What voltage is the US really? 110, 115, or 120? Or is any of those fine?
well I just stuck my probe in and measured 115.5 volt's here in Houston Texas USA
depends on the season......serious.....all of them.
In summer its like 105, in winter it can be as high as 130.
Just did a check here in the UK (as I was passing this topic) :- 233
So if a box is rated 110 it should be fine, right? What if it's only 100 like some Japanese stuff? Is there some converter you could buy?
there have been many successful reports of 100V boxes being used on US lines. It is a bit tricky and depends on the turns ratio of the transformer they used and the "limits" of the filter capacitors in the power supply. If the DC voltage of the caps are at the "max" limit for 100V and you pump in 120, there is a risk of the caps blowing up. But most smart engineering of the time was to oversize the capacitor voltage for line voltage shifts to accomidate those shifts.
I'd give it 90% chance of success. I have a 100V box plugged it in....no issues.
Your mileage may vary.
Is there some kind of device I can buy to convert voltage, just to be on the safe side?
Nearly every electronics store in Japan (Laox, Ishimaru, etc.) sells mouse-size 120-100v. stepdown converters, since much of their small electronics business is from North American tourists. There are also larger converters for larger appliances. Check the Internet (even eBay). I'll bet you'll find them.
I plugged in a 100v box into 110 it was history, sorry for disagreeing guys.
geoffhartwell - 2008-07-13 03:31
i blew a box up the other day, plugged it in the 110 instead of the 240
quote:
Originally posted by baby boomer:
Nearly every electronics store in Japan (Laox, Ishimaru, etc.) sells mouse-size 120-100v. stepdown converters, since much of their small electronics business is from North American tourists. There are also larger converters for larger appliances. Check the Internet (even eBay). I'll bet you'll find them.
But in this case it would be a step UP converter, right?
no, step down. 120 to 100 is a negative direction....down.
