Stepdown trans for RE-201 Space Echo?

[tweakeasy]

Hey all, I purchased a Roland RE-201 Space Echo and it's a Japanese model (100V). After advice on where to get a suitable stepdown converter for the best price?

Wasn't sure if any on eBay were suitable/trustworthy?

Links appreciated!

Thanks

Michael

[Thirteen]

Because the echo unit has a motor it will draw a fair bit of current, so you will need a decent transformer, don't try and use one of the little travel transformers. Look on the compliance plate and check how many watts or VA the unit uses, then go the Jaycar or even Dick Smith and buy a transformer that can deliver at least the same amount of current plus some margin.

[Ben M]

Hi Michael

I have a 1000w step down from this company http://www.tortech.com.au/stepdown.html to run a bunch of things. It's been extremely reliable and I highly recommended them.
They do smaller units for your needs, but, If you intend on buying other 110v equipment.... going a bit bigger at first may be a good idea.
And buy a 5 way US power board with the order... they do those as well.

[Thirteen]

I see from the Tortec site that they recommend a 25% extra current rating for the step-down transformer if you are going to user a device with an electric motor (such as a tape echo). I would guess that this is to allow for inductive turn on surge from the motor.

[tweakeasy]

Thanks Steve and Ben,

I've looked at the Jaycar, Dick Smith and Tortech transformers price list and they seem quite high:

http://www.jaycar.com.au/productResults ... SUBMIT.y=0

http://dicksmith.com.au/office/adaptors ... ansformers

http://www.tortech.com.au/category/597/

I just found this seller on eBay and was thinking for the price maybe the 300W unit was a pretty good deal? Surely that would be enough extra power for the Echo's motor and then some? Do you think I could even get away with the 200W unit? (price is a factor, trying to put some $$ aside for Juno-106 voice chip deaths X 2).

http://shop.ebay.com.au/dms-industrial/ ... m270.l1313

Cheers,

Michael

[waitup]

Service manual is here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/2474420/Rolan ... ice-Manual

Whilst you can run your 100V space echo off a 110V stepdown transformer, and you might be able for quite some time, it might be wise to open it up at some point and just change it to the 110V tap. only got to change a couple of wires and that'll mean your caps etc should last a bit longer.

According to the manual it consumes 16W... so even with huge fluctuations a 200W transformer would be fine.

NF.

[no-fi]

I see from the Tortec site that they recommend a 25% extra current rating for the step-down transformer if you are going to user a device with an electric motor (such as a tape echo). I would guess that this is to allow for inductive turn on surge from the motor.

I suspect they're talking more about motors driven from mains, and in particular the issues that you get running a 60Hz motor with a 50Hz supply. You get lots of extra energy turned into heat in a 60Hz motor when you run it at 50Hz.

In this case though, RE-201 has a DC motor, so that's going to see about the same thing as it always did in its original country. (Ok, maybe different ripple frequency on its DC...)

The 60Hz transformer will probably waste a bit more power as heat though - but it'd do that for whatever load it was driving.