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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
srosenberg's avatar
srosenberg OP
209 posts
 
Al,

Can you see any reason why powering a Running Springs Audio Haley line conditioner off the output of one of these autoformers would be a bad idea?  I've read several threads online stating that surge protection type devices should never be on the output of a step down autoformer - a transformer is ok, but not an autoformer.

Do you have a point of view on this?

almarg's avatar
almarg
9,670 posts
 
I don't know the answer to that, Scott, or what the reason might be that it would be a bad idea.  And I'd imagine that the answer might depend on the design of the specific conditioner.  So all I can suggest is checking with Running Springs, as was suggested earlier.

Best regards,
-- Al
 
inna
7,923 posts
 
I see. PS Audio used to make P300, P600 and other regenerators that allowed you to change on the go both voltage and frequency output within quite a wide range. Newer ones don't let you change either. That was a good idea, why did they abandon it, I wonder?
srosenberg's avatar
srosenberg OP
209 posts
 
Thanks, Al.  I've been trying to get that information from Running Springs but have yet to receive an answer.

Here's one of the articles I was referring to:
http://www.gson.org/stepdown/
almarg's avatar
almarg
9,670 posts
 
Thanks for providing the article, Scott.  Everything it says is well explained and makes sense.  However the kind of surge protector it addresses is the kind that utilizes sacrificial "varistors" ("MOVs" being the most common type of varistor), in designs that shunt surges to ground.

Most inexpensive surge protectors, that are commonly used for computers and other non-audiophile applications, are designed that way.  However I believe that the majority of relatively expensive protectors and conditioners that are marketed to audiophiles are not designed in that manner.  For example the BrickWall conditioner/surge protector I used to use, and the Audience conditioner/surge protector I currently use, do not use MOVs or other sacrificial devices and do not shunt surges to ground.

So hopefully RS will respond about the suitability of connecting their particular design to an autoformer.

Best regards,
-- Al
 
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