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Moving From USA Overseas... Looking For Advice re: Electrical Service and Gear

hello all,

i'm moving from the USA to Vietnam (220V / 50 hz) and am looking for some advice on the best and safest way to hook up my system out there.  the area i'm moving to - district 2 in ho chi minh city - apparently has power outages monthly.  any advice on safely running my gear out there would be appreciated.

  • is it better to have my gear converted to 220V, or simply use a 220V - 120V step down transformer?
  • should i use an uninterruptible power supply (UPS / battery backup) or is a good surge protector sufficient?
  • is it possible to use a step down transformer in line with a UPS, ie, wall to UPS, UPS to transformer, transformer to gear?

as you can see, i have no idea what's the best and safest way to run USA spec equipment in Vietnam and would appreciate all inputs and recommendations.

thanks!
Scott 
srosenberg

Showing 1 response by skoczylas

skoczylas's avatar
skoczylas
241 posts
 
I live abroad as well and greatly appreciate the topic and al's advice. I have used a Chinese step down converter to a monster surge protector to my amp for six years without a problem. The advice on grounding is good - I'm not grounded in my current house as it's very old and we do get mild to medium shocks which are a bit scary.

My next location is grounded but has power outages so I'm thinking of adding a ubs to the mix.

I wonder why battery power hasn't taken off for the audio world as it would solve a lot of problems. I used Vinnie rossis red wine battery amp and loved it. Was great for living abroad as it didn't require voltage conversion. 

Does anyone one know if a ubs which could power a decent sized amp? 
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