I
haven't been into a BA23 PSU, so this is a question, not a
suggestion - does that PSU have a separate "jumper" plug for
50Hz/60Hz switch?
SInce the first thing an SMPSU does with the mians is rectify
and
smooth it, it's not going to care about the mains frequency.
Um, not quite. If it's designed barely-sufficient, a lower mains
frequency (eg, 50Hz when it's designed for 60) may cause output voltage
sags as the filtering dips below what the regulation can handle during
the non-peak portion of the mains cycle.
That is, of course correct, and therefore an SMPSU designed for a 400Hz
(or similar0 input is not necessarily going to work correctly on normal
50 or 60Hz mains of the same voltage.
On the other hand an SMPSU designed for 60Hz is almost certainly going to
work correctly on 50Hz especially if it's supplying a lighter load (the
OP had pulled the oards from the Qbus backplane, so the load was a lot
lighter than it would be when the MicroVAX is in use).
And _no_ manufactuer is going to make an SMPSU where there's a 50/60Hz
swtich to add extra smoothing capacitance in the former position. Period.
I think it's reasonable to assume that any supply with an 115V/230V
voltage selector switch is going to work correctly on both 50 and 60Hz
mains unless there's clear statement to the contrary. The point being
that worldwide _most_ 115V mains supplies are 60Hz, most 230V mains
supplies (at least ones used for small equipment) are 50Hz, so the point
of such a selector switch is to allow it to be used worldwide.
-tony
