HELP! Moved from UK to Florida - how do I power my studio??

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audiotheory

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Hello there, this is my first post - and a pretty important one (for me!). I have recently (as in last friday!) moved to Florida from London, England - gotta love the change from cold and wet to warm and sunny :D
Now, I have shipped my beloved studio and it will be arriving here sometime next week (I cant wait - its been almost 3 weeks since it left - im starting to get the twitches!).
My question is this - what would people suggest as a solution to the power differences?
Obviously all my equipment runs on UK power and has UK plugs.
I have a few ideas but to be honest Im kinda gettin a little worried...

thanks in advance

:theory
 
You'd have to get converters I'd imagine...
Which I also imagine could get very expensive...
 
Why convert each individual piece of gear with a $20 converter, unless you have four items.

Get one large converter, that provides enough power for all the gear, and convert it that way.

UK I believe if 220V, right? Most modern houses have a breaker box with a split-feed, meaning that across the mains you have 220V. You could run a 220V circuit to the studio room, and power it that way. I believe UK is 50hz, which doesn't matter for switching power supplies nor does it matter for wall warts and power transformers, at least not enough to worry about it.

Recorders used to use the power signal for motor speed timing however, and if you have an Otari for example, you might find that it runs at 6/5ths the speed it did originally.

I still would research and acquire a full-fledged converter however, and put all the gear on a unit such as that. They also provide better filtering and noise isolation than using a simple transformer.

Oh, and welcome to the USA.
 
gotta love the change from cold and wet to warm and sunny
Click to expand...

Well I hope you are aware of the deadly HURRICANES there too:eek: Two of them in 40 days. Good luck with the power.
fitZ
 
Welcome to the US.........

I don't know about the gear you're using - you might just find that some of them have that nice switch on the back to go from 50hz 220 to 60hz 110.

I do agree that you should (for any that can't be changed with factory switches) go the route of a transformer........

Good Luck,

Rod
 
I agree, a lot of gear, like lapeop computers, have dual voltage power supplies, in which case all you will need is a new cord. Some may have external power supplies, in which case all you will need is a new one with the same output power. Whether to use a local transformer or bring in a special outlet from the circuit breaker (US homes do have 220v power for electric ranges and dryers, so it is not a case that that voltage is unavailable). would depend on how much gear is still needed. If it was more than could be safely accomodated on a single outlet (the one the transformer would be plugged into) then you would most likely be looking some custom electrical work.
 
I moved from the UK to Canada a while back. I flogged some of the gear that was dispensible (I thought I made a mistake selling my DAT recorder but I don't miss that crappy flakey thing one bit now that CD-R is here) and brought the essentials. Most of the gear was switchable or used wall-warts. The stuff that wasn't (my trusty Atari, Tascam 244, and analogue synth) I just power off a big 500 VA Hammond transformer I picked up at a junk store. The only problem I had was the PSU capacitors in my Trace Elliot exploding but the distributor replaced them free of charge even though the Trace was out of warranty (a known problem I suspect).
 
If you have a few hundred quid to spare, why not invest in a decent inline UPS that lets you program the input and output voltage independently? I have an APC model that cost around £500 and lets me program the output to 100, 110 or 240v while the input is auto-switching. I travel to the US frequently and leave a converter at my friend's house that I bought online for $70 + shipping (I recall that it was a company in Florida, actually).. I ordered one with quite a hefty output and it happily powers everything with the aid of a few 4-way adapters bought in the UK. If you want me to let you know where I got it from I could try and hunt down the invoice but you should find lots of suppliers if you Google for 'uk us 110v voltage converter'. I've used both options without any issues but if you have to spend money on converters anyway, going a bit further and buying a UPS that can do the job has obvious advantages.

audiotheory said:
Hello there, this is my first post - and a pretty important one (for me!). I have recently (as in last friday!) moved to Florida from London, England - gotta love the change from cold and wet to warm and sunny :D
Now, I have shipped my beloved studio and it will be arriving here sometime next week (I cant wait - its been almost 3 weeks since it left - im starting to get the twitches!).
My question is this - what would people suggest as a solution to the power differences?
Obviously all my equipment runs on UK power and has UK plugs.
I have a few ideas but to be honest Im kinda gettin a little worried...

thanks in advance

:theory
Click to expand...
 
Got it! (sorry about the double post)

http://www.world-import.com/transformers.htm

I bought the basic 1500W step up/down model. Obviously you need to calculate the load of your gear and buy any model with a wattage greater than that load, plus some headroom for safety.

Good luck :)

audiotheory said:
Hello there, this is my first post - and a pretty important one (for me!). I have recently (as in last friday!) moved to Florida from London, England - gotta love the change from cold and wet to warm and sunny :D
Now, I have shipped my beloved studio and it will be arriving here sometime next week (I cant wait - its been almost 3 weeks since it left - im starting to get the twitches!).
My question is this - what would people suggest as a solution to the power differences?
Obviously all my equipment runs on UK power and has UK plugs.
I have a few ideas but to be honest Im kinda gettin a little worried...

thanks in advance

:theory
Click to expand...
 
