Thanks for the thoughts everyone. Please rest assured that I have no intention of damaging my Lisas or myself :-)
It would be great if a 240V to 120V stepdown transformer would do the job---and maybe it will! The one thing I'm worried about is the current frequency. The USA uses 60Hz, while UK wall current is at 50Hz.
Stepdown transformers will change the voltage without trouble, but they can't change the frequency. Meanwhile, the data plate on the back of an American PSU is pretty specific:
120 VAC
60 Hz
1.2 Amp
150 W
It could be that the PSU can handle 50 Hz and they just didn't mark it that way---there aren't too many places where you'll find 1x0 VAC at 50 Hz (unless x == 0, and they didn't sell many Lisas in Tokyo...).
So, has anyone tried running Lisas and ProFiles at 50 Hz on a 240V to 120V stepdown transformer? Is that something that should work at all?
Other notes:
The UPS idea is not a bad one, but when ordinary UPSes are plugged into a wall, I think they tend to emit the same line frequency as what comes in. Take
this one for example (see the Technical Specifications tab)---output frequency is "sync to mains". Worst case, I guess I could plug the UPS into the wall to charge it up, then unplug it and use the computer for a little bit, I guess.
There are converters that can turn 240V 50Hz to 120V 60 Hz, but if you want something strong enough to power a Lisa/ProFile combo, I think you need to spend a whole lot of money---thousands.
--Tom