suggestions on BBC Micro, voltage converter, PAL monitor (in US)? - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

22 Apr 2002

On Apr 22, 12:09, Carlini, Antonio wrote:
...
  If the power
supply is switching, they ususally rectify the line  votage
 and go from there.  In which case the frequency
has no bearing.. 
 	Never having had either a broken beeb or a broken cub
 	monitor, I have no idea whether they care
 	about the frequency or not. 
They don't.  The frequency won't matter, only having "about" the right
voltage.  Actually, I once (when I worked for an Acorn distributor) came
across a guy working abroad who had inadvertantly used his unmodified Beeb
on a 120V supply and never noticed until he bought a monitor -- which
refused to work at such a low voltage.  I wouldn't suggest you try it,
though; it should be easy to change the PSU setting.

Many monitors may not care too much about the frequency either, but it's
probably easier to get one that can be set to 110V; a CGA or Amiga monitor
should work.  I'd strongly suggest an RGB (TTL level) monitor rather than a
PAL or other composite colour monitor, as the higher-res screen modes
aren't too sharp when the colour signal is added to a composite signal.

...
  	There are (cheap) travel adapters that allow you
 	to plug UK appliances into various
 	worldwide connectors. I don't have one to
 	hand to check, but I do know some of them
 	can cope with a hairdryer - whether that's
 	enough to not catch light when trying
 	to feed an early beeb with the
 	varnish-stripping PSU is not
 	clear to me :-) 
Don't try it.  Neither the adapter nor the Beeb's switch-mode PSU will like
it.

-- 
Pete						Peter Turnbull
						Network Manager
						University of York