electrical enginners pls help !


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Brett

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Jan 12, 2003
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Bought a PC to bring to thailand to use, found that they are running 220v, where as the PC's power supply is either 115 or 230.

Question is can I just use a adapter to plug it in and it won't blow ? Or do I need a Power supply which is 220v ?

Thanks in advance guys !
 

Are you bringing a laptop or a PC? Perhaps you can try reading your adapter again. Check its tolerance. Usually it has a +/- 5 to 10% tolerance. If you work it out at 5% tolerance and stated operating voltage on the adapter is 110V or 230V, the adapter is able to handle voltage from 218Vac to 241Vac. Work it out with again if you have 10% tolerance. Likewise for your 110V too

If you have a high sensitivity equipement, you also wana check what frequency it is running. Its either 50Hz or 60Hz but most machines are able to withstand it. Locally, (Pls correct me if I am wrong) the supply we have is 240Vac, 50Hz. If stated as your 230V, your equipment might have malfunction a long time ago. Do not worry, most equipment have different operating voltage tolerance and not to forget frequency.

Hmm.. You should have no problem running your equipment in Thailand. I believe they share almost the same distribution power as us. For the safe side, please check it out again. Cheers.. Enjoy your trip in Thailand.. Also bring some nice shots for our fellow CSers too.. :cool:
 

aiyo,

220 and 230 no difference one. sure can use.

I design ICs for a living, 5% supply variation is like nothing.If your circuits so sensitive, die die long ago.
 

no problem.. can use.. will kill ur PC...
unless ur PC soooo sensitive.. then no words to descipe liao.
 

your pc already supports univeral power supplies, no worries. Just toggle the PC's power supply switch to either 220V or 110V.
 

phew ~ lucky can use :) :) :)

ya bring PC not laptop LoL for longterm use there

Thanks a million guys !
 

something to note about thailand power is that they do not have earth for the sockets (that i see at a fren's home, i went thailand help a fren fix pc, kena 'shocked' cos no ground)
 

wow.. went to thailand just to fix a PC? ;p

Anyway, back to topic....

Used my labtop at thailand / Phuket before and did not encounter any problem on the supply there...
 

mobby said:
wow.. went to thailand just to fix a PC? ;p

Anyway, back to topic....

Used my labtop at thailand / Phuket before and did not encounter any problem on the supply there...

that's because your laptop power supply adapter allows input 110 - 240V ac, 50 - 60Hz
 

AReality said:
Got 1 qn in my mind, no ground, won't spoil?

Nope.. If you're afraid, get a long wire. Attach one end to a window sill or any other exposed metal that's connected to the building. Attach the other end to the casing.
Note that this is a bad idea if the building is prone to lighting.
 

AReality said:
Got 1 qn in my mind, no ground, won't spoil?

you may like to take a look at this article:

http://www.thailandguru.com/infra-electricity.html

in general, it is safe to use a 3-pin plug in a 2-pin socket. basically the 3 pins are for hot-wire, neutral & earth. under normal circumstances, there will be no current through the earth line. the current will come from the hot-wire then return to neutral. earth is for added safety.
 

but PC equipment need grounding, especially if yours is a PC, with metal casing, in long run, your mainboard & the devices may suffer... (breakdown faster...) and if using CRT monitor confirm need grounding... no ground the monitor get killed faster...

anyway general rule, if the casing is made of plastic, most likely you won't get shocked by the current when placing your hands over it... if the casing is metal, with powder coat, most likely u won't as well, but if its the bare casing... may god bless u..
 

Del_CtrlnoAlt said:
but PC equipment need grounding, especially if yours is a PC, with metal casing, in long run, your mainboard & the devices may suffer... (breakdown faster...) and if using CRT monitor confirm need grounding... no ground the monitor get killed faster...

I don't see how the equipment will break-down faster without earthing the casing. Most silicon chips die due to electro-migration/ static to begin with.

For the CRT, I really do not understand why it'd get killed faster either. Many CRT manufacturers (Sony being one of them) supply powercords with 2 pins only. You're more likely to kill a Aperture-grille or Trinition by using speakers and sub-woofers than lifting the earth wire.
 

barracuda said:
you may like to take a look at this article:

http://www.thailandguru.com/infra-electricity.html

in general, it is safe to use a 3-pin plug in a 2-pin socket. basically the 3 pins are for hot-wire, neutral & earth. under normal circumstances, there will be no current through the earth line. the current will come from the hot-wire then return to neutral. earth is for added safety.
If i remembered correctly, 1 of my CPU died instantly coz i used a 2-pin plug.
The static built up on the casing was too great.
Mainboard, gfx card, sound card, chip, all gone.
 

hope ur hard disk is ok !

Thanks guys for the in depth info ! I guess its gennerally safe to use time to pack for my trip ! ;p
 

AReality said:
If i remembered correctly, 1 of my CPU died instantly coz i used a 2-pin plug.
The static built up on the casing was too great.
Mainboard, gfx card, sound card, chip, all gone.


this is an interesting one. just out of curiosity, how did you know that it is the static that killed your CPU? and mainboard, and the cards? CPUs usually has build-in ESD protection up to +/-2kV.
 

barracuda said:
this is an interesting one. just out of curiosity, how did you know that it is the static that killed your CPU? and mainboard, and the cards? CPUs usually has build-in ESD protection up to +/-2kV.
Coz i touched the casing after the main plug was off?
 

actually i dun understand y they would supply 2 pin when we can have ground for our equipment.. maybe tv/monitor cause they have plastic casing hence they dun need earth since you won't get shock from any protruding metal parts.

but PC equipment have ground link to them.. or is that ground another thing that we do not know...
 

AReality said:
Coz i touched the casing after the main plug was off?

That shouldn't be the cause of the internal equipment being damaged actually.. Your equipment may have been damaged by a surge when you switched the PC on after that..
 

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