Philishave HQ 5620 Charger blown

[Jonathan G Campbell]

A colleague has 'burnt-out'(?) the charger of a Philishave HQ 5620 (Coolskin) shaver -- set to 110V, plugged into 240V. It now blows 1A mains fuses.

Any suggestions as to repair or replacement?

TIA,

Jon C.

[harrogate]

Ring Philips HQ on 020 8689 2166, ask for the small appliances helpdesk, and they in turn will advise where a replacement can be obtained. Used to be Willowvale Electronics but I think they went bust.

[Dave Plowman]

Mine - Coolskin, but not sure of the model, has a wall wart marked 100-240 volts. And my many years old mains Philips razor is also universal voltage.

What 1 amp fuse is it blowing?

[Jonathan G Campbell]

The one in the wall socket -- I have the impression the plug is shaver-style.

Sincere apologies for the imprecision, since I've only had a quick account of the symptoms and had only a brief look at the arrangmement (I'll call by and inspect more closely, but I cannot do that today). There is a cradle (like that of a cordless phone) that the razor unit fits into. I came away with the impression that the transformer and rectification/regulation are housed in that cradle.

Referring to another post, it seems absurd that the universal voltage feature of the mains-only Philishaves is not present in rechargables

-- but maybe I'm unaware of practicalities and economics of adaptors. Another incidental: I gave up on Philishave rechargables when the batteries died in one (after ~ 2 years) and there appeared to be no chance of replacement due to completely sealed unit.

Many thanks,

Jon C.

[Dave Plowman]

Like I said, they are in mine which has a two pin wall wart designed to fit in a normal shaver socket. And made in China.

Perhaps US models are 110v only since US citizens don't ever travel?

[Jonathan G Campbell]

Dunno. Could easily have been bought in far East or some airport duty-free.

The owner says that it was set to 110v while in Spain. I had assumed that all Europe was around 220-240v. Seems like a pretty fundamental design flaw -- in the shaver as well as in Spain :), /if/ some autodetermination feature is easy and cheap. (It's a long time since I've even thought about voltages other than 5v DC.)

Best regards,

Jon C.