Can I use 220V computer in USA.

[pratipasen]

Can I use 220V computer in USA.

[daveleau]

If you have a voltage switch in the back you can. The only monitor I know that does (right off hand) is a Sony.

[Dillbert2000]

That is a good question. Do you mean "Will I violate FCC regulations using such a powerfull system and interrupting nearby cable and radio and TV signals?"

I suggest E-mailing the FCC and asking them.

[Bleep]

You can, almost all homes and apartments in the united states have 220. The in-line to the building is 220 and they split that into 2 110 volt branches. You may have to make a extension cord from the dryer or electric stove socket but no big deal. When you get here with your machine post here or E-Mail me and I will give you some instructions on how to do this.
Bleep

[alx098]

There should be a switch 110/220 on the back of the power supply. If it does not have one, well, then just buy one that has. The only problem would be the monitor, but then you could probably get a transformer for that.

[GEC]

The only problem you might have is most of the world's AC voltage is 50HZ, the USA is 60HZ. Quality equipment can handle this difference. I have no idea what Dilbert is talking about.

GEC

[Dillbert2000]

The Federal Communications Comission regulates all transmitters of radio, television and other signals that can corrupt information transmissions, IE interstate telephone lines. If you read those little white stickers on nearly every card and part installed in a PC has some type of standard or applicable power limit or other FCC regulation.

Check those little white stickers on your PC cards or the first or second pages of the booklets that come with "add on" things for your pc.

If a 220V PC connected via phone line to an ISP. His information could literally overpower other users of the phone lines.

[GEC]

Dilbert
I dont know where you got the idea that a 220v computer will mess things up. Put in the simplest terms, a 220v computer requires 50% less amps then a 110v computer. A computer requires a certain amount of watts to operate and this is almost a constant thing overall so volts x amps = watts. As far as the rest of your statement is concerned your about as wrong as you can be.
GEC

[GEC]

Dilbert
I forgot about your white stickers and the FCC. All computers and most add in cards work at a specific frequency and this controlled by a crystal. This crystal is a miniature RF broadcast station when other components are added to a card. This is where the FCC comes in. The card must meet FCC standards so as not to interfere with you or your neighbors TV or radios. System volts will not cause interference.
GEC

[alondra]

Input voltage to a power supply has nothing to do with the operation (or interferance from ) a computer or other electrical device. powered by the power supply. that stops at the primary winding of the transformer. the output is then run thru circuitry that converts to DC. I don't believe that 10hz higher would hurt it. In fact as I remember running a trans former at lower that rated hz will burn it up. as stated most computers, have a switch on the back to change from 110/220. as stated the monitor may be a problem.

[Vampiel]

OK back to answering his question. Yes you can use a 220v computer in the USA. No USA homes do not come with 220v recepticals (wall plugs). The power coming into the house does not run at 220v's either. The power going into the house is unregualted, but it has a meter. It varies. Every time you turn on a light, or anything that requieres power you pull more power from the transformer that you are hooked up to. And it is metered. If you had the same amount of power going into your house at all times that would be stupid cause that would mean that either A: you wouldnt have enough power B: You are having axccess power coming in for no reason. I was an electritian for a little while and now a little bit more than the average Joe. This is what you would need to do, goto a store such as radio shack, or any store that would have transformers.

Buy a 120v~220v transformer. Hook it up. Thats it |) It may be costly though.

[Bleep]

You sure getting a lot of really wierd answers to your question. As to the poster that said that no US homes have a 220 socket, I have several questions on that. Having been a electrician some of my life and wired hundreds of homes I have not wired a home in the last 25 years that does not have a 220 socket. Et All - Dryer socket--Range socket--Air-conditioning socket. All voltage coming into your house is regulated. Do not confuse Current with Voltage. You will pay a arm and a leg for a transformer to run your machine. As to 50 hz Vs 60 hz not to worry, going from 50 to 60 . Only when going from 60 to 50 it would take more time than I am willing to give here to explain why. I will just say that the higher the Hertz the easier it is to make really ripple free DC. Not being a confortational type person it is difficult to post this but choose your advice very carefully. one other thing part 15 of the FCC regs have nothing to do with telephone lines it only has to do with the RF emissions of the device being used. The only telephone stuff coming under part 15 is wireless telephone.
Bleep

[This message has been edited by Bleep (edited 10-30-1999).]

