[xxhaxx]

Quote:

Another reason to buy power cords from monoprice.

Any recommendation on what gauge to get?

 

[3602]

12 AWG should be enough.

 

[Currawong]

Quote:

 
The moderator to whom this was first brought to their attention refused to post anything about it.
 
 

 
This was brought to my attention first. The suggestion that I refused to post anything about it is outright untrue.  While I was looking into it, my entire PM conversation was forwarded to another moderator.
 
My opinion, which hasn't changed, is this is a potential problem with equipment design, not power cords, for the following reasons:
Any equipment, especially that which is likely to be used in more than one country is likely to encouter the reversal of live and neutral pins. This is due to a: the varying standards between China and the USA; the European standard, including the grounded Schuko plug which does not, to the best of my knowledge, have a set polarity (the plugs can be inserted upside down), the proliferation of non-polar 2-pin cables and, from my experience and that of electricians, house wiring can, quite often, be mis-wired.
 
What I'd suggest to people concerned about this is, before buying audio gear from overseas is asking the manufacturer if the fuse will still operate safely if the polarity of the power cord it is connected with is reversed and/or simply using only locally sourced power cables made to the local standard.
 
Just to clarify, that is my personal opinion.

 
Does this sound reasonable Steve?
 
 

 

[grokit]

 
Quote:

The N and L in China is reversed to US.
In China, popular  is the Chinese and US and the two pins power format.
So the power cables factories must follow the Chinese electronic standard.
 
The stock power cables are made in China so must follow the Chinese electronic standard. The Chinese standard is same with Austrilia standard.
 
 Our gears all applied the isolated transformers and all power wires in the gears had isolated , so  this is unconditional safe for the gear and people.
There are a lot oversea CDP, DVD player, TV sale in China only with two pins without fixed power phase and earth wires but without any problems.
 
We had try to contact the larger power cables factory but the order must be several  10K.
The small power cables factory can order several K but I still can't safe their QC.
 
The custom power cables we had two standard, one is follow US standard another is follow the Chinese standard.
So if the customers country had same standard with China, we will send the " Chinese standard " US power cable . Other countries we send the US standard US power cables. So Austrilia users will get the different US cable than US users just for suit their standard.

 
Quote:

So AUDIO-GD is saying that:
 
Their power cables, being made in China PRC, have to conform to Chinese regulations, which have the Hot and Neutral swapped (relative to the U.S. standard).
OK. Just following rules.
 
However, I personally have several Chinese-made appliances with Chinese-made power cables, such as my Proctor Silex water boiler. They have C (UL) US Listed printed on them.
So can they not switch factories?

 

I agree completely; with all of the electronics that are exported from China to the USA specifically (as their largest export market), it can't be that hard to find an OEM maker that will supply the proper AC cable at a reasonable price without buying a 10,000 of them. If not they should just stop sending power cables to USA customers, and make a blanket statement on their website's price list page reflecting this policy. If they do that, they should just knock $10 or so off of the USA prices and the problem is completely solved.
 
 

 

[Steve Eddy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Currawong /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
My opinion, which hasn't changed, is this is a potential problem with equipment design, not power cords, for the following reasons:
Any equipment, especially that which is likely to be used in more than one country is likely to encouter the reversal of live and neutral pins. This is due to a: the varying standards between China and the USA; the European standard, including the grounded Schuko plug which does not, to the best of my knowledge, have a set polarity (the plugs can be inserted upside down), the proliferation of non-polar 2-pin cables and, from my experience and that of electricians, house wiring can, quite often, be mis-wired.
 

No, it is decidedly not an equipment design problem.
 
The equipment is fitted with IEC 320 C14 inlets. IEC 320 is an international standard. The standard was developed so that manufacturers could make one product that could be sold into other markets and only having to supply the appropriate power cord for that market.
 
What Kingwa did was supply inappropriate power cords with the equipment he sold and shipped to the US, his excuse being that he somehow couldn't get appropriate power cords. This has absolutely nothing to do with the equipment design and there is simply no excuse for it. None.
 
Further, you'll note that the IEC 320 C14 inlet has three pins. Any piece of equipment fitted with a C14 inlet should be assumed to be Class I. In other words, it's not double insulated and requires a safety ground for proper operation. Any power cord fitted with a C13 connector on one end should not be fitted with a two pin connector on the other end as this defeats the entire purpose of the three pin C14 scheme.
 
 
Quote:

What I'd suggest to people concerned about this is, before buying audio gear from overseas is asking the manufacturer if the fuse will still operate safely if the polarity of the power cord it is connected with is reversed and/or simply using only locally sourced power cables made to the local standard.

 
What I would suggest is that consumers not purchase equipment from any manufacturer that's incapable of providing the appropriate power cord for their country. There are plenty of manufacturers out there that supply the appropriate power cords. So there's no excuse for anything less than this.
 
se
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

[Steve Eddy]

 
Oh, and let's not forget that even Audio-gd's custom power cords were miswired. These are made in-house as far as I'm aware. What's the excuse for their being miswired?
 
se
 
 

 

[grokit]

 
Quote:

What I would suggest is that consumers not purchase equipment from any manufacturer that's incapable of providing the appropriate power cord for their country. There are plenty of manufacturers out there that supply the appropriate power cords. So there's no excuse for anything less than this.

 
Woo Audio doesn't supply any power cables (except the interconnect type if a separate PS is used), the onus is on the customer to get their own and it seems to work out pretty well. It holds costs down and compels the customer to consider an upgraded one.

 

[scootermafia]

It would be handy if headfiers in each country that are concerned could help each other out in testing the cables for safety and performing the switch if there's an issue.  

 

[scootermafia]

http://audio-gd.com/En%20audio-gd.htm
 
It looks like AudioGD has simply stopped selling power cords to customers in the USA and other countries.

 

[punk_guy182]

Yeah that's a good decision. This is an issue that can be potentially dangerous in certain occasions. Power cables sold in North america should respect the standard.

 

[squall343]

I think what Kingwa should do now
 
is to ship cables that are rewired correctly to all the US customers

 

[kwkarth]

I've locked this thread.  The information has been shared.