Which 50 hz or 60hz

[Jason Wilkinson]

 Hi to all. Thought i'd run this on the board .my clock 60hz  and my shaver 50 hz  both worked well on our local supply. On my inverter running at 50hz both work well . I noticed that my inverter can work at 60hz and so i switched it, now the clock ( mind you says 110 v 60hz     not 50/60  as on some appliance )not keeping time  nor the shaver cutting, change back the inverter to 50 hz and every thing is fine, so what is happening here ? The clock is over 20 years old  the shaver about 5 years and the inverter 3 years , i'm begining to suspect the clock . Your thoughts guys
 Again shaver 50hz clock 60 hz  none 60/60
     Jason

[Flux]

So much depends on the actual appliances that it is difficult to generalise.

 You don't say what frequency your local supply is, it seems strange that you have a mixture of 50 and 60 hz devices.

If the shaver is a motor driven one it should work on both. As it seems to work on 50Hz then it is probably the vibrating type and the vibrator will be tuned to 50Hz.

I don't know enough about the clock to form any opinion. If it just uses mains for its supply and has its own time determining arrangement ( crystal or other ) then it may not be frequency sensitive. If it is a synchronous motor then it will have to be run at the exact frequency to keep time. If claimed to be 60Hz it will loose drastically at 50 Hz.

The inverter frequency even at 60Hz will not be particularly good for timekeeping but should be reasonable short term. Mains electricity is time controlled for long term frequency stability but may be worse than the inverter short term.

If things work with the inverter set to 50Hz then I would keep it that way. I find it strange that the clock is claimed to be 60Hz but works at 50, there is no way that could be the case with a synchronous motor. In fact it is a bit questionable how well sync. motors work on modified sine inverters anyway ( or is the inverter pure sine?)

Flux

[Rover]

Hi Jason,

Not meaning to be flippant, but is there any chance that what you  are putting out is actually 60Hz when you think its 50? and vice versa.

Not saying you are, just a possibility. Seen a lot of equipment that has slide swtiches , even comupter settings for stuff like this, where it is not immediatelly apparent when one or the other is selected and could quite easily be swtiched in a way opposite to what it should be.

[Jason Wilkinson]

Thanks guys. Our supply is 50hz. and a lot of the appliances are rated 50/60.  What puzzles me is the 60hz clock works well on 50hz local supply and 50 hz inverter  but does not work on the inverter 60hz
     Jason

[Jason Wilkinson]

  As an update, the inverter is ( go power 3000w  pure sine wave) works either 50 or 60 hz
    Jason

[Flux]

Thanks for the update,

The clock is obviously not a synchronous motor or if it is it is labelled wrongly. It seems as though the clock is the odd ball anyway, if it continues to work on 50Hz then fine.

If your supply is 50Hz then keep the inverter at 50, many things will tolerate both but some such as the shaver are frequency dependent. If your supply is 50Hz then I would expect most of your appliances to be designed for 50.

Flux

[Jason Wilkinson]

Hi Rover ,that was my first thought too, having used another 60hz clock on the 60 hz inverter  the clock gain too much time. Both clocks on the 50 cycle .....perfect .So i'll keep the inverter at 50 (yes Flux  pure sine wave) and monitor other appliances with motors
  Thanks again guys
                         Jason