need help powering a coil heater

[rebirth]

Hello,

I ordered a product from Europe that involves a coil heater. Unfortunately, it came with a European type power supply. I bought an adapter so I could plug it into US outlets, but I don't think it is getting hot enough. The instructions state that the heater should be powered with 12V, but I am not sure if AC or DC. Are coil heaters always powered by AC? Here is what the included power supply says:

PRI: 230V - 50Hz 70VA
SEC: 12V - MAX 60VA

I attached a multimeter to the power supply, and when I put it on AC it read about 6 volts. On DC it does not really move. So I think the power supply isn't outputting enough because it is expecting European voltages in. Does this sound right? So what I need is a US power supply that outputs 12V AC? That is what I think but I wanted to check with people more knowledgeable than I. Thanks a lot.

 

[colin55]

Either buy a 120v to 240v transformer and plug the power supply into the 240v side or buy a 12v 60VA transformer that operates on your 120v (AC) mains.
The coil operates on AC or DC as the AC rating of 12v is actually an RMS value and the energy it delivers to the coil will be exactly the same wattage as using a 12v DC supply.