Voltage question
 

We bought a new guitar and amp pack for my son on e-bay and it shipped with
an amp rated at 230V, 50-60Hz and a European plug. Is this safe to use in
the UK and will it work in the same way?

Thanks

Marc

On Tue, 14 Jun 2005 07:23:57 GMT, marcb
wrote:

We bought a new guitar and amp pack for my son on e-bay and it shipped with
an amp rated at 230V, 50-60Hz and a European plug. Is this safe to use in
the UK and will it work in the same way?

Yes. It can be used in this country, just swop the european plug for a
suitable UK plug, or buy a European to UK convertor.

UK mains is 230 volt, 50 Hz.

J

John_ZIZinvalid wrote in
:

On Tue, 14 Jun 2005 07:23:57 GMT, marcb
wrote:

We bought a new guitar and amp pack for my son on e-bay and it shipped
with an amp rated at 230V, 50-60Hz and a European plug. Is this safe
to use in the UK and will it work in the same way?

Yes. It can be used in this country, just swop the european plug for a
suitable UK plug, or buy a European to UK convertor.

UK mains is 230 volt, 50 Hz.

J


Thanks - I always thought it was 240V.

M.

On Tue, 14 Jun 2005 08:02:22 GMT, marcb
wrote:

We bought a new guitar and amp pack for my son on e-bay and it shipped
with an amp rated at 230V, 50-60Hz and a European plug. Is this safe
to use in the UK and will it work in the same way?

Yes. It can be used in this country, just swop the european plug for a
suitable UK plug, or buy a European to UK convertor.

UK mains is 230 volt, 50 Hz.

Thanks - I always thought it was 240V.

It was made common with Europe a few year back.

J

In article , John_ZIZinvalid
writes
On Tue, 14 Jun 2005 08:02:22 GMT, marcb
wrote:

We bought a new guitar and amp pack for my son on e-bay and it shipped
with an amp rated at 230V, 50-60Hz and a European plug. Is this safe
to use in the UK and will it work in the same way?

Yes. It can be used in this country, just swop the european plug for a
suitable UK plug, or buy a European to UK convertor.

UK mains is 230 volt, 50 Hz.

Thanks - I always thought it was 240V.

It was made common with Europe a few year back.

Actually it was just a fiddle - it conforms to the european standard of
230V +10%/-6%, but the voltage was not changed and is still nominally
240V.
--
Tim Mitchell

"John_ZIZinvalid" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 14 Jun 2005 08:02:22 GMT, marcb
wrote:

We bought a new guitar and amp pack for my son on e-bay and it shipped
with an amp rated at 230V, 50-60Hz and a European plug. Is this safe
to use in the UK and will it work in the same way?

Yes. It can be used in this country, just swop the european plug for a
suitable UK plug, or buy a European to UK convertor.

UK mains is 230 volt, 50 Hz.

Thanks - I always thought it was 240V.

It was made common with Europe a few year back.

J

Nothing changed!

The spec is now 230v +10% / -6%

So legally our supply can be anything between 226.2v and 253.0v

In article , Tim Morley
writes

"John_ZIZinvalid" wrote in message
.. .
On Tue, 14 Jun 2005 08:02:22 GMT, marcb
wrote:

We bought a new guitar and amp pack for my son on e-bay and it shipped
with an amp rated at 230V, 50-60Hz and a European plug. Is this safe
to use in the UK and will it work in the same way?

Yes. It can be used in this country, just swop the european plug for a
suitable UK plug, or buy a European to UK convertor.

UK mains is 230 volt, 50 Hz.

Thanks - I always thought it was 240V.

It was made common with Europe a few year back.

J

Nothing changed!

The spec is now 230v +10% / -6%

So legally our supply can be anything between 226.2v and 253.0v




And even if its lower it can be a pig getting the electrical powers that
be to do anything about it!....
--
Tony Sayer

On Tue, 14 Jun 2005 08:24:18 GMT, "Tim Morley" tim.morley*REMOVE
wrote:

We bought a new guitar and amp pack for my son on e-bay and it shipped
with an amp rated at 230V, 50-60Hz and a European plug. Is this safe
to use in the UK and will it work in the same way?

Yes. It can be used in this country, just swop the european plug for a
suitable UK plug, or buy a European to UK convertor.

UK mains is 230 volt, 50 Hz.

Thanks - I always thought it was 240V.

It was made common with Europe a few year back.

Nothing changed!

The spec is now 230v +10% / -6%

So legally our supply can be anything between 226.2v and 253.0v

I was refering to the notifications used on equipment, but yes
nothing really changed, except the supply company can be more
lax than before, when they was before.

J

On Tue, 14 Jun 2005 08:24:18 GMT, "Tim Morley" tim.morley*REMOVE
wrote:


Nothing changed!

The spec is now 230v +10% / -6%

So legally our supply can be anything between 226.2v and 253.0v


Interestingly other countries in the EU [the old 220v ones] got the
opposite, 230v +6% / -10%

Nice bureaucratic fiddle, but it *does* mean that appliances are now
typically designed to handle a wider voltage margin without
complaining, that in itself is a good thing.

I noticed the same kind of confusion in the US, people often quote the
voltage as 110v, with 220v across the 2 lives for larger appliances,
yet the actual supply is 120/240 nominal and can actually hit 130/260
before it goes into 'power company has to fix something' mode.

