Moving country, what happens to my power?

[baikonur]

Hi all,

In about 9 months time I'm moving from England to Amsterdam and my studio is coming with me.

So here is the question.

Is there a way to get my studio to run stabaly on European power?

Can I get something that transforms the power as it enters the room and everything can still run on uk three pin plugs, or will every different item of equipment
need it's power input changing?

Are there any companies that do this kind of thing?


Any help would be great.

B

[BertKoor]

UK power is 220 or 240 volts right? It's the same over here in Holland, so that's allright.

Just one thing: the power plugs don't fit
UK:

European:

It would be a real hassle if you were going to replace the plugs on all of your gear. Especially if you decide to go back to the UK...

So one solution I can think of: take a bunch of UK power strips with you. Cut off the plug, and screw on a European plug you buy here for the price of a burger at any electronics shop or DIY market.

But if most of your gear uses IEC connectors on the chassis, you can buy IEC power cables over here:

[stefancrs]

I thought you meant YOUR power...

Anyway, you can in Sweden. We used to have UK DJ equipment (two decks and a mixer) at home, using a swedish->uk outlets chord. I'd be surprised if the same thing wouldn't work in other European countries.

edit: ok, same plugs in Sweden and Holland it seems I think the same are used in most western European countries (france, germany etc).

[baikonur]

There's over 35 bits of equipment, this is all starting to make me feel nervous!

I thought uk spec stuff always run slower on European power? Hairdryers being a good example, one that works fine in the UK bearly works when put through an adapter.

B

[stefancrs]

There's over 35 bits of equipment, this is all starting to make me feel nervous!

I thought uk spec stuff always run slower on European power? Hairdryers being a good example, one that works fine in the UK bearly works when put through an adapter.

B

Hm, just as most other European countries U.K. power should be 230V/50Hz afaik, and no "power adapter" is needed, just an "outlet adapter", because of physical differences between the outlets.

[baikonur]

I always thought we were 240v, but according to this...

"It's now 230VAC. Used to be 240V, but harmonised to 230V
Europe-wide some time ago. For old 240V kit, the "new"
230V is well inside the 6% voltage tolerance specs. "

So maybe this may not be as bad as I thought.

Just had a quick look at the back of my Triton Extreme 88 and it says that it will run between 200v-240v.

Just got to find somewhere to put it all now!

B

[kara]

I travell on a regular base between countries in Europe and never had any problems

[MrM]

In Holland it used to be 220 V ac @ 50 Hz, nowadays it is 230 V ac @ 50 Hz.

[pw]

even though a country might be 220, or 240, or 200V or whatever, most equipment runs at a range of 200-250, so you are usually pretty safe. As for the actual connectors, I wouldn't recommend cutting and changing the cords on your actual instruments at all. When I moved here from Australia, I simply bought a whole heap of quad adaptors, and then took them to an electrician here and got the output changed to the local plug (the inputs of course fit all my Australian equipment).

[baikonur]

When I moved here from Australia, I simply bought a whole heap of quad adaptors, and then took them to an electrician here and got the output changed to the local plug (the inputs of course fit all my Australian equipment).

So I connect all my UK plugs to one of these...



then change the plug on that to a European spec plug?

B

[pw]

that is what I did.

[baikonur]

Good good

[stefancrs]

There are such chords on the market already, if you don't feel like modding the chord yourself.

edit: You could ofcourse actually change the outlets in the "studio room" to U.K. ones as well. Not sure what home insurance companies etc think about such a move though. They might not bother, since it's the same(-ish) voltage and frequency.

edit2: Or oh oh oh! Change the outlets to dual ones, so that you could plug both your existing cables and ordinary European ones into it. FFS, U.K should change their outlets!

[Meffy]

"Baikonur will be moving from England to Amsterdam. In other motile geography news, Birnam Wood was seen marching toward Dunsinane..." :-}

[baikonur]

"Baikonur will be moving from England to Amsterdam. In other motile geography news, Birnam Wood was seen marching toward Dunsinane..." :-}

err ???