[Underclocked]

What Bleep said /forum/wink.gif and, depending on the house/apartment arrangement, it might be easy to run an additional 220 volt service outlet (receptacle) dedicated to the computer. You could also tap your needed 120v supplies from this outlet to supply other pc components.
This "dedicated" circuit would be far less prone to voltage oscillations than the 120v circuits and would therefore be a superior power source.
If you wanted to add a UPS, that might be a bit of a problem pricewise. I haven't checked ratings on the typical UPS, but I would imagine most are rated 110-125v AC input, or thereabouts.
{all voltages approximate /forum/smile.gif }

[This message has been edited by Underclocked (edited 10-30-1999).]

[alondra]

Lord, I don't know where some of the folks here live. bleep is correct, for many years, houses have had a 3 wire drop. 220V I had a house that was built in the thirtys with a two wire drop 110V and changed the whole thing. the power to your house panel is always 220. a neutral leg and 2 110 legs across these is 220. the voltage does not change, well, it can, I built a house once and had a 20 volt drop under load, the power co. had to put a pole transformer nearer my house.they had not kept up with the demand. in the house the 110 circuits are from one leg to the neutral. ranges, dryers, air conditioners and the like go across the two hot legs, 220. you could run a 220 line to a receptical for 220 I did this for my welder,in the garage, but not practical for a computer in the house I have no idea what a 110 to 220 stepup transformer would cost today, if even available.

[CMonster]

vampiel you have made some incorrect statements:

It is a good idea to learn the difference between voltage, amperage, and watts. Voltage supplied to your home is relatively constant and its value theoretically does not vary; Amperage (AMPs), which is the amount of eletricity that flows through a circuit at a given time, will increase or decrease according to load demands. Anyway, voltage-X-amperage = watts, that is the total measuerment of power being consumed in a given system or component. Which brings us to what the power company charges you for, watts per hour, and what your meter measures.

Think of electircity like water, which arrives at a constant pressure (voltage) and yet you can use any volume of it that your system can handle, but not until you turn on the valve (switch). So the pressure constant is like "voltage," the flow of water through the pipes is like "AMPs," and the total amount of water you use is like "Watts."

I worked for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power for 7 years and I completely rewired my own home. Without fail almost every home and business in the USA has AT LEAST (2) 110volt AC lines coming into the building and an neutral line. The potential difference between the two 110volt lines is 220v AC, that is how a home is wired for a 220v outlet. Check your house or apartment and you will most certainly see 3 power lines coming coming into your residence. Also, most newer homes do have a 220 recepticle for an electric range or drier.

In any case, almost every - if not every - PC in the world runs on the same DC power specifications, the only difference being the conversion that occurs in the front end or "power supply." Many of the new Power supplies have switches on the back for 220/110AC operation, and I have seen a couple of monitors in my life that also have a switch - but this is rare.

peace...

George



[This message has been edited by CMonster (edited 10-31-1999).]

[krusty]

If you have a generic box the simple(cheap) answer is to a)flick the switch at the back. b)If there is no switch then buy a new power supply for the box.

As mentioned in some other posts, this will not fix problems with your monitor.


Good Luck......K

[Vampiel]

OK, let me refrase some of my statments. The power coming into your home in fact is unregualted. You are correct, the amps is what changes, you can have more/less power. I didnt know that the drier etc.. ran on 220v I was pretty sure it was higher than that? EASY SOLUTION : goto radio shack, I work at onee. They have a world conveter and will convert many 120v recep's to many diff. voltages. It cost 16bux. check for yourself I saw it yesterday. If they dont have it on display ask for it and they should have a catolog that you can order it from. If the power in your house was regulated then you would always have to little or to much power, and your bill would be the exact same every month, its just on a meter, you should know this BLEEP. Theres no regualtion cutting off your power saying NO this is to much.

