Anyone know electricity? Hoping for the best, I'm an idiot.

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Imfly13
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Anyone know electricity? Hoping for the best, I'm an idiot.

Post by Imfly13 »

So I just moved to Europe and brought nothing with that required a step-down from 220 to 110v. Computer, phone, screens, all stuff that works fine with just a simple Euro-US adapter. EXCEPT of course, for my beautiful and beloved Nord Grand which the movers just brought today, 1 months after I'd already arrived and got used to just plugging things in without a care.

I excitedly plugged in my Grand and it didn't turn on. No blown circuit at the breaker, no smell of smoke, no fireworks. But after a few seconds I realized what I'd done, yelled "oh no" and unplugged it. I went and bought a step-down converter. Still not turning on. I took the fuse out and it LOOKS fine, but I'll go buy one tomorrow when the store opens to see if that's the issue.

I've seen some people having done this with electros before, but couldn't find anything on the Grand where someone has done this before. It's the same, I assume? I fried everything and I'm screwed? Should I start looking around for repair shops now, start saving for a new one, or is there hope? Any help is hugely appreciated.
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Re: Anyone know electricity? Hoping for the best, I'm an idi

Post by cgrafx »

You've most likely just blown the fuse. If the fuse didn't blow and 220V got to the power supply, it would definitely blow stuff on the power supply, but would not likely have done any damage to main board.

For the record, you didn't need to get a step down transformer for the Nord, you just needed to open the unit and change the internal mains selector switch from 110v to 220v, as swap the fuse with the correct amp rating for the 220V mains.

replacement power supplies are available from Syntaur
https://syntaur.com/Part-10827-Power-supply-board-Nord

They may be available from other sources as well.
Last edited by cgrafx on 24 Jul 2023, 21:10, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Anyone know electricity? Hoping for the best, I'm an idi

Post by Mr_-G- »

As cgrafx says, it is likely to be the fuse, but before buying a new fuse of the same kind, see this thread on how to convert your instrument to take 230V and get the proper fuse to use with that voltage: general-nord-forum-f29/converting-nords ... 23084.html
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Re: Anyone know electricity? Hoping for the best, I'm an idi

Post by Imfly13 »

cgrafx wrote:You've most likely just blown the fuse. If the fuse didn't blow and 220V got to the power supply, it would definitely blow stuff on the power supply, but would not likely have done any damage to main board.

For the record, you didn't need to get a step down transformer for the Nord, you just needed to open the unit and change the internal mains selector switch from 110v to 220v, as swap the fuse with the correct amp rating for the 220V mains.

replacement power supplies are available from Syntaur
https://syntaur.com/Part-10827-Power-supply-board-Nord

They may be available from other sources as well.
Great, thanks much for the info and the hope it gave me. Again the fuse LOOKS fine, but I know that doesn't mean it is. I'll pick up a new fuse tomorrow and try that, if it doesn't work I'll take it apart and check out the power supply.

Is it considered a better practice to swap the fuse and flip the switch to 220V internally on the keyboard, rather than use the step-down? I'm only here for 9 more months but it looks like an easy job. If I do swap the fuse, will the required fuse fit in the greyish/white holder that comes with the US Nord Grand?

I'm just wondering if it's easier to use the step down at this point (assuming a replaced fuse fixes this tomorrow). The step down is a Nedis POCO105 230 to 110V converter that outputs the 110V at 50Hz, has output power of 100W, long time working mode of less than or equal to 100W, and short term of between 70-100W for an hour. Don't fully understand how step-downs work, but I'm assuming it can only shed off extra energy so fast, which is why those numbers are the way they are? In other words, if I'm gonna be using this thing more than an hour at a time, which I will, should I just swap the fuse and flip the switch? And hope I didn't do more damage than I think?

Thanks again.
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Re: Anyone know electricity? Hoping for the best, I'm an idi

Post by cgrafx »

The wattage is a max rating for power draw from the step down transformer. your keyboard probably doesn't draw more than a 15-20 watts on a continuous basis, so I wouldn't worry about the step down transformer (it should be fine).

Since you already have the transformer, I'd probably just leave the keyboard set to 110V.

If you decide you are going to change the supply setting remember that you need to change the fuse to the appropriate amperage for the higher voltage. I believe its a 150mA slow blow for 220V.

EDIT: corrected fuse rating
Last edited by cgrafx on 25 Jul 2023, 20:39, edited 4 times in total.
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Re: Anyone know electricity? Hoping for the best, I'm an idi

Post by Mr_-G- »

cgrafx wrote: If you decide you are going to change the supply setting remember that you need to change the fuse to the appropriate amperage for the higher voltage. I believe its 1.5amp slow blow for 220V.
Careful there! It is 150mA fuse!! NOT 1.5 A.
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Re: Anyone know electricity? Hoping for the best, I'm an idi

Post by cgrafx »

Mr_-G- wrote:
cgrafx wrote: If you decide you are going to change the supply setting remember that you need to change the fuse to the appropriate amperage for the higher voltage. I believe its 1.5amp slow blow for 220V.
Careful there! It is 150mA fuse!! NOT 1.5 A.
Yep... thanks for that correction.
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Re: Anyone know electricity? Hoping for the best, I'm an idi

Post by Imfly13 »

Fuse took forever to get here, but I swapped it and she fired right up! Now having some pedal issues though... not entirely sure what, but SOMETHING is wrong with my pedal. It no longer makes the "pedal on" noise when I'm playing grands. All propper settings are correct... not sure what's going on with that.
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