Voltage converter for using power tools overseas?

[texasdiver]

This winter I’m planning to fly down to Chile to help my wife and mother in-law work on a vacation home that they own in Chile. My wife’s family is from Chile. I’m expecting some things to do like deck repairs so I’d like to put together a bag of power tools like sanders and saws but Chile is all 220 volt like Europe so I’ll need some sort of voltage converter to run all my AC corded power tools. The cordless chargers will work fine as they are all DC and can take the 220 volt input.

Any advice or suggestions on the best way to do this? Is there a good inexpensive voltage converter I can buy that will handle the amperage draw of tools like belt sanders and circular saws? I know my mother in-law basically has no tools so I’ll be upset if I don’t bring mine with me.

Edit. Looked at my tools and the DeWalt circular saw has a 15 amp motor. My belt sander is 11 amp and everything else is smaller. If I remember my HS physics, Watts equals amps x volts so 15 amps is about 1600 watts so I’d need a voltage converter of at least 2000 volts but for safety more like 3000 watts, especially if I want to run more than one tool at once. Am I doing the math right on this?

 

[cvairwerks]

Will your tools run on 50Hz?

 

[engineer2]

I'd see it as an excuse to buy more cordless tools.

Any issues with Chilean Customs Administration bringing tools in and out? Sometimes they are afraid you will sell them there.

 

[texasdiver]

Will your tools run on 50Hz?

I don’t know. It is standard DeWalt, Makita and Bosch. Stuff that everyone has here in the US.

What is the consequence of running them on 50 HZ? Will the motors just run slower?

 

[engineer2]

Typically 20% slower and 20% less power.

 

[American Locomotive]

Frequency differences (60 vs 50 Hz) really only matters for induction motors. Very few, if any hand-held power tools have induction motors. They are almost all exclusively universal "brush" motors that do not care too much about frequency - some are even rated for AC and DC!

You would need a 1.5 KVA converter at the minimum really. A "1500 watt" converter might do it as well. Since you're going to be running motors, you really want to go by KVA, as that will be the more relevant number.

 

[texasdiver]

So I’m figuring if my biggest motor is the 15 amp circular saw then something like this 3000 watt converter should be adequate?

Rockstone Power 3000 Watt Heavy Duty Step Up/Down Voltage Transformer Converter, 110/120/2... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CLYMMCC/?tag=atomicindus08-20...

 

[American Locomotive]

That looks like it should work.