[Ben Hanson]

I might be taking a job which would require re-location from the US to the
UK. A fair bit of my recording and production equipment can take 110-220
input voltage, but a number of key pieces cannot. Adapting the plug from the
3-prong US to UK is not a big deal since you can buy in-line adapters for
that, but how best to convert power for those devices in my studio? A whole
house
transformer to step down the voltage would be overkill (and maybe illegal?)
and individual power converters per piece would be tedious to hook up and
maintain for a dozen or so pieces of gear that were 110-only...I tried
looking online for a small unit, like
maybe a rack-mounted 1U or 2U device like a standard rack-mounted 1U power
supply that might do something like this, maybe that could take the 220
input but allow you to toggle the output as 110 or 220 on the output plugs,
but didn't see anything like that. I'd be really grateful if anyone has some
advice on how best to tackle this?

-Ben


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[Scott Dorsey]

Ben Hanson wrote:
I might be taking a job which would require re-location from the US to the
UK. A fair bit of my recording and production equipment can take 110-220
input voltage, but a number of key pieces cannot. Adapting the plug from the
3-prong US to UK is not a big deal since you can buy in-line adapters for
that, but how best to convert power for those devices in my studio?

How many devices are they?

A whole
house
transformer to step down the voltage would be overkill (and maybe illegal?)
and individual power converters per piece would be tedious to hook up and
maintain for a dozen or so pieces of gear that were 110-only...I tried
looking online for a small unit, like
maybe a rack-mounted 1U or 2U device like a standard rack-mounted 1U power
supply that might do something like this, maybe that could take the 220
input but allow you to toggle the output as 110 or 220 on the output plugs,
but didn't see anything like that. I'd be really grateful if anyone has some
advice on how best to tackle this?

Sure, you can buy such devices. Also you can get a dry transformer mounted
at your panel, with a few 110V outlets in the studio.

The question comes: how much current do you need, and how many outlets?
Tote up the nameplate rating on everything. Can you run everything in
the studio on 20A? On 15A? How about 10A?

Which pieces of equipment do you have that can't be converted?
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Ben Hanson]

Hey Scott, thanks for the response (and everyone else too)...turns out
there's less than I had imagined that wouldn't work at 220...I should have
done more RTFM'ing before posting! For example my Hardy mic pre and RME
AD/DA seemed 110-only at first glance but then when I read a bit more
closely in the manual I see where in the Hardy for example you can
re-configure it pretty easily to take 220. It looks like the stuff that
can't take 220 is pretty much mostly stuff with a DC wall wart. A few items
appear to be capable of converting to 220 by re-orienting the position of
the fuse (not that the fuse itself matters but I guess rotating the socket
adjusts something internally)...I'll need to double-check those first so
that I don't melt anything (these are powered near-field monitors and a
powered sub).

All in all perhaps if it ends up only being a handful of items then one-off
single power converters won't be that big a deal.

-Ben




"Scott Dorsey" wrote in message
...
Ben Hanson wrote:
I might be taking a job which would require re-location from the US to the
UK. A fair bit of my recording and production equipment can take 110-220
input voltage, but a number of key pieces cannot. Adapting the plug from
the
3-prong US to UK is not a big deal since you can buy in-line adapters for
that, but how best to convert power for those devices in my studio?

How many devices are they?

A whole
house
transformer to step down the voltage would be overkill (and maybe
illegal?)
and individual power converters per piece would be tedious to hook up and
maintain for a dozen or so pieces of gear that were 110-only...I tried
looking online for a small unit, like
maybe a rack-mounted 1U or 2U device like a standard rack-mounted 1U power
supply that might do something like this, maybe that could take the 220
input but allow you to toggle the output as 110 or 220 on the output
plugs,
but didn't see anything like that. I'd be really grateful if anyone has
some
advice on how best to tackle this?

Sure, you can buy such devices. Also you can get a dry transformer
mounted
at your panel, with a few 110V outlets in the studio.

The question comes: how much current do you need, and how many outlets?
Tote up the nameplate rating on everything. Can you run everything in
the studio on 20A? On 15A? How about 10A?

Which pieces of equipment do you have that can't be converted?
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."


--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com