[This message has been edited by Vampiel (edited 10-31-1999).]

[bdog]

Oh my goodness. After reading all of this, There is nothing more to say.

[Underclocked]

Power in the universe is unregulated so far as I know. But, I've never seen a power regulator. Vampiel, no offense, but you had best leave your criticism of Bleep out of any discussion of electricity.
There are all kinds of voltage regulators though and I assure you the electric utilities use a lot of them.

Voltage does vary greatly in most homes, especially older homes. How many haven't seen the lights dim when turning on some major appliance? That is a voltage oscillation and it is induced by the sudden additional load on the system.

220v systems vary less than lower voltage lines simply because the higher line voltage yields lower load currents for the same "power" consumption. We are talking AC and RLC circuits so this is a fact of life.
DC and pure resistive loads would produce a different and less desireable outcome if voltage is simply increased.

His question was "can he", the answer is yes.


[This message has been edited by Underclocked (edited 10-31-1999).]

[Vampiel]

The question I was reffering to is if the power is regulated coming into your home, not the power company. Your home can use "more" or "less" electricity. There is no set current IN AMPS (my bad) coming in. I dont see why this is so hard to comprehend. In essence I guess you could say that the power is "regulated" by the people inside the home whom choose how much power to use.

[alondra]

damit I give up. the VOLTAGE is regulated by the power co. as is the htz (cycles) at 60 other wise your clocks would not keep time by the way if you have 50 htz clocks they will be inacurate on 60 htz. as I stated in a previous post if your lights dim it is because the load (amps) from the houses on the line exceeds the power lines capability and you meed a pole transformer nearer your house. houses today Have 220v panels with a minumum of 100amp main breakers this is required by the building codes.
I think this whole thing proves one thing, don't accept advise with out checking it. or at least a second opinion. or you will see blue smoke.

[pickel]

Pratipasen: We have very delicate testing equipment where I work. If the computer is a real good one, you can purchase a voltage regulating transformer that will do what you want to do. The brand nane is "Sola" and they are quite expensive. You'll have to go to a good electronics outlet (not a Radio Shack or equivilent) and look in their catalog. Good Luck
the pickel

These transformers have voltage and frequency
(Hertz) regulation. That is why equipment made in Europe amd other countries with different power generating systems can be utilized in the U.S.A

[This message has been edited by pickel (edited 10-31-1999).]

[CMonster]

alondra ..we tried. At least you know that I know you know your electricity.

I have a transformer on the pole behind my house, I do not know the voltage of the high lines, I've been told it's about 3800 to the tank, but of course I get "twisted three" from the transformer tank -two 110VAC and one neutral...

..knowing that their lights sometimes dim for the same reason that the shower sometimes scalds when someone flushes ..ahhh to know the relationship between pressure and volume... and as for Mr.Hertz -well ...Tesla was the real hero.

[alondra]

cmonster I think it is about 3000V many years ago when we hams built out own gear I had the guts of one backwards in my power supply feeding mercury vapor rectifier <sp> tubes for my ham transmitter, loved the blue glow when keying. /forum/smile.gif

[mykel]

I've seen this thread for a while now.. OK my suggestion is, use 110v by switching the voltage switch at the back of the power supply on the computer.. Computer parts are veryyyyyyyyyyyyy fragile.. So don't try the 220v... I'm not saying that doing so would cause a fire or power shortage on your house, but I would recommend being on the safe side.. If the power supply on your computer doesn't have the little switch for the voltage, don't buy a transformer, instead buy a new case... It's not that expensive. It would be much more expensive if your computer get messed up.. Also, all the people that answered this thread are all genius's.. It makes me think that this BBS is really one of the best one... Cause not only that we have a computer techs and IT here, we have a good electricians too.. /forum/wink.gif I salute you guys.. /forum/redface.gif

[Underclocked]

I think we've seen little evidence of "genius" in this thread. I personally am a slug that spent several years at the controls of a nuclear plant's electrical equipment (as well as the rest). And a few years before at the controls of a nuclear submarine's electrical plant (and doing all the electrical maintenance). And a brief time at a civilian job as a journeyman electrician.
But, in all likelihood, wouldn't know a thing of which I write. /forum/redface.gif

[CMonster]

Underclocked one quick question - I heard that on US Navy ships and subs the AC power is very high cycles per second - like 400hz, is this true?