GE seem unaware of this when designing lightbulbs. Cheap GE lightbulbs
generally last about 20 hours.

I am waiting for the first bright spark to come up with 230 volt
lightbulbs here, that will last less than a day. They'll make a mint.

--
"I think computer viruses should count as life. I think it
says something about human nature that the only form of life
we have created so far is purely destructive. We've created
life in our own image." - Stephen Hawking

In article ,
Chipmunk writes:
Interestingly other countries in the EU [the old 220v ones] got the
opposite, 230v +6% / -10%

Nice bureaucratic fiddle, but it *does* mean that appliances are now
typically designed to handle a wider voltage margin without
complaining, that in itself is a good thing.

I noticed the same kind of confusion in the US, people often quote the
voltage as 110v, with 220v across the 2 lives for larger appliances,
yet the actual supply is 120/240 nominal and can actually hit 130/260
before it goes into 'power company has to fix something' mode.

Yes, it changed from 110V to 120V in the 1950's,
but the 110V number is still stuck in peoples' minds.
States can do their own thing though. California is
supposed to be 117V as part of it's energy saving
scheme.

--
Andrew Gabriel

Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,

California is
supposed to be 117V as part of it's energy saving scheme.

How does that work with switched mode PSUs then ?

--
Mark
Please replace invalid and invalid with gmx and net to reply

In article ,
Mark Carver writes:
Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,

California is
supposed to be 117V as part of it's energy saving scheme.

How does that work with switched mode PSUs then ?

Oh, it doesn't work with lots of things, including any heating
on thermostatic control, but it does still reduce consumption
of any devices without any power control, which gives an
overall reduction. We have been know to do the same in the UK
during periods of electricity supply shortage.

--
Andrew Gabriel

On Tue, 14 Jun 2005 07:23:57 GMT, marcb
wrote:

We bought a new guitar and amp pack for my son on e-bay and it shipped with
an amp rated at 230V, 50-60Hz and a European plug. Is this safe to use in
the UK and will it work in the same way?

It will work fine and is within specification.

However, I believe it is illegal to supply an electrical item in this
country without a UK plug fitted.

sponix

"s--p--o--n--i--x" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 14 Jun 2005 07:23:57 GMT, marcb
wrote:

We bought a new guitar and amp pack for my son on e-bay and it shipped
with
an amp rated at 230V, 50-60Hz and a European plug. Is this safe to use in
the UK and will it work in the same way?

It will work fine and is within specification.

However, I believe it is illegal to supply an electrical item in this
country without a UK plug fitted.

sponix

It is illegal through retail outlets, but not through E-Bay I'm afraid. A
private sale is deemed as not under these requirements. That's as long as
the seller hasn't fraudulently described the goods as being useable in this
country when they are clearly not.

The same applies to goods you buy abroad when on holiday. The goods must
not be described as being usable in other countries if the retail store
can't provide the proper plug-top for the power flex.

In article ,
"BigWallop" writes:

"s--p--o--n--i--x" wrote in message
...
However, I believe it is illegal to supply an electrical item in this
country without a UK plug fitted.

It is illegal through retail outlets, but not through E-Bay I'm afraid. A
private sale is deemed as not under these requirements. That's as long as

I can't recall any exclusion in the Plugs and Sockets Regulations
which might apply to anything purchased through eBay. The regulations
certainly don't only apply to retail outlets -- they have been
applied to private sales at car boot sales, for example.

The main exception to the rule for portable appliances is that
an appliance with a transformer built into the plug does not
have to be supplied with a UK plug.

the seller hasn't fraudulently described the goods as being useable in this
country when they are clearly not.

The same applies to goods you buy abroad when on holiday. The goods must
not be described as being usable in other countries if the retail store
can't provide the proper plug-top for the power flex.

The UK Plugs and Sockets Regulations apply in the UK only, and
someone outside the UK would not be breaching UK law if they sold
something outside the UK claiming it was suitable for the UK when
in fact it wasn't. They would probably be breaking their own local
laws covering misdescribing items.

--
Andrew Gabriel

s--p--o--n--i--x wrote:

On Tue, 14 Jun 2005 07:23:57 GMT, marcb
wrote:


We bought a new guitar and amp pack for my son on e-bay and it shipped with
an amp rated at 230V, 50-60Hz and a European plug. Is this safe to use in
the UK and will it work in the same way?


It will work fine and is within specification.

However, I believe it is illegal to supply an electrical item in this
country without a UK plug fitted.

Butr he bought it abroad...

sponix

In article , BigWallop
wrote:

The same applies to goods you buy abroad when on holiday. The goods must
not be described as being usable in other countries if the retail store
can't provide the proper plug-top for the power flex.

Not just the top, a complete plug is required to be fitted.

--
AJL Electronics (G6FGO) Ltd : Satellite and TV aerial systems
http://www.classicmicrocars.co.uk : http://www.ajlelectronics.co.uk

In message , Mark Carver
writes
Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,

California is
supposed to be 117V as part of it's energy saving scheme.

How does that work with switched mode PSUs then ?

They draw more current, and dissipate more power in the cables from the
generator . . . ah . . . some mistake shirley?

--
bof at bof dot me dot uk