Sorry about digging up a slightly stale thread...
I haven't done any troubleshooting yet but
checking the manuals on
Bitsavers tells me my US 3278s have ferroresonant transformers
specified as 120V 60Hz only. This can be expected to cause problems
with 120V 50Hz here in NZ from my knowledge of how ferroresonant
transformers work; I'll get excessive magnetic currents - overheating
- all kinds of nasties. I can wind the voltage down a bit and run them
at 90-100V but that doesn't help much.
...but straight from the horses mouth, most IBM ferroresonant
transformers will work at 50 or 60 Hz. The capacitor may need to be
swapped, depending on the equipment.
I was hanging around some IBM old timers this evening, including the
Big Horse at Endicott.
I just looked up the FE manual for the 3278 and it shows 5 different part
numbers for the
ferroresonant transformer (depending upon region) and only a single part
number for the
capacitor.
TTFN - Guy