Hello,

Just want to share with my keyboard problems I experienced at my local church.

I played my PSR-8000 extensively in my church for about a year when it simply died on me. The display lit up, but didn't respond to anything. Strange, but I sent it out to get it fixed. Soon after in my church a Yamaha P-120 got broken and was sent for repairs again.

While I was questioning the reliability of Yamaha products, I was shocked to find out the power voltage out on my church outlet was in fact 270 volts. Whoa...

Mixers, power amps, effects racks, etc all seem to have survived, but not keyboards and guitar effect 'wall warts'

If you see your wall wart adapters melting out on you, then it might be a sign that the power voltage is too high. It seems like Roland products (an XP-80 and XP-30) can survive the extra volts though.

My current keyboard is a Yamaha Motif... but I am very careful of the power outlets I plug into at various venues now...

Puzk,

I hope you live in a (former) 220 Volts 50Hz country and not in the States ?? (115V 60Hz)

The European Countries Line voltages are smoothly being upgraded from 220 to 240 Volts since a few years and may vary with plus- or minus 10 % under (ab)normal conditions. (Most equipment can handle this)

The 270 is too high and this needs to be corrected by your local technicians.

Looooong time ago I built myself a voltage regulator with voltage-meter : A Variac.

A Variac is able to decrease AND INcrease the voltage from 0% to 110% .
In your case a 'must-have' ??
(Costs about 150 Dollars)
Just check the voltage on the meter, re-adjust it to the voltage your equipment wants, plug in the equipment..... that's all.

Roel

Roel,

Are you a former electrician?

I live in Australia, where the voltage ranges 220-240V.

We followed your advice on the voltage regulators, but I don't know who to blame for the damages.

Also I've got an adaptor specifically for 220V but it heats up quickly. Do you think it's ok to use on 220-240V power outlets?

In all the years I've been playing I have to say that I've never run into any voltage problems - pure luck, no doubt.

Anyway, here's something similar regarding Hz that happened a long time ago - you might get a chuckle out of this.

Like some of us here, we used to lug around a big old Hammond, which, in general, was pretty unsinkable. Being a UK model the tonewheel generator ran at 50Hz. So, come one fine Spring, we take off on an 8-month stint of U.S. Air Force bases around Europe and lo and behold, the first one we get to (Iraklion, Crete) has its own power supply at 60Hz.

So yikes, all of a sudden, the tonewheel generator is now running at a different speed with the consequence that I either had to re-learn all our songs in a new key, or play the resident acoustic piano for three months - guess which option won. "Green Onions" and "A Whiter Shade of Pale" didn't sound too convincing that summer!

I don't know which country you live in, but here in the USA EVERY wall socket for AC that I've ever seen differentiates between 110v ("normal") and 220v (used for high power applicances like clothes dryers, stoves, ovens, air conditioners). You CAN'T mistake one for the other because the plugs of one sort cannot go into the sockets of the other type. This is in building codes everywhere.

I have a Variac in the garage! I bought it in the '50s when I lived in an apartment house in Brooklyn. In the summer there would be a "voltage drop" (lights going dimmer) because of all the air conditioners turned on and wiring that was put into the building in the 20's or 30's, before air conditioning existed. When I wanted to use my ham radio gear I had to crank UP the voltage to get the tube electronics to work at optimum. Ah, the old days....

Over the years I have experienced problems at a couple of venues where the line to the stage also accomodated coffee urns and refrigeration equipment in a nearby kitchen. When any of these appliances kicked in, my keyboards would kick out.

The solution was a battery powered Universal Power Surge Protector. But, that was at least ten years and several keyboards ago. I no longer use the UPS and have not had a problem since.

Eddie

A 'former' electrician? ... hmmm I'm still one !! (Where would a computer-engineer be without electrons ? )
In the seventies the variac did a great job in our band, because we did many gigs at places where the outputvoltage was UNDER 200 volts. (At that time the EUR standard was 220V)

I recognize the Hammond-tonewheel problem because some friends purchased US (60 Hz !) B3's...... A huge problem in our 50 Hz country. I built some frequency-converters (50 to 60 Hz) that supplied the synchronous-motor in the Hammond.
An extra problem appeared : Starting the main motor with a starting-motor that runs too slow (60Hz motor) .... made it a 'hard' job .... with low temperatures.
Once a friend (musician) called me in panic, telling his L100 (Hammond) was off-pitch VERY much and instable.... while playing on a huge party in the open air.
Most open air concerts have stand-alone power generators/ They are not X-tal stabilized and can drift form 46 to 54 Hz

And believe me, Hammond tonewheels get completely crazy !! ...and the musicians..

It is hard to prove your electricity-company is to blame for the damage. You need certified voltage-registration equipment.
In the Netherlands it is possible to ask for a temporary registration when customers have serious doubts

roel

While wall warts aren't too good, Yamaha arrangers are fairly forgiving. On both of mine the audio output chip is good for 25V or more - it's the regulators for the lower voltages that might get a bit hot if the input voltage is a bit high. I get around this by making my own stabilised power supplies which not only solve the problem of over voltage but also ensure good solid bass and no ducking of the audio on loud notes.