Power supplies and north america vs europe

I'm pretty sure you'll need a transformer, unless you can switch from 110 to 220v on the gear.
An adapter alone won't do.

 

Well I've played a bit with an american guitarist over the last couple of months in Ireland.
Even with some of his power supplies saying 110-240, he prefers to be safer than sorry and uses a transformer.
I'd be inclined to do likewise.

 

look right on the power adapters, they'll say right on them what their acceptable input voltage is

So he doesn't believe what the manufacturer printed right on it?

 

The wall warts are likely fine, but they will explicitly state on them something like "100-240v 50/60hz" if they will work. The power strip is probably not rated for more than ~110v.

 

power strips should be rated for amperes & voltage


and then of course the maximum WATTS

 

Partly that, partly the fact the info panel on some of the units is worn off, and I guess it's just simpler to add a transformer to his set-up rather than mess about working out which unit is ok and which might not be.

 

Well, the more items he can plug straight to 220v, the smaller of a transformer he'll need. Isn't it heavy?

 

I've no idea but I'll check next time I see him...

Actually I'm fairly sure this is what he has...so 6.5kg.

Power Hero 2000VA 1500 Watt Step Down Voltage: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

 

DOH!, that's pretty big. Too late now, but he probably could have gotten one much smaller if he'd figured out how many NEEDED the transformer first & determined how many amps/watts they needed
I'm supposing he's a traveling musician, so lightening the load any way possible is usually a good idea.

 

Unless you have a very good converter, using us wall warts in EU is asking for trouble. Very often they will comply fine IF you change a fuse, something you may forget about.
The simple and IMHO right way to do things is to use a single, isolated ground, power brick for all your pedals that is 110/230V compliant.
It costs way less than the forementioned quality converter.

 

I agree, at least about getting a DC converter that can handle 110v to 240v. That's much better than getting a step-down transformer to feed the smaller transformers (wall warts).

I've never seen a fuse in a wall wart & the majority of ones made for U.S. consumption are probably made in Asia.
but I also haven't opened one in a long time

 

If you just want to power your pedals can get one of these to use in place of the pedal adapters

ISO-BRICK POWER SUPPLY  

Runs at different voltages and has a variety of plug outlet adapters that come with it.

The outlet required plug in England is different than what is needed in France for example. If you will be in different countries also have to worry about outlet differences

 

I'd echo the suggestion that the best thing to do would be to find a single-unit power supply with enough juice and voltage options to power everything you have that works at 110-220V (check out what Cioks, Voodoo Lab etc have to offer) and do away with the wall warts forever. Lugging around a big transformer gets old fast.

 

Should be? Yes!
Of course if you double the voltage you use half the current. Power rating (actually VA rating) is the same.

 

Yes, I was trying to think of a way to work that in w/o confusing the OP.

P = E x I (where P = Power = Watts, E = Energy = Volts, & I = Current = Amperes)

so, a device that requires 1,100 Watts at 110 Volts will draw 10 Amps of current
but at 220 Volts, the same device will draw only 5 amps

P/E = I

or

Watts/Volts = Amps

this electric motor label verifies that:




15 Amps at 115 Volts
7.5 Amps at 230 Volts

 

THAT is the only way to do things properly!

 

Agree that a single powerbrick type source would be nice from a convenience standpoint. However, if the wall-wart is rated up to 230 volts then by all means use it. Frequency is another issue to watch as some countries are on 50hz others on 60hz. Modern power supplies can handle the entire range of voltage and frequency. I am NOT a fan of stepdown transformers as they tend to introduce a tremendous amount of noise. Using a step-down transformer to convert 240 to 115 for a wall-wort that has a 115-240 input voltage range makes no sense whatsoever. Same goes for your laptop and iphone chargers, they will cover the entire range so you just need a plug adapter, NOT a transformer. I am a frequent visitor to Europe, so I speak from experience.