Accuphase E-280 Voltage Conversion (100V to 120V)

Just buy a step-down AC transformer. No need to go poking around inside!

I have but I still want to change to 120V

Since you have a step-down transformer, you can confirm its transformer taps by power up the E-280 at 100VAC, using a DMM set to AC voltmeter, measure the voltage between yellow - orange, and between yellow - black, you should get both reading of 120VAC.

Swap the two wires:

RED <---> ORANGE

BLACK <---> VIOLET

That will convert the E-280 from 100V to 120V.

thanks imhififan

check voltage between yellow - orange, and between yellow - black,  should get both reading of 120V

Thks for the insights.  How would you convert from 100V to 240V?  Lokkkn g to purchase a unit from Japan. Thks!

@cj64 Hello, I'm about to do the same conversion. Just wondering how's your E280 after the modification. I suppose the last picture above is the post-modification (working at 120v) ? Thanks in advance for your feedback.

I suppose the last picture above is the post-modification (working at 120v) ?

@jcgoobee

Yes, if your E-280 has the same connections and color coded wires.

120V connection:

100V connection:

@imhififan That's super helpful. Thanks for helping out. I appreciate it. 🙏🙏🙏

Why dink around? Just buy the US model. Mines for sale, still In a sealed box.

Why dink around?  To save thousands of dollars for minutes of your time.

@imhififan is the hifi MAN!

Has anyone done a conversion on the Accuphase E-3000?

Hi everyone! I finally managed to publish a post 😄.

My name is Pietro and I'm Italian. I've been a fan of the Japanese brand for several years, and after several devices, I finally got to the combination of a preamp, a Class A power amp, and a CD player in my main system, all Accuphase.

Yesterday I purchased an E-280 (in Japan) for my second home system. As soon as it arrives, I'll upload photos of the faston connectors. I hope you'll help me convert it from 100 volts to 230 volts, especially the legendary forum member @imhififan 

@sonicrage 

The Accuphase E-280 power transformer has two primary windings, connecting the windings in parallel will produce a 100V or 120V primary, and connecting the two windings in series will produce a 220V or 240V primary.

Above is the 100V connection. From the picture we can see that it comes with 7 wires from the power transformer which are blue, brown, yellow, black, purple, red and orange.

There is a blue capacitor soldered to the connector block and its two pins are connected to the main voltage.

For the 240V setup, we need to determine which colored wires are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 by measuring the relevant resistance with an ohmmeter.

The yellow wire is connected in series with the thermal fuse to wire #1 inside the transformer, so the resistance between the yellow wire and wire #1 should be close to 0Ω. From the picture of the 100V connection we can determine it should be the blue wire or the brown wire.

The resistance between wires #1-#3 should be higher than the resistance between wires #1-#2. We can use the same method to determine the color wires of the other primary winding are #4, 5, and 6.

Once we have the two sets of primary windings figured out, the connections are simple and straightforward.

@imhififan Thank you so much for your thorough explanation.