Hi all,

I know that some appliances, PC's etc.. can be used in Canada if they have dual voltage but was wondering how easy it would be to re-wire lights and lamp fittings?

I can hear you all screaming for gods sake buy new over there and we will in the main but we have a couple of really special fittings that we don't really want to part with.

Cheers
Babs

It is very easy to re wire lamps as i brought 2 very expensive and special lamps with me.We went to canadian Tire and got a kit and you put in the new wire and bulb fitting it was very easy and the kits are not very expensive.

Thanks for that Debby, great news. Looks like an early visit to canadian tire for me then.

Babs

I re-used a lot of my table lamps from the UK here in the US. I simply replaced the plugs! You can run 240V bulbs on a 120V supply, they are not as bright. After Mrs Texas_Dave said my conversion was half hearted I decided to do the job properly:

The light fittings took a UK style bayonet bulb, but I sourced an adaptor on eBay that converts bayonet to screw cap (it seems bayonet cap is not used here). The adaptor makes the bulb sit 1 inch higher than usual. For the style of the lamps I was using this was not noticable. The adaptors cost 7USD for a package of 2.
You could replace the whole fitting, but the adaptor installs in 2 seconds and kept Mrs TD happy.

If your lamps are already screw cap fitting then you just need new plugs and new bulbs.

Hi
we just found this to power our pal tv & dvd/video
http://www.thesourcecc.com/estore/Pr...roduct=2731414
cheers
Jerry

Cheers Dave,

Our fiitings are screw cap so shouldn't be a problem.
Babs

Great link Jerry, thanks.

We are taking one of our TV's/DVD's and it looks like this would do the trick.
We're only taking them because the kids insist on being able to play consoles etc. when we get there!

I don't know, all those mountains and beautiful scenery and they want to play games!!!!

Babs

That model is only 250W (but costs $159.99), thats enough power to light 4 normal light bulbs.

You may want to consider this 3000W adaptor (I have one here, I've been using it since last December without a problem). This one is $69.99 USD (about $80 Canadian dollar????) , obviously it ships from the US, but even with shipping its going to cost less whilst still providing 12 times the power - we run all kinds of things of this simultaneously.

3000W 110V to 240V voltage transformer

Hi
yeah we looked at bigger ones but thought of the cost of the electricity of running the transformer/convertor, so we 'sized' the unit we needed, to the wattage required by our tv and dvd/video unit.
funnily our kids also want to play uk games, the x box consoles, we just swapped power supplies, available for about £7.99 on e bay + postage, as they are 'modded' they worked right away, playing any region dvd on our canadian TV.
On the subject of electrics, pack as many extension leads as you can, four way or six way, they are great for the multi voltage equipment, just change the plug on the end of the lead to a canadian one!! we wished we brought more !!
Cheers
Jerry

So glad to see this thread, as it is something I've been researching recently. I took the plunge in having a go at some basic re-wiring on my UK set of clippers. I managed to get them to power up, but expected the lack of power, unfortunately, it wasn't even enough power to move the blades, just a small hum from the motor.

The thing is, i didn't go through all the hassle of bringing all my electrical equipment over, only a couple of small items like the clippers. So my question is, am I better of buying a Canadian powered set, or is there a cheap converter I could pick up which would be economical?

Clippers? Toe-nail, hair, hedge clippers??

I'd say buy new!

I did re-wire one of our lamps though .... much to hubby's horror! Then we found a shop that sold bayonet-fit light-bulbs for american voltage, and I simply changed the plugs on our other two lamps.

A transformer only draws the current equal to the load (with about 5% overhead because transformer generate heat and sometimes a hum).
So a transformer not under load draws hardly any current, a transformer working at half its rate draws approx half the current it would if it was at full load.

Using something rated more than needed will not necessarily use any more energy that using one rated at exactly the requirement. Using over rated transformers can prolong the life of the transformer, a transformer working at the top end of the range will remain very hot.

Depending on the size of your TV, and whether it is CRT or LCD you could find your topping out using a 250W transformer. An average 34" TV pulls nearly 200W alone. A DVD pulls between 20W and 30W, as does a VCR. Anything bigger than 34" and your in trouble, and if its a plasma well forget it

Spot on with your advice there. I have to ask why on earth so many people want to take the Uk stuff with them ? A new start means a new start for me personally so I am takng only a few bits that will convert quickly by simply changing the plug. Most electronic equipment like PCs, printers etc with a trailing lead and transformer will accept 100-250Vac so a change of plug will do.

Philip

Sorry, Men's Hair Clippers.

Mind you, electric toe-nail clippers could be fun?

Hi,
we off loaded almost all our UK 240v equipment, but took a pal tv & vcr/dvd as we can easily view family tapse etc, tapes from the UK.
cheers
jerry