Australia to Canada
 

Hi all, electrical goods question here.

We have mostly Aussie and UK (same voltage) electrical goods which will need adapters to work in Canada yeah. Its mainly just a big Panasonic TV, Dyson vacuum cleaner and an apple mac G5 that we don't really want to sell as we'd lose out selling and re-buying.

What do you guys that have done the move already suggest? Sell it all before we move? Or ship and buy the voltage adapters?

Any advice will be very appreciated :)
Elaine.

Re: Australia to Canada
 

Someone move this to the Canada forum. Not exactly an immigration related question.

On topic,
I can't speak for Australia -> Canada but when I brought a Canadian guitar amp to Spain and tried to plug it in to the outlet with my converter the amp fried. Since then I haven't used converters for equipment with high power... I think generally those converters are only meant for smaller equipment/household items anyway.

Re: Australia to Canada
 

No idea what the voltage is in oz - but if the TV does NTSC then ship it, if the voltage is different ditch the hoover, keep the mac regardless.

Re: Australia to Canada
 

Voltage adapters are expensive, bulky and unreliable. Unless your equipment is dual voltage, for example, laptop PC, sell or donate it in Australia.

Re: Australia to Canada
 

We made the opposite move (Canada to Australia). We left almost all of our electrical stuff because of the voltage issues. Actually it's not so much the voltage, you can get converters for that.... it's the frequency (Hz) that is different and there is nothing you can do about that.

So... if you brought over a hair dryer you could use a converter and it would get electricity but the frequency would be wrong and the device would operate a bit too fast or too slow. Usually results in burnouts, clocks don't quite keep proper time, etc.

Personally I would leave anything that's not dual voltage. If it's dual voltage you just need a cheap plug adapter to be able to plug it in once you get to Canada. Any mobile technology should be ok (laptops, digital camera, mp3 players, etc). We did bring those things from Canada and have had no issues with them (have used for 2 years here). The tv could probably come as well if it's newer. Our plasma tv we bought in Australia is dual voltage but I'm not so sure it's NSTC capable (Australia uses the PAL video system and Canada uses NSTC). If it is then you should be able to bring that too.

The Dyson might be more of an issue though, not sure if that would be dual voltage. If it wasn't I can see that as the sort of thing that might burnt out over time. If it were me I'd probably sell it. I would wait to see though if anyone else has brought over a Dyson from the UK and how it worked, you might get lucky.

My personal view would be to leave anything that isn't dual voltage. If it is dual voltage then it's fine, although I'd still check to see if the tv will play NSTC video.

See this link:
http://www.voltageconverters.com/faq.htm
Do voltage converters convert the cycle (Hz)?

All voltage converters only convert the voltage and not the cycle, however most appliances and electronics will function properly with them.
North American 110-120 volt electricity is generated at 60 Hz. (Cycles) Alternating Current. Most foreign 220-240 volt electricity is generated at 50 Hz. (Cycles) Alternating Current. This difference in cycles may cause the motor in your 60 Hz. North American appliance to operate slightly slower when used on 50 Hz. foreign electricity. This cycle difference will also cause analog clocks and timing circuits that use Alternating Current as a timing base to keep incorrect time. Most modern electronic equipment including battery chargers, computers, printers, stereos, tape and CD players, VCR/DVD players, etc. will not be affected by the difference in cycles.

Re: Australia to Canada
 

I dont agree that all voltage convertors are unreliable or that using a transformer is a problem. I have moved between Canada and the UK a couple of times and used the same transformer in both places for different things over a period of 7 years with no problem.
Make sure the wattage is more than enough and check that the appliance isnt fussy about 50 or 60 Hz and you will be fine. (I have not bothered with TVs as the frequency can make a difference here but have done it with printers, decent hifi equipment etc).
A good transformer will have an appropriate fuse so if there are any problems then that will be the first to blow.
On my last move I took every piece of electrical stuff I could that wasnt very cheap to replace. It all adds up!