Running 60Hz on 50Hz

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hawkeye1
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Running 60Hz on 50Hz

Post by hawkeye1 » Sat Mar 08, 2008 5:18 pm

All,

I am in the process of upgrading my home theater system. As in American living in Japan, I can usually find better prices and a wider selection buying American rather than Japanese; however, I run into a power problem as Japan runs 100V/50Hz, while some of the electronics I wish to buy (that are not auto-sensing) are 110V/60Hz.

I can take care of the 110V vs 100V quandary by buying a step-down transformer fairly cheaply. That leaves me with the 60Hz vs 50Hz cycle problem that remains unresolved.

Can anyone lend advice on whether running 60Hz electronics such as an AV receiver or LCD TV will be negatively affected running on 50Hz power? I really don't have a clue on this, so any professional advice from forum members would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Hawkeye

Elixer
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Post by Elixer » Sat Mar 08, 2008 6:21 pm

Most of the electronics in the US will run at 100V @ 50Hz without any modification. I also have never understood why electronics and things are stated at 110V; the power in the US is 120V, not 110.

Most electronic power supplies have a good deal of tolerance and will not have any problem running at 100V, 50Hz. However you'll see a small drop in efficiency, and you will stress the power supply a bit more than normal, so just make sure it can get the cooling it needs.

If you step-up 100V to 120V, then you're really really safe. The 50Hz just means that the load (supplying) capacitor won't be charged up quite as often. You shouldn't see any negative effect in 99.9% of cases, as there will be enough tolerance in the power supply to take it. In the other cases, you will only see a very small drop in the max capacity of a power supply - you might see it drop by a few percentage points.

This is speaking just about the power supplies for computers and electronic devices.

If you get a 120V, 60Hz LCD and run it with 120V, 50Hz, you will have no problems.

aristide1
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Post by aristide1 » Sat Mar 08, 2008 8:22 pm

Elixer is correct. Really the only real issues with such a frequency change was with old electric clocks that used the frequency itself to keep track of time. These days even the cheapest clocks have quartz oscillators, far more accurate.

hawkeye1
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Post by hawkeye1 » Sun Mar 09, 2008 3:49 am

Thanks so much for the responses. Besides being confused by the power differences, I'm spending quite a bit of money and not only want my components to work efficiently, but to last several years as well. I don't know why auto-sensing power supplies aren't more widely available, but I guess it must be a cost issue...

As for the quartz oscillators issue, does that mean I could expect the newer model HDD recorders to keep time properly when the power requirements don't match? Or am I expecting too much in that regard?

Thanks again/Hawkeye

klankymen
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Post by klankymen » Sun Mar 09, 2008 7:04 am

should work. back in third grade I had a nickolodeon alarm clock radio, that only kept time correctly in the states, but not in germany. Most electronics these days will say 100-240V 50-60Hz, if you look at the power supply or the manual.

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