UK voltage Fender EVH mod - really?

ICBM

Headphones said:

May I offer some clarity to the specs:

In the UK, the declared voltage and tolerance for an electricity supply is 230 volts -6%, +10%.

This gives an allowed voltage range of 216.2 volts to 253.0 volts.

Any equipment supplied must be safe to operate at these values.

Correct, but safe is not the same thing as reliable in the long term. Running the amp at the upper end of that range will increase heating and the risk of arcing, which is especially a problem in valve amps as unlike almost all other electrical equipment, they increase the voltage internally rather than step it down.

If you compare the designed voltages on the schematics to the measured voltages when a "230V" amp is run at 240V you will find the actual voltages are substantially too high. Voltages in the UK are almost always closer to, or above, 240V - so it's better to set the amp for that and not for the supposed 230V.

I'm not sure why this needs repeating.

Headphones

Merely trying to offer clarity over the vagueness earlier in the discussion.

Unreliability of US amps in Europe is not unique to the UK, the frequency has a big hand in that issue.

I would suggest though, that if the voltages you read are outside the published tolerances of the design, It may well still be faulty.

Or there's a reasonable argument that it's an unsafe design or not of merchantable qualty...  Trading standards, etc.

Yamaha77

To note:  I checked my 5150 iii 100w and it's the p24 (should be w for 240v)  and p26 (should be w+b for 240v) wires to switch from 230v to 240v. Mine was set default for 230v now correct and fully working.

Always check with schematic before doing this and if uncomfortable get a tech to do it at next valve change/biasing.

darius

Yep, did it just now on my 50W.

Fitted w to P18 instead of w+b to P18. It powers up, makes noise and i didn't die. Hoorah!

Thanks, team tech.

PrecisionGuided

Just had a look inside my PRRI and it's set to 240 VAC

https://www.dropbox.com/s/bmkrtgc0sbhrurh/PRRI 240VAC caption 2.png?raw=1