Electric Toothbrush

Jul 15, 2008
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......a bit of a nerdy post this but it may save someone some bother.

My wife uses an electric tooth brush (advised to by her dentist) and it is the type with a magic charger.
These chargers charge the internal battery without a direct electrical connection.
We often caravan without an electric mains hookup making use of an inverter to provide some power at 230 volts A/C.

I have used both a modified sine wave inverter and a pure sine wave inverter and both types will permanently damage these chargers so that they will not charge the tooth brush or work ever again.
I managed to ruin two chargers. I was advised a pure sine wave inverter would be fine and the trouble was caused by using a modified sine wave inverter..........not the case!!!

The solution I have decided is to get one of these and I can use rechargeable or ordinary batteries
smiley-smile.gif


PS...... I know an ordinary tooth brush would not give any problems either.
 
Mar 14, 2005
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Hello Bill,

If a pure sine wave damages the toothbrush, then it cannot possibly work on a mains supply which is a pure - well, as pure as you can get with all the transient signals and spikes that crowd our mains supplies.

A proper full sine wave inverter will be purer than the mains!!
 
Jul 15, 2008
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Prof .........that's what I thought!

The reasoning has me stumped..........but both my chargers worked fine on mains until I used them with an inverter.
One stopped working after using a 'modified' once and the other after using a 'pure' once.
This is the 'pure' inverter I have.

As I say I have now bought an electric toothbrush that takes two AA batteries which will be used in the caravan.
I already have a 12 volt charger that will charge rechargeable AA batteries.
 
Aug 4, 2004
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I am now considering buying a portable electric toothbrush as I am having difficulty holding a normal toothbrush when brushing my teeth due to arthritis. Any suggestions please?
 
Jul 15, 2008
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.........just bought a Braun that takes 2 AA batteries to solve the problem outlined in my earlier posts.
Looks well made and works well and cost just over £10 delivered to my door.
 
Mar 14, 2005
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Hello Gaffer,
Having read teh spec. in the link you have provided, one point that raised its head is:-
"Output voltage - 240Vac (±10%)"
Even inverter outputs cant make instantaneous changes of ourput voltage to compensate for chnaging loadsso it is quite possible that if lightly loaded the output coudl swing to 240 +10% or 264V.
You should check the tooth brushes input voltage range, Some items I have seen of continetal origin are rated for a nominal 220V rather than EU norm of 230V. These may see 264V as an over voltage supply and may protect the appliance by causing an internal fuse to blow (therer could even be a varister as described in a the battery charger threads).

In the UK, mains electricity is currently required by law to be delivered at 230 Volts, within a tolerance of +10% / –6%, that is, within the range 253 Volts to 216.2 Volts. The value of 230 Volts is said to be the 'nominal voltage'.
 
Aug 4, 2004
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Gafferbill said:
.........just bought a Braun that takes 2 AA batteries to solve the problem outlined in my earlier posts.
Looks well made and works well and cost just over £10 delivered to my door.

Thanks. Sort of suspected the Braun would be mentioned as they also make the best electric razors for a close shave. Something else I will need to consider within the next few years!
 
Nov 17, 2005
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Gaffer,

i've just checked and if its a Philips toothbrush the charger is rated at 100 - 240V AC so the over voltage theory would seem to be the correct one.
 
Oct 22, 2014
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For people on the go and wants to travel a lot, power toothbrush is a must. Very convenient to carry and serve its purpose well. You can maintain a healthy mouth and fresh breath anywhere you are.
 

Damian

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Mar 14, 2005
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WillieJones96 said:
For people on the go and wants to travel a lot, power toothbrush is a must. Very convenient to carry and serve its purpose well. You can maintain a healthy mouth and fresh breath anywhere you are.

Well, that's a stunning statement if ever I saw one, but an ordinary toothbrush does just as well and that reply does nothing to answer the OP's question.
 
Feb 3, 2008
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Damian-Moderator said:
WillieJones96 said:
For people on the go and wants to travel a lot, power toothbrush is a must. Very convenient to carry and serve its purpose well. You can maintain a healthy mouth and fresh breath anywhere you are.

Well, that's a stunning statement if ever I saw one, but an ordinary toothbrush does just as well and that reply does nothing to answer the OP's question.

.. and doesn't take a year and a half to answer either.
 

Damian

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:eek:hmy: I did not look at the date of the first posting........my bad!!!!!
Anyway Gafferbill I hope you have perfect teeth and you have not been waiting for a magic replacement for your tried and tested items.

Note to self: MUST check page 1 of multiple page posts !!!!
 
Jul 15, 2008
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No worries .......gave me a laugh :lol:

Damian-Moderator said:
Anyway Gafferbill I hope you have perfect teeth and you have not been waiting for a magic replacement for your tried and tested items.

............I still have most of them left!!
 

Parksy

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Nov 12, 2009
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WillieJones96 said:
For people on the go and wants to travel a lot, power toothbrush is a must. Very convenient to carry and serve its purpose well. You can maintain a healthy mouth and fresh breath anywhere you are.
This sort of meaningless out of date post used to be a fairly common occurence on the old forum.
The comment will more often than not be a 'trial run' by a spammer who is testing our defences before launching a series of unauthorised adverts at the website.
So 'Willie Jones 96' or whatever your real name is, you have until this time tomorrow to respond with a convincing argument to prove that you are a genuine caravanner or potential owner.
No response within the next 24 hours will mean a permanent ban from all Haymarket internet sites.
 

Parksy

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We don't get as many as we did on the old forum, there were over 50 a day which I usually banned before they reached the forum page. I know the current software sometimes has problems but it's pretty good at keeping spammers out.
 
Jan 15, 2011
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Hello Gafferbill
I've just been reading the comments on this thread and was surprised how long ago it started. Anyway following your very first post. I had often looked at electric toothbrushes but never considered getting one. However your original link enticed me to give one a try the very reasonable price was also something that appealed to me as well.
Since then I've used the toothbrush almost daily I've obviously renewed the brush head a few times and a couple of batteries occasionally but it's still going strong. I tend to use it in the morning but still use a normal brush before bed.
I'm not convinced one way or the other that they are better than conventional brushing but I'm happy to use it.
There is no real point to my post but I just thought you would be interested to know that your original submission was acted on by at least one.
Regards to all.
 
Jul 15, 2008
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.....glad my post was useful :)
I still only use a hand operated toothbrush but my wife uses a battery type when away with the caravan.
It is amazing how long the batteries last!
 
Jul 11, 2006
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ProfJohnL said:
Hello Gaffer,
Having read teh spec. in the link you have provided, one point that raised its head is:-
"Output voltage - 240Vac (±10%)"
Even inverter outputs cant make instantaneous changes of ourput voltage to compensate for chnaging loadsso it is quite possible that if lightly loaded the output coudl swing to 240 +10% or 264V.
You should check the tooth brushes input voltage range, Some items I have seen of continetal origin are rated for a nominal 220V rather than EU norm of 230V. These may see 264V as an over voltage supply and may protect the appliance by causing an internal fuse to blow (therer could even be a varister as described in a the battery charger threads).

In the UK, mains electricity is currently required by law to be delivered at 230 Volts, within a tolerance of +10% / –6%, that is, within the range 253 Volts to 216.2 Volts. The value of 230 Volts is said to be the 'nominal voltage'.

Well yes and no. Most of Europe is 220V, we are 240V, so one of those classic EU fudges resulted. They specified that the supply should be 230V +10/-6% as you said - which meant that no-one had to do anything as 220V in Europe and 240V in the UK falls within the range.

UK supply is still 240V.
 

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