Assistance Request

[Guitar77]

Hello Fellow Orange Lovers,

I've got a question that's needed an answer for a while.

I've got a Dark Terror and a TH30 that I bought through a US vendor for operation on 110 volts.

Since moving to Germany, I've been plugging them both into a stepdown power transformer, and if possible, I'd like to run them directly off of 220 instead of through a costly transformer.

I see they each have voltage selector switches on their rear panels, and as far as I can tell, there's only 2 fuses on each that I could swap out on the back (a T250mA HT fuse on the Dark Terror & a T500mA HT fuse on the TH30).

Can anyone clarify what fuses I would need to put in each after running a 220 v power cord and switching the voltage selector switch to 220?

I love these amps and just don't want to risk frying either of them.

Thanks in advance.

[a.hun]

Hi Guitar77. Welcome.

Have you checked the manual for your amps? (Available online as PDF file on the Orange site.) The mains fuse values for different mains voltages are usually listed there.

Note the mains fuses aren't the same as the HT fuses. Those HT fuses won't need changed. Mains fuse holder is a small tray in the mains input socket itself on the back of the amp.

You sure that the amp voltage selector switches both allow for European mains voltage? They vary but many Orange amps would switch between say 110 / 120V instead of 115 / 230V.

The power transformers Orange use these days always seem to have unused spare connections to allow them to be re-wired for crossing the big pond. See for example:
http://forum.orangeamps.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=53348" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If unsure you can always contact Orange themselves for advice, but any decent tech should be able to convert the amps in a matter of minutes.


Andy.

[Guitar77]

Andy,

I have checked both manuals, but maybe I overlooked something.

The vendor suggested I continue to operate them on 110 voltage, but I know enough about electronics to know there must be a way to configure them for 220 V operation.

I never got a response back from emailing Orange customer support.

From I read online to this point, I was also leaning toward the thought the HT fuses didn't need changing.

After pulling the fuse trays, I observed the following:

Dark Terror: Fuse in use for 110 V operation reads "250V"... spare fuse reads "T500mAL250V"

TH30: Fuse in use for 110 V operation reads "T2AL250V" ... spare fuse reads "T1AL250V"

For some reason the pics I took won't attach so I hope the following rear panel descriptions help clarify what I'm looking at:

TH30 back panel reads: "Mains Input 115 V.A. 50/60 Hz" ... "HT Fuse T 500mA"... there is a red mains input switch ... Also printed is "Mains fuse 100V/120V T2A and 230V T1A"

Dark Terror back panel reads: "Mains Input 90 V.A. 50/60 Hz ... "HT Fuse T 250mA" ... there is no mains input switch ... Also printed is "Mains fuse 100V/120V T1A and 230V - 240V T500mA"

Based on this, I am fairly confident that I can swap the mains fuses on the TH30 and slide the red mains switch and it will work on 220V, but where my concern remains is that while I believe I can swap out the fuses, there is no similar red selector mains switch on the Dark Terror, so I'm still worried something might fry.

Any thoughts?

[Sooner]

I am fairly confident that I can swap the mains fuses on the TH30 and slide the red mains switch and it will work on 220V

The only switches I've ever heard of on Orange amps that change from 120 to 240 have been hard to get to:
http://www.jamesstoddern.net/orange-or1 ... witch.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

All of the external switches I've heard of (so far) have switched from either 100/120 or 230/240. Does your switch have voltages printed on it?

edit: There are a couple of posts on the forum that do suggest the TH30s can be switched between 120 and 240:
http://forum.orangeamps.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=43462" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://forum.orangeamps.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=52658" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
and with Orange anything is possible...

[Phlowen]

Hi Guitar77. Welcome.

The power transformers Orange use these days always seem to have unused spare connections to allow them to be re-wired for crossing the big pond. See for example:
http://forum.orangeamps.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=53348" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If unsure you can always contact Orange themselves for advice, but any decent tech should be able to convert the amps in a matter of minutes.

YES! Make sure you check that the 220v part of that IEC power input/selector switch it actually wired up to the transformer in your amp! In my experience, if you bought your Orange in the US (or it originally sold in the US), most of the time it will only be wired for 120v. You need someone to hook up the line from the transformer to the power input jack/selector switch (in the case of the TH30, it's the purple 100v AC line from the Power Transformer's primary. If you open your amp up now, this line will have a cap on it and will not be connected to the IEC power input/selector switch).

Otherwise, if you move the switch over to 220v, it's still only going to be giving you 120v (which is some handy built-in protection against accidental switch flipping...not so great if you're actually meaning to switch over to 220v and you assume simply flicking the switch makes you safe).

[Sooner]

In my experience, if you bought your Orange in the US (or it originally sold in the US), most of the time it will only be wired for 120v. You need someone to hook up the line from the transformer to the power input jack/selector switch (in the case of the TH30, it's the purple 100v AC line from the Power Transformer's primary. If you open your amp up now, this line will have a cap on it and will not be connected to the IEC power input/selector switch).

Otherwise, if you move the switch over to 220v, it's still only going to be giving you 120v (which is some handy built-in protection against accidental switch flipping...not so great if you're actually meaning to switch over to 220v and you assume simply flicking the switch makes you safe).

So even though your switch was marked 120v - 230v (http://forum.orangeamps.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=52658" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) you still have to rewire it to run on 230v? How strange and confusing.

I see the manual (http://www.americanmusical.com/ItemFile ... Manual.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) isn't much better either. It says you need to make sure the switch is set to the correct voltage for your country but doesn't even show where it is on the rear panel diagram. Further down it says again to make sure the voltage selector switch is set for the correct mains voltage and refers back to "Rear Panel, item 5" but item 5 talks about the HT fuse and has nothing to do with the mains voltage.

Good job Orange!

[a.hun]

Yeah, 'details', eh?


Andy.