Ableton Forum

Hello,

Well, like the topic says, I'm Canadian and I'll be in France for a week or so, and I am bringing some gear. Most of the gear that I'm bringing is rated for North American power only, that is 110~120V. I know that in Europe the voltage is at 220~240V. This sounds like a problem.

Naturally, I'm concerned over the safety of my equipment. Batteries are not an option for all my devices. What I was planning to do was to buy some sort of a power converting device which I would plug my regular power strip into, and have all my devices plug into the power strip. Does this sound like a good idea? I'll be gigging at unconventional places and so I definitely want to be self sufficient in this regard.

Thanks for any advice

I will warn you.

Most travel adapters DO NOT convert between power supplies. They simply line up the connections within the sockets so that current can flow. If you use one of these connected to a strip with all of your kit on. It could be kinda risky. It will deliver 230v (well.. 230-ish. Could be more or less) to your equipment. at best. You'll trigger a built in protective device like a fuse to cut the supply off. At worst. It'll damage your equipment and be a potential fire hazard.

However. Most equipment made these days will be produced to cross market. Ie...they have switchable power supplies or a transformer to take care of the different supply levels. But you'll need to check your kit on an individual basis to see if it can be switched and where the switch is. Some have it on the back panel. Others keep it internally.

Wikipedia might help you understand a bit more:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltage_converter

Ed