Hi all,
I have a vintage AWA Radiola that we refurbished the cabinet and had some work done to radio, turntable and tubes. I have since moved back to the US and the land of 110V and am looking for transformer to purchase. Would some one know the wattage on a mid 60- early 70's Radiola? Just so that I get the needed wattage required.
Thank you in advance and if a photo is more helpful let me know and I can either email.

Cheers Derrick

Without knowing the model I couldn't be absolutely sure but 100 watts (100VA) should cover it.
Is there a label on the unit? That usually has the current rating.

Your turntable will run 20% fast because US mains is 60 Hz, ours is 50 Hz. You should be able to find a motor pulley for the equivalent model turntable sold in the US. These were usually BSR and they exported turntables to manufacturers in the US as well as Australia, there would be an equivalent local model.

If you have access to a 3 phase outlet (used by air conditioners etc.) you can get 240 volts from there. But although the plug might fit, the wiring is not the same! I had to use this trick once to get a soldering iron to work in a hotel room in Las Vegas, setting up for a trade show....

and the land of 110V

Measure that. From what I read it hasn't been that low for decades, usually pushing 125V in regions these days and causing issues for some vintage radios necessitating droppers.

The higher voltage is murder on many Zenith radios. I was, from the American forum, of the opinion that there was a way of getting 240 V there? Possibly from two phases? AC addition is not 240 + 240 = 480. Its a vector sum & more like 415.

I have seen BSR parts advertised in the US, to change the speed.

there was a way of getting 240 V there?

Yes, each phase is nominally 120V so you get 240 volts across L1 and L2 (no neutral)

https://www.rvtechmag.com/electrical/images/splitphase.jpg

If you own the house, you could install a 240VAC circuit, and use an outlet like this

which can occasionally found at eBay.
Search "crawfoot outlet, crowfoot outlet, or receptacle". Another search, less of a hit: "bakelite outlet or receptacle"

If you are from a 240V AC country, and just moved to America, see if your apartment or house has an outlet like this. 240V at 15 amps (NEMA 6-15). It's intended for large air conditioners. But not the electric dryer or range outlets, those are too much amperage and if your equipment ever shorts out could cause a fire. If your old equipment designed for 240VAC doesn't mind 60Hz (most stereos and non-clock radios will be fine on 60HZ, but turntables probably will play too fast), you could use this outlet, or have one installed in your house or condo. You'll need to modify an outlet strip you bought in your home country by changing its plug to match the American 240V outlet. Be aware that both sides of the mains in this plug will be "hot". That shouldn't be an issue in well designed equipment, as many European plugs fit in many European sockets either way. Like the Italian 10A and 16A plugs, Schuko general use 16A (the ones with ground contacts on the sides, not the "pin in the socket that sticks into the plug" type), and 2 pin Euro plugs. That makes both power wires on a radio's power cord potentially hot in Europe anyway.


It's still 60Hz, which your power transformers will be happy with. But, as mentioned before, the record player will run too fast.

One idea I saw on youtube once to run a turntable is to get a 240v pure sine wave inverter something like Jaycars MI5726 and run that from a 110v to 13.8 v bench power supply. That will give you your required 230-240v at 50Hz and you could also use it to run any other small 240v appliance.