BTW, I did not mean to imply that voltage never changes - we know it varies like a drop in pressure, but I just meant in theory you have a relatively constant window minus the spikes, surges, and sags, and variences due to changing loads.


[This message has been edited by CMonster (edited 11-02-1999).]

[alondra]

pratipasan. hope you have a lot of patience. after all these posts in which we all showed our brilliance,expertice, and in some cases, lack of it, mykel , who was probably laughing in the background. gave you the simple answer. if it has a switch change it, if not and the computer is worth it, change the power supply, if it can't be replaced, get a new case with power supply. /forum/smile.gif

[Underclocked]

Most of the stuff for fire-control equipment was 400Hz when I served. However, most of the rest of the electrical distribution was 60Hz and normal voltage choices. The 400KHz stuff is produced from motor-generator sets which are powered by dc power (battery or other motor-generators depending on how much of the system is up).
There were actually 7 MG sets on the sub I was on. That class of submarine had an oscillation in the power output to some of the fire control equipment which was unsolved by the engineers or anyone else. One of my primary duties was to maintain the regulators for those machines (man, I would hate to tear into one of those babies now!!).
That slight ripple in the supply voltage to fire-control was effecting not only my sub, but every sub of the same class in the fleet.
I spent a few days tracing every cable with a thin plate of steel in my hand. At any point where I thought the outputs were physically close enough, I would hold the plate between the components and then call Fire Control. At one point, I got lucky! /forum/smile.gif

[CMonster]

Underclocked, Cool! Thanks for the info.

[philipg]

After reading all this you should all be an expert in AC so here's a trivia question.

If you were working on an AC line (let's say for the sake of arguements its an outlet(plug)), Now you are going to be electricuted, What line voltage is the safest (110 or 220) and why would you pick it?


Hint: If both 110 and 220 are fatal which one are you most likely to live from.

I'll post the answer in a couple of days.

Good luck all........

[BC]

220 less amps
but i would have a buddy with a good sturdy board to knock me out of the way if I started jiggling. Havn't you seen when dogs and cats climb power lines on fox? they lived. /forum/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by BC (edited 11-03-1999).]

[pickel]

Regardlees of the voltage, cardiac arrest can occur with less than .1 ampere. The most common accident that are fatal are ones that involve 110 volts. A bad wire in a drill,
bad extention cord , esspecially out of door'
where a good ground exists. Everyone hears of the lineman who got fried at 13,800 and had his shoes blown off. That news but most fatalites occur at line voltage 110 VAC.It's really hard to get across 2 phases at the same time (220 volts). The higher the voltage the more it will throw you. I work everyday with 277/480 systems and have had my share of accidents. Luckily I'm still here to talk about them. I'd rather get hit with higher voltage , believe me , you'll let go alot faster. 110v wants to hold on to you and if your grounded well, it takes less time to lock you up.Not trying to be a know it all, but I've been there done that.

Regards the pickel

Philipg: I think you've been there done that too. In over 30 years of fooling around the
electrical industry, it's not too hard to get
in a bad situation in a hurry. Some of are us lucky ,for some their luck runs out. At this point, I'm just glad to here and still able to function normally ( well almost)
Since I got this computer, I'm not sure if
Windows and software conflicts aren't frying
what's left of my mind. /forum/biggrin.gif /forum/biggrin.gif /forum/biggrin.gif

the pickel

[This message has been edited by pickel (edited 11-05-1999).]

[alondra]

phillipg
not to be picky but your post needs some clarification. you state "you will be electricuted" this indicates death. do you mean "will be shocked" this puts an entirely different question. if meerly shocked, then which will you survive, if death, which would be the least painfull.
by the way where is pratipasen? on the high seas on the way to the US?

[Eli]

Also, if both are supposed to be fatal, then it really doesn't matter which one you choose now does it? /forum/wink.gif

[philipg]

Well all your answers were intrigueing but the winner is Pickel.