Hello all,
been MIA tha last however many days (gotta love the sun - and I dont have any noise making equipment to consume my time!!).
Thanks to everyone whos posted a response, all very useful and I think I will be going with the UK multiplug->StepUpTransformer idea as this sounds like the most hasstle free. Also when you take into account buying seperate US adapters for each piece of equipment I expect this will actually work out financially as well.
@Conan - thanks for tha link man, just what im looking for - now ive just got to get all my UK multi's sent over (how much am I kicking myself for leaving them??)

cheers all

:theory
 
Conan,
I've been looking at the heavy duty StepUp converters and I have few questions for you.
If I was to get one would I then simply daisy chain my UK multi adapters and plug them into one socket on the converter?
I noticed on the site you have to buy a seperate grounding plug, its only a few bucks so the money isnt an issue but im more interested in the ease of use and reliablity of this - obviously grounding is pretty important with audio equipment and I am amediately thinking of my turntables/DJ mixer.
I also want to know how fool proof these things are? Is it simply a case of plugging stuff in or is there a potential for me torching ££££'s worth of my beloved equipment.
Man-2-Man do you think the more expensive UPS is the better option? I could proberbly afford it but this trip is already racking up the £££ so if I can avoid it....
cheers in advance

:theory
 
Yup - that's all I did. Please remember to check that you're not overloading the step-up transformer though, or you can end up with a fried transformer or overheating/fried gear.

I'll admit that when I've been out there I've never had to worry about grounding because my apt has a few of those weird 3-pin outlets so I could plug the transformer straight in. As I know next to nothing about US wiring practices, I suggest you ask someone at that company for advice as they seem to be quite helpful and knowledgeable. BTW, you don't need to use the step-up transformer with your turntables - most decks (inc. Technics/Vestax, which I assume you have) have a 110/220v switch under the platter that can be adjusted with a flat-bladed screwdriver.

As your setup sounds similar to what I do when abroad, the way I have my gear set up on temporary LA missions is as follows: I have a US-UK adapter connected to a 13amp UK trailing four-way adapter. No voltage conversion is going on here so I connect my (adjusted - see above) decks, laptop (auto selects voltage) and amp (again, voltage selectable) here. I then have a heavy duty step-up transformer with two of those trailing leads daisychained powering my synths etc. I find it works really well but I'd recommend that you don't leave the step-up transformers unattented for any period of time. I've never had any problems and I don't want to scare you, but these things generate a LOT of heat and it's common sense, in the same way that I wouldn't leave a washing machine or dryer running unattended at home. To re-iterate, you definitely won't fry your gear (or, more importantly, yourself) as long as you connect the transformer to a proper grounded 3-pin supply and DON'T OVERLOAD IT. If you don't know how to calculate electrical loads, this page might help: http://www.solarsense.com/Spec_Your_System/Calculators.html - remember, as long as you are supplying MORE power than your gear needs including a good bit of overhead, you're perfectly safe. If in doubt, buy the bigger supply.

As for buying a UPS, why not get set up for now then invest in a UPS at a later date? Music is my livelihood so my main reason for having a UPS is to protect work on my sequencing computers and synths. If it's yours too, then I wouldn't settle for anything less than belt, braces, safety harness, seatbelts and asbestos underpants. I've found electrical supplies over there to be less reliable than what I'm used to in the UK, but I have no idea what it's like in your area so it's your call. Good luck! :)

audiotheory said:
Conan,
I've been looking at the heavy duty StepUp converters and I have few questions for you.
If I was to get one would I then simply daisy chain my UK multi adapters and plug them into one socket on the converter?
I noticed on the site you have to buy a seperate grounding plug, its only a few bucks so the money isnt an issue but im more interested in the ease of use and reliablity of this - obviously grounding is pretty important with audio equipment and I am amediately thinking of my turntables/DJ mixer.
I also want to know how fool proof these things are? Is it simply a case of plugging stuff in or is there a potential for me torching ££££'s worth of my beloved equipment.
Man-2-Man do you think the more expensive UPS is the better option? I could proberbly afford it but this trip is already racking up the £££ so if I can avoid it....
cheers in advance

:theory
Click to expand...
 
@Conan:
Thanks for all your help. I have a pretty good idea of what im doing now :D My apartment also has those 3 pin ground sockets so I guess Im gonna be all set.
My decks are indeed technics AND I remember that the plugs on them are actually convertors themselves (nifty little things where the original US plug is actually clipped inside them) so with your info on that I wont even have to by convertors - simply remove the UK adaptors and switch over to 110 underneath the platter. RESULT!!
Looks like Im going to have to get a seriously heavy duty StepUpTransformer - 5000w. I have done the power consumption calculations with all my kit and its looking pretty intimidating - Dual G5 = 600w alone :eek:
As for the UPS - I definately think it is something I will get in the long run. I will hold off for a minute tho (£££) as I am surprisingly anal about saving my work every 15/20mins under incrimenting filenames - and the surge protection should save my hardware from any physical damage.
thanks once again to you and everyone else whos answered my questions, now all I have to do is wait for customs clearence :(

peace

:theory
 
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