Dyson Medic

This weekend, I was invited to cast an eye over some American specification 110v-120v DC25’s that have somehow found themselves in the UK.

The object of the exercise was to strip one down and see exactly what was needed to convert them to UK specification.

As I found it quite interesting, I thought I might share some of that here.

American machines have a two pin power plug that looks like this.

When that is removed, we find a black and a white wire rather than the usual blue and brown we are used to.

On American market machines, the black wire is the live and the white wire is the neutral. So we can put on a UK plug there no problem.

However, as these machines are 110-120v and not the 220-240v we have here, there is more to it than that.

A look into the switch housing reveals the usual two power switches and the brush roll reset switch. Here is the American one:

And here is a British one:

You can see that they appear identical other than the UK one has 1.25A on it, and the American one has 2.00A on there. To my thinking, although one may work with the other in the short term, they differ for a reason, and that reason is likely to be something on the PCB, so we change that switch to be on the safe side.

Next, we must look to the main motor. Obviously the American voltage one is no good over here, so we must put a UK voltage one in there.

This is the American one:

That is a Panasonic SDS1301GND, which in the United States, is the same motor also fitted to the DC18 (in the UK, those two machines have slightly differing motors in there). UK models have the Panasonic SDS1304GZD.

Next we turn our attention to the cleaner head assembly. As the cleaner head has a PCB and a Johnson electric motor in there, we need to examine those to see if they are compatible with UK voltages.

Here is them taken out of the machine:

Sadly, although the motor type is the same DC77(2)XLG as UK models, it is rated at 120v DC. As these motors in the DC25 are not the finest bit of engineering Dyson ever conceived at the best of times, the likelyhood of it working for longer than a minute or two at 230v was slim, so we didn’t even try.

Similarly with the PCB, that visually differed to UK ones, so is once again, clearly a 120v market item.

As the PCB and the brushroll motor are not available for the DC25 on their own, this means we must fit a completely new cleaner head in its entirety.

These jobs done, and we have a UK spec DC25. Even if it does say “turns on a dime” on the dust canister.

So, to recap, here is how we convert a USA DC25 to UK spec:

• Change the main motor in the ball. 
• Change the full cleaner head.
• Change the reset switch.
• Fit a UK plug.

Those are not amateur jobs really, and the downside is that the parts to do this cost about £130. And maybe two hours of your time (assuming you know what you are doing).

It seems there is a small batch of these American machines floating around in the north west of the UK at the moment, so if you are offered a cheap DC25 out of the back of someone’s van, check to be sure it doesn’t have an American power plug on it or a US serial number. If it does, be aware it will cost in the region of £130 plus labour to get it converted to UK specification.

A machine that has been properly converted by a Dyson specialist engineer can represent a great bargain, as it is still a brand new machine. In fact, if you want a brand new DC25 for £199, look here.

Similarly, if you have acquired an American specification Dyson in the UK and are wondering what to do with it, you can sell it here. As you can with any Dyson product dead or alive.

If you have come by an American specification Dyson and want to tackle the work yourself, now you know how, you can get the spares you need from here.