Answer:

When you grab 110v the cycles combined with the high amperage will lock a persons muscles causeing paralyzies and muscle contractions, so you can't let go. And while you get shocked to death you look like Kentucky Fried Chicken afterwards only a little over done.


220v on the other hand will throw you like a rag doll across the room unles something is behind you to prevent movement.

So if you ever think 110 is less dangerous because it is lower voltage your wrong.

I like to take the time to express my thanks for your answers and to mention that like Pickel I'm happy to still be living.

[Underclocked]

The worst shock I've ever suffered (electric-wise /forum/wink.gif ) was received while changing a tiny 120VAC indicating lamp for a major fan onboard the sub. Nearly killed my dumb self.
I always thought the reason the Navy agreed for me to become an electrician is that I always showed a great respect for its potential (electric-wise /forum/wink.gif )

[pickel]

If you go to "Computer Nerd".com they have the case for you. Mid Tower with 230 watts Power Supply 50 or 60 Hertz (cycles)
Just what the doctor ordered /forum/biggrin.gif

the pickel



[This message has been edited by pickel (edited 11-11-1999).]

[Hawk]

Pratipasen,

As was stated above, just swap the power supply on your computer and for your monitor get the power converter from some place like Radio Shack. If I remember correctly, you can't put a foreign plug in a North American socket anyways. The pin arrangment and design is different.

[This message has been edited by Hawk (edited 11-10-1999).]

[kirk6677]

man I think this is the funiest thing ive seen in a long time,some one asks a very contriversial question and everyone agrees but oh no a simple voltage question and Im reading all night.You guys are making me feel like im ten years old agian, and in a argueing contest.im crying im laughing so hard!!!!!!
But I was a journeyman for most of my life and I am hear to tell everybody that most of you are wrong and right.
First of all this is where most f you were wrong is that voltage IS regulated
It starts of from the power station which then ges through a tranformer and proceeds at 138,000v to a distribution substation transformerand then is dropped to 34,000v then sent to the substation and droped to 12,000v from there it goes to a distribution transformer which is the one that goes to your house or office and the voltage can chang frome there depending on if you have a single phase two phase and a three phase setup the three phase is for the big boys like home depot and plces of that sort which most o there stuff is 277vand your averae house is a two phase wich is 220 volts the old old houses are were you se the single phse but anyway I just had to get in on this a little although I did not help with the question but man I could right a book on this stuff if you want to know about a good book, go to a electrical supply and get a book called uglys book. its one of the best books you could buy
later guys

[Underclocked]

Kirk, I've manually operated breakers with 230,000 volts on the lines. There are also some lines which carry 750,000 to 1,000,000 volts, although not many. Your system distribution voltages may vary somewhat between the different systems on the grid. I know the voltages you specify not to ALWAYS exist on the various lines. http://www.spp.org/main/main.cfm?page=pubs provides a map of the major lines in the Southwest Power Pool. Very involved map and loads slowly, use the magnifier. Point is, voltages on the various lines vary a great deal from system to system, locale to locale, and no one set of voltages applies to all.
Don't laugh so hard.

[pickel]

Underclocked: Very well put. 230,000 Volta's
You've got Big Uns /forum/biggrin.gif

Kirk6677; AC or DC ? It makes alot of difference. Either way it's no fun. My father
had to moisten his finger before he'd stick in a lamp socket to test, he had become so immune to getting shocked. I have no such immunity, I use my trusty Beckman.

[This message has been edited by pickel (edited 11-11-1999).]

[kirk6677]

Ill check out that site just goes to show no matter how long you do something you can allways learn.and to replly to UNDERCLOCKED and PICKEL.....I might be stupid for saying this but Id rather get hit from a 110 on a wall socket than a 440 any day .I dont know if youve ever been hit by a 440 but it will make you puke.(I did!) not to fun.and on top of that Id rather get shocked by a 110 than flash burned by a 277 or 440,I have a friend that was flash burned and he had some third degree burns.hell man I used to grab a 110 and neutral just to win bets.