can someone knowledgeable please chime in. Im starting my personal home theater build shortly and because of the quantity of my amps I want to run 240vac to amps and not 120vac(amps are capable of this so no worries there?) and it will be easier to run 2 240vac lines than 4 120vac lines. I understand its single phase 240vac as i am residential. And is this 240vac the american our European and is there a difference?

my question is what is the correct way of doing this. I got the 240vac part from the panel, but on the Tripplite 240vac is where my confusion comes in. what iec cords do i use and what format, and is 120vac availble on those same 240vac PDU's

any and all help will be good.

somethig like this
[Link: amazon.com]

We did a project in Saudi Arabia where we took their 480V three phase and converted it to three 240V EquiTech balanced power supplies, and I believe we used Middle Atlantic 240V PDUs. I'll check with one of the other guys and report back here.

But along the way we found that whoever supplies the PDUs would be able to tell you about the proper plugs to use, and the amps should come with the proper plugs on their power cords anyway. Which IEC end gets used depends on the current rating of the power amps.

all the cords are standard iec 120vac plugs, which do not work with 240vac outlets... we are also single phase residential... and its a micro swicth on power supply of amplifiers.


just because my amps can run 120 or 240 should i actually run it using 240vac?

Correct me if I am wrong but isn't the 240 on the amps for Europe power? That is a two wire 240, one hot and one neutral that is 240 volts between hot and neutral. 240 volts here is a three wire 240, two hots and one neutral, 120 volts between each hot and neutral.

Checked with my buddy and yes, we used Middle Atlantic PDUs. We also used some Tributaries, but he says they don't make 240V PDUs any more.

Munson

The EU is harmonized at 230 volts 50 Hz, one hot the other is neutral and a safety ground. Unbalanced to ground.

In the USA it can be two versions, three wire 240 and/or 240 four wire. Both balanced to ground

Three wire will be two hots of 120VAC on opposite legs to yield 240VAC single phase and a safety ground, no neutral present.

Four wire will be two hots of 120VAC on opposite legs to yield 240VAC single, a neutral and a safety ground.

Hope this clarifies the situation.

so does this mean my amps will not run on american 240vac?

cried

The most important spec first, is the input voltage, if it calls for 230VAC you can not use 240VAC, period. The next spec is the power frequency. If your unit says 50/60Hz your ok, you can use a 50Hz transformer on 60Hz but NOT the other way around!

You mention the quantity of the units, how many are you going to use?

I would run multiple dedicated 20 Amp 120 circuits, each on the same leg, not opposite legs. 240VAC circuits are used for large power consumption devices in the US.

thank you, i guess i was 100% wrong in my thinking, thank the maker for people smarter than me... i need to run 2x ada1260 amps, 3x ada1645 amps 3x rbh sub amps and 2x processors, 1 surround sound receiver of unknown brand and size. im most likely gonna need 5 dedicated circuits

i got 220/240 for my miller welder in the garage.

thanks ernie

Cried

You can if you want to, pair up two amps on one circuit, does not read like they pull much power. You can figure 80% load on each circuit, or 16 amps per circuit max, which is 1920 watts at 1.0 power factor. All the low power stuff can be on one circuit. Remember even though the breaker says 20 amps they derated to 80% buy design. To figure the approximate power consumption, use 65% efficiency for linear class AB amps and 85% for digital power amps. This works out to 1.538 x the power the amp pulls for 65% efficiency and 1.176 x for 85% units

Here's a weird one:

While we're talking voltages and stuff -- does anyone need or want a set of step-up transformers that convert 208V three-phase to 240V three-phase?

I built them onto a warehouse dolly so they could be moved about easily. It's got a breaker panel. If anyone's interested, please let me know and I'll look up the details to see if it'll do what you need.

If I remember correctly, the transformers could be configured for different step-up ratios. It's been years since I've looked at it so details are fuzzy.

When we did the system for the Saudi client, we ran it here for a week to sort of break it in; local power was 208 volt three phase; equipment ran on 240 volts; step-ups gave us that voltage. That's why I got those parts.

I also have a few hanks of very thick wire, 4 conductor, that we ran from the house panel to the transformers.