different. TBH unless the piece of kit is VERY expensive I really wouldn't bother.

Thanks for the advice.

One Sony DVP-NS915V goes on ebay then!

The frequency shouldn't be an issue tbh. The mains is rectified, smoothed and regulated to low voltage direct current within the units power supply and wether the internal transformer is fed with 120V AC at 50Hz or 60Hz shouldn't be relevant.

A CRT TV for example would be different because the 'pan and scan' used to generate the image uses the mains frequency as a reference.

My TV (non-CRT) should be ok to bring home then?

In theory all I need is a UK mains plug on it???

Specs follow:

Analog Video Format: NTSC, PAL, SECAM, NTSC4.43, PAL60, PAL-M, PAL-N

Compliant Standards: Regulation: UL1950, CSA No.950 (c-UL), CE LVD (EN60950), FCC Class B, IC Class B, VCCI Class B, CE EMC (EN55022 Class-B, EN55024, EN61000-3-2, EN61000-3-3), C-Tick (AS/NZS 3548/95, AS/NZS 4252.1), CCIB, JEIDA, CB, KTL, MIC

Power: 100 VAC to 240 VAC, 50/60 Hz, 3.7 Amp to 1.5 Amp

Power Consumption Operational: 360 W

Voltage Required: 100 VAC to 240 VAC, 50/60 Hz

Yes that TV is universal and as to the DVD/SACD/MP3 player it most probably runs off DC (direct current) at 24/12/5/3 volts or a mixture of these, might be able to covert it to Europe mains in by swapping the power supply module in it etc.