Moving music studio from US to EU (Portugal) - Power Questions

Lieder · 2023-05-26T12:56:15.513Z

I’m planning on moving to Portugal in the next year and was wondering if anyone had tips about the power conversion for my gear.

I currently run my entire studio (20+ synths, 8 rack units including interface, a couple Mac laptops, a Mac Mini, ultrawide monitor and two pairs of audio monitors) from an APC UPS/Conditioner.

Most equipment can handle a simple cable swap but several synths and effects use wall warts. My main question is should I get an adapter for my APC or should I just replace it outright and swap cables/use adapters for my equipment?

I’m thinking the latter but would love to here some ‘naut opinions, especially of any US expats.

obscurerobot · 2023-05-26T13:01:28.708Z

Replace the APC. It is heavy and thus expensive to ship - and you need to replace the battery every few years anyway.

All of your Apple products will work fine on EU power with plug adapters, and Apple will sell you an adapters for the bigger bricks. Your wall warts also likely can handle EU power, but check the fine print on each of them.

Converters are inefficient, inefficiency means heat and paying for power that isn’t going towards driving your gear.

Also, paging @plragde

Lieder · 2023-05-26T13:18:44.961Z

That all makes perfect sense! The wall warts though have the plug version built in so I would either have to use an adapter or just replace with EU version wall wart. That’s fine really (funny enough I bought a few pieces of gear from Thomann and already have the EU versions in boxes) but I do have some vintage gear that I’ll need to address.

Ideally I would find a UPS/conditioner that has a EU lead but US connections so I don’t have to replace all the cables, but, that’s probably silly. The nema to EU cables are a couple of bucks a piece so I’ll probably just do a full EU conversion.

EDIT:
I just realized how many power strips I use… Gonna have to replace those too. Dang…

obscurerobot · 2023-05-26T13:23:12.371Z

Cost of moving to Europe.

Plug adapters are cheap. I have different cheap generic adapters for when I travel, but these should do:

https://a.co/d/5wggVlJ

Lieder · 2023-05-26T13:46:44.372Z

Okay, I think I’m messing up the terminology between adapters and convertors.
It sounds like my best plan would be to buy an EU UPS/Conditioner, replace power strips and replace cables for synths and rack gear and then use adapters for the rest.
Doesn’t seem so bad.
It sounds like I’ll have to evaluate each piece of gear and engage 120 to 240 switches and/or replace some transformers (not really sure about the latter).
This will probably be a long term move so the investment of money and time is not that big of a deal.

obscurerobot · 2023-05-26T13:52:16.239Z

The surge suppressor component of power strips can only sustain a limited number of surges before they fail, so replacing the strips is also a regular maintenance thing that we should be doing.

One of the reason to buy APC UPSes and strips instead of generic brands is the damage warranty, which will almost certainly be void outside the US, so that’s something to consider too.

plragde · 2023-05-26T14:35:46.120Z

Hello from Lisbon! I have only been here about a month, but my partner has been here since December; she was in NYC before that and I bounced between there and Toronto. You have a lot more gear than I do, and I’ve never used a UPS. I agree with @obscurerobot that it makes sense to buy a new one of those over here. But adapters, cables, and power strips (you can get universal ones that have the adapters built in) are cheaper and more available in the US. I don’t know where to buy the adapters I need locally, and while Amazon.es shows the smaller ones, they only show me one choice for a universal strip. My partner has a US business trip next month and she’ll bring back some.

We had a lot of travel adapters (I thought) but once our laptops, tablets, and phones are accounted for, I have enough spare capacity to power two devices at the dining table and two or three at a table in the bedroom that will become my studio. That is enough for the time being (I don’t even have speakers yet, they should arrive Monday) but when the stuff being shipped by boat arrives, I’ll want a little more capacity than that. I used to use a large power strip with a dozen sockets before, that sufficed for me. One of my adapters is useless as it has three European pins (the third one can be swiveled but not completely out of the way) and the sockets in our apartment only have two pins.

Happy to help by answering questions (whatever I can) on various aspects of the move. My partner got a D3 work visa through the NYC consulate and I got a “digital nomad” D8 visa through the Toronto consulate. Every case is different, of course, but that’s two recent data points.

Lieder · 2023-05-26T15:53:16.308Z

Thank you for all that info!
I will definitely take you up on the offer of more answers
I’m technically an EU citizen but the paperwork is taking forever so I’ll be using the digital nomad visa until it’s all official.
I’m very excited about the move. Not sure where we will end up just yet but one thing I already love about Portugal is you can’t possibly be to far from anywhere else. It seems to be around the size of Florida in the US but without all the… you know, Florida

plragde · 2023-05-26T15:58:58.427Z

Lieder:

you can’t possibly be to far from anywhere else

If you have a car! I haven’t owned one for almost a decade, and hope to not do so again. Connectivity here by public transit is not as developed as in some EU countries. But we are pretty much city types. Nice that you’ll have citizenship sorted, it’ll be a long haul for us (though probably the shortest in Europe).

Lieder · 2023-05-26T16:08:50.700Z

That’s funny you mention the car as I recently bought a top trim hybrid minivan and I absolutely love it. I’ve yet to look at the cost but I hope to pack my studio up and cram it in there, then ship it on a boat. Might be a fools errand in the end but I’m quite partial to it and would love to tour all of Portugal with it.

plragde · 2023-05-26T16:09:45.605Z

There’s a lot more choice shipping from NYC to Lisbon than there was from Toronto, for sure!

obscurerobot · 2023-05-27T09:39:23.349Z

Lieder:

That’s funny you mention the car as I recently bought a top trim hybrid minivan

Also worth checking into this. If you have a lease, it may forbid moving the vehicle outside the US. Expensive to repo a car overseas. Also, the US and Europe are highly protective of their respective auto industries, so registration could be difficult. Canada seems more open, or at least has a lot of both US and Euro market vehicles on the road. Finally, fuel is different. Europe has historically favored diesel, but the gas is lower sulfur so light aluminum engines don’t fall apart like they do in the US.

If Lisbon is anything like Amsterdam - a city not repeatedly smashed in world wars - then a Golf is a big car and full size American cars (& minivans) will make navigation and parking unpleasant.

plragde · 2023-05-27T10:21:25.046Z

The Certificado do Bagagem (documentation for Portuguese citizens moving back after living a year or more abroad, but also used for immigrants) comes in two flavours, with and without car, so I gather people bring back cars a lot. There are a lot of smaller lanes in the historic centre of Lisbon, but delivery vans and small trucks seem to manage it okay, and one doesn’t have to go too far out (say, to the last few stations on the Metro lines) to find car-centric neighbourhoods with large central arteries. From what I’ve seen from buses and trains, there is some nice countryside out there, so I imagine touring in a van would be pleasant.

I’m not on Facebook, but my partner says there are expat groups of varying quality. She’s in a “Moving to Portugal”, “Living in Lisbon”, and “Leaving Portugal” group, for the differing perspectives.

Lieder · 2023-05-27T16:34:30.345Z

Thank you, this is a lot of great info. We bought, not leased the ban but I did a cursory look and it looks pretty pricey to ship a vehicle. Still may fo it though
The gas options didn’t occur to me so that’s definitely something to consider.
Lots to research.
Good tip on the FB pages. My wife also follows so expats on YouTube that has been really helpful.
We are planning a trip later this year to visit Portugal and get a small taste. I’m very much looking forward to it.