Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uflorida!stat!vsserv!loligo!pepke From: pepke@loligo (Eric Pepke) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware Subject: Re: "American" Macs in Europe Message-ID: <327@vsserv.scri.fsu.edu> Date: 1 Nov 89 22:27:31 GMT References: <28821@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu> Sender: news@vsserv.scri.fsu.edu Reply-To: pepke@loligo.UUCP (Eric Pepke) Organization: Supercomputer Computations Research Institute Lines: 58 In article <28821@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu> jpulliam@silver.bacs.indiana.edu (Jacqueline Pulliam) writes: >I am purchasing a MacPlus in the States and will be going overseas >(specifically, to France) in a year or so. I am concerned about >being able to use my Mac while I am there. I have been told I must >purchase a *special* transformer, that the standard type will not >work. I have also been told they run around $100. > >My questions are: >1. Do I have to have a special transformer? >2. How much do they cost? >3. Where can I purchase one? First of all, a disclaimer: Do not mess with this unless you are absolutely sure you know what you're doing, and if you damage your Mac or yourself or anything else, it will not be my fault or the fault of my company. I accept no responsibility for errors in this posting. Yakity yakity yak. The cheap "transformers" that you can get in just about any drug store are generally one of two kinds. Either they contain genuine transformers or they contain diodes. (Some contain both and a switch.) The ones that contain diodes do not step down the voltage; they just cut off one half cycle of the AC. This works pretty well for simple heating appliances, such as contact lens boilers and the like, although it can shorten the lives of filaments. It will, however, fry your Mac. The ones that contain genuine transformers are somewhat better, but the key here is power. They are usually rated much too low to run a Mac. If you try to use one of these, it might work for a while, but later on the insulation would burn out and you would see an exciting but counterproductive fireworks display. Real transformers that have enough power to run the Mac are a bit pricey, although you should be able to do considerably better than $100. As you have a year before going to Europe, you might consider looking at the ads in the back of hobbyist electronics magazines for a while. I personally would get a surplus or new transformer and do the wiring myself, but for obvious legal reasons I do not recommend that anybody else do that. However, there are a lot of cut-rate electronics and electrical supply houses that sell even the finished products at a lot cheaper than retail. Steve Neas' statement that the problem is 50Hz versus 60Hz is somewhat inaccurate. For most devices that use transformer or switching power supplies, including the Mac Plus, 50Hz is just fine. Some overheating problems have been reported with running ImageWriter I's at 50Hz for a long time. Some kinds of motors go completely out to lunch. The line frequency doesn't have anything to do with the frequency of television sets or monitors any more; it's a historical remnant from the bad old days when people couldn't build cheap amplifiers that didn't hum. As another solution, you might consider buying an SE instead. Their power supplies are smart enough to figure out what the line voltage is, so you don't need any external transformer, just a different power cord. Eric Pepke INTERNET: pepke@gw.scri.fsu.edu Supercomputer Computations Research Institute MFENET: pepke@fsu Florida State University SPAN: scri::pepke Tallahassee, FL 32306-4052 BITNET: pepke@fsu Disclaimer: My employers seldom even LISTEN to my opinions. Meta-disclaimer: Any society that needs disclaimers has too many lawyers.