Leslie 122 voltage used for Europeans

[eenaoo]

Hi,

I noticed today from the Leslie 122 manual that it can be wired for two voltages, i.e. 250 and 234V. I checked mine and it is wired for 250V, see picture. I live in Norway and the mains are closer to 230 than 250V.

Do you guys keep the 250V setting or resetting it to 234V when living in europe?

Regards Arne

[geoelectro]

In the US, our versions were built for 117V while in recent times, the voltage has risen. In my shop it's 123V for example.

The normal answer to your question is sure, wire it for your voltage.

If it were me, I would measure some internal voltages to see how close they are to spec. It may turn out to be close as is and that would equal less strain on the tubes etc. Since I'm always fighting voltages that are running high, that's how I would proceed. (wish we had multitap transformers)

Geo

[eenaoo]

Good idea. I will check the internal voltages. Thank you

Arne

[Grommet]

There is also the issue of the difference in the supply frequency of the mains between Europe (50Hz) and the US (60Hz). At 50Hz, the magnetising current in the mains transformer will be higher than at 60Hz (for the same applied voltage). I would be inclined to keep the voltage setting at 250V for Europe, to compensate for the greater iron losses when operating at 50Hz, even though the actual mains voltage is likely to be nearer 230V than 250V.

[eenaoo]

Magnetising current. This Leslie is made in Europe so my guess is that it would be optimiesd for 50Hz (Do you know if this is correct?). I did check internal voltages for 250 and 230V setting. For example the schematic specifies 420VDC on the Centre Tap on the output transformer. This voltage was 374VDC for 250V setting and 399V for 234V setting. So the 250V setting seems to be way far off. Heater voltage was 5.7VAC vs 6.1VAC