Macintosh Plus US 110v moving to UK.

[zonky1994]

Hi guys,

I have a healthy Macintosh Plus US 110v version (recapped Dec 2022), that I love dearly. I journal on it almost daily, and truly cherish it. My wife and I are moving to the UK here in a couple months, and I plan on bringing it with me to continue using it. Obviously I would use it with a 240v (UK) to 110v (US) step down voltage converter with appropriate wattage output, but my question is: since the power it's expecting is 60hz, should I expect to face any issues with the 50hz power from the UK power grid? From what I can tell, there might be a portion of the direct line current that passes to the "startup circuit" that would be unfiltered and not converted to the +5, +12 and -12 DC, but for the most part it looks like it would be converted to DC before hitting anything critical, EXCEPT this startup circuit that I haven't been able to find much info on.

Would you all be so kind to advise if I can use an off the shelf high quality step down converter? I would prefer to not replace the analog board with an international version, and to be honest, I'm not sure if that's even possible to "hot swap" that.

Thank you so much for your time!

 

[cheesestraws]

I (in the UK) run a 110V Classic II on a ... reasonable but not high-end step-down transformer perfectly fine on a fairly regular basis.

Also, 240V UK analogue boards for Pluses are pretty common, so a longer-term option might to be to just pop a 240V AB in there.

 

[zonky1994]

I (in the UK) run a 110V Classic II on a ... reasonable but not high-end step-down transformer perfectly fine on a fairly regular basis.

Also, 240V UK analogue boards for Pluses are pretty common, so a longer-term option might to be to just pop a 240V AB in there.

Thank you so much for the quick reply! Regarding the 240V UK ABs, are they more or less "plug and play"? Forgive my ignorance, but I didn't know how much modification was required.

 

[cheesestraws]

Regarding the 240V UK ABs, are they more or less "plug and play"?

Yup, you can just get a 240V AB and drop it straight in. No modification to the rest of the machine required.

Forgive my ignorance, but I didn't know how much modification was required.

No forgiveness required! No reason anyone'd know this stuff unless they'd done it before.

 

[zonky1994]

Yup, you can just get a 240V AB and drop it straight in. No modification to the rest of the machine required.



No forgiveness required! No reason anyone'd know this stuff unless they'd done it before.

Amazing. Thank you so much!

Do you happen to have a source on a 240V analog board for a Macintosh Plus? I did a quick search and didn't turn up anything. I would be interested in purchasing one for sure.

Also, is the 128k, 512, and plus all compatible with the same analog board?

 

[cheesestraws]

Do you happen to have a source on a 240V analog board for a Macintosh Plus? I did a quick search and didn't turn up anything. I would be interested in purchasing one for sure.

I got my spares off eBay and people randomly dumping them on me. There isn't always one for sale but they don't seem to be terribly expensive when they do turn up. And they're the same one that's used all over the rest of Europe too. Either that or someone on the forum may well be able to sort you out - I may have one I'd be willing to part with myself, I'd have to go and look in the AB box. I wouldn't worry about it until you get over here - no sense in shipping one over the Atlantic to you just to have you bring it back over.

Also, is the 128k, 512, and plus all compatible with the same analog board?

Yup. The 128/512/Plus are the same AB, the first computer to have a different one was the SE.

 

[zonky1994]

I got my spares off eBay and people randomly dumping them on me. There isn't always one for sale but they don't seem to be terribly expensive when they do turn up. And they're the same one that's used all over the rest of Europe too. Either that or someone on the forum may well be able to sort you out - I may have one I'd be willing to part with myself, I'd have to go and look in the AB box. I wouldn't worry about it until you get over here - no sense in shipping one over the Atlantic to you just to have you bring it back over.



Yup. The 128/512/Plus are the same AB, the first computer to have a different one was the SE.

Fabulous. Thank you so much for your help!

 

[cheesestraws]

Fabulous. Thank you so much for your help!

You're very welcome! Good luck with your move. There's quite a number of UK mac folks around on the forum .

 

[olePigeon]

Weren't there dual voltage ABs that could be set by soldering / desoldering a resistor or something?

 

[cheesestraws]

Weren't there dual voltage ABs that could be set by soldering / desoldering a resistor or something?

In theory the International (usually 240V) AB can be populated for 110V instead; never seen it done, and I don't know how to do it. Someone else might know.

 

[zonky1994]

Good luck with your move.

Thank you so much!