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Eurozone sickness and 230v single phase vs 240v two-phase.

For reasons we really shouldn't debate here, the Euro is weak and it's probably going to stay weak for half a decade or until the Ukraine conflict ends. Maybe longer.

This has made the average selling prices of European produced gear (at current FX) about 20-40% lower than US list for grey market imports to the US. While some manufacturers kindly install a mains voltage selector on the back of the box (CH Precision, for one) others insist that voltage conversion only be performed by the manufacturer or perhaps not at all.

Now, I'm cheap but I can afford an electrician. So the question that follows is whether audio equipment cares about the difference between 230v single phase vs 240v two-phase. And if so, what's the best way to make 230 single phase from 120 or 240 American power? 

p_s

Showing 1 response by gs5556

gs5556
1,241 posts
 

European 230 volts is from hot to neutral (or grounded).

USA 240 volts has no neutral, it’s 120 volts for each leg. (120 volts is derived from grounding each leg).

If a European 230V transformer is wired to the grounded conductor, it’s a non-convertible and you can’t use it in a 240 volt US outlet. If the 230V transformer has two 115 volt primaries that can be configured to be commonly grounded in series or parallel, then it can run on either 240V or 120V. This is done by the user with jumpers or switching. You will have to up the fuse size if it can do 120V.

Note that the extra ten volts may or may not be a problem. If the secondary side of the power supply (DC voltage) capacitors are rated very close to that secondary DC voltage, the extra 10 volts will be a problem as it will raise the DC voltage by 14 volts. The 60 hz frequency should not be an issue with 50 hz amplifiers.

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