UK floppy drive, power conversion to USA?

[leech]

So I got this cool floppy drive, not thinking of country of origin... and it has a UK plug attached to the end.  From what I looked, none of the power adapters will handle voltage conversion.  Is there something that needs to be done in this regard?  I haven't opened it yet, but this is what I am dealing with on the end.

[Almerian]

I f you want to keep using the UK power supply (is it built-in or separate?) and can't change the mains voltage it needs, you'll need a step-up converter.

Something like this (check the Watts):

 

https://www.amazon.com/Power-Bright-VC100W-Voltage-Transformer/dp/B000MWAKVU

[bfollowell]

Yeah, as far as none of your adapters doing the job, it's right there in the name. They're adapters. Adapters merely adapt one fitting to another. Converters convert from one voltage to another. When we visit our grandson in Shenzhen, China, we always have to take a few adapters. Most small electronic devices like tablets and phones work equally well off of any voltage available, but we often need adapters to plug in to their receptacles. The only things we typically need converters for are things like my wife's hairdryer hair straightener, etc.

 

It's much the same when going from HDMI to DVI-D to DisplayPort. All of those are already digital display signals, so no conversion is needed. You just need adapter plugs to be able to change between compatible devices. Now, going from analog to digital, or vice versa, takes some sort of conversion process.

 

 

[ParanoidLittleMan]

This really has nothing with analog to digital or versus.  Power supply is in question, and that's for sure analog in that old floppy drive, even if there is maybe some switching circuit in it.

Those old PSUs powered from wall connectors need voltage (and freq.) in certain limits, and it is max some 20% diff. So, need voltage converter, what is actually simple transformer (technology old over 100 years) .

 

In this case maybe cheaper solution will be to detach it's internal PSU and give just +5 and +12V to drive. Maybe there is around some old PC or Atari PSU, working well from 110 V .

[bfollowell]

I never said that his power issue was a digital or analog issue. I stated the converter/adapter issue is much the same as using adapters or converters for analog/digital video conversion. I was using that as an example to explain the difference between an adapter and a converter.

[leech]

Yeah, I figured I would have to open it up and see if there is any switching in it. 

Ha, well this is neat.