Hi
priceless as they say, I just found this explaination of how electricity realy works

thought the thread might benefit from some humour...

'proper circuit functioning, which is the transmission of negative ions by retention of the visible spectral manifestation known as "smoke".
Smoke is the thing that makes electrical circuits work;
we know this to be true because every time one lets smoke out of the electrical system, it stops working ........ '

using this theory cigarettes are electric...
Cheers
jerry

That's one of the coolest things i've ever read! ... or do I mean 'smoking hot' ??

Basic electronics.

A converter is normally a transformer which has three possibilities each of these will isolate the supply.

It can step up - This is required when you need more power to operate an electrical item. I.E. A hair drier from england for use in canada.

It can remain the same I.E. 110/110v tranny - This just protects the original source.

It can step down - This is required when using a canadian hair dryer in england.

Basically a transformer works by taking the voltage from a supply I.E. 110v (primary side) then its windings can reduce/increase the voltage on its secondary side which is where you plug your appliance to.

If you have too much of a load on a transformer i.e. a 1200w hairdrier on a 1000w tranny it will blow the tranny up. No risk to the house...

Once again i can not promise that you will not blow a fuse in the house but that is the worst thing that could happen to their house electronics. If this does happen buy a bigger fuse.

Once again sorry cause it is complicated and hard to write/explain.

Hope this helps

Note that not too many houses in Canada have fuses anymore.

Fuse/Circuit breakers

Thanks dbd

Thanks Lees
I think I understand now....I put the switch on the transformer/converter to 110v and my hair irons heated up nice and hot (as they should) I take it that it is correct as the transformer didn't blow a fuse!
Thanks very much, and my shiny straight tresses thank you also!
Sally

By the way if anyone is reading this thread please check that if you by a 'plug converter'.

THIS MAY NOT BE A TRANSFORMER...the reason i gave that advise was because sally H gave me information such as step up/down and the W rating of the devise.

A plug converter can also be just a 3pin-2pin converter this is a different devise with the same 'converter' name this is why i used the word transformer.

It is confusing enough without these companies calling a transformer the same as a plug converter.

Hi
glad you liked it, it got me laughing....
cheers
jerry

Guys as always engineering has always been difficult to get into within Canada. It has taken me 3 years just to get an interview with BC Hydro despite 27 years experience at all levels in the Power industry and no licensing issues.
You will have read many posts regarding the importance of networking to get the first break. How true this was for me. I new I had to try and find someone within the industry to begin a rap-ore with in the hope they would pass on my resume to the hiring manager rather and get past HR.
I set up a monster account and got no replies in 3 years from Canada despite the number of companies stating they had skill shortages, however there are many ways to skin a cat. I got many calls in the UK who looked at my Canadian monster account for work in the UK and Europe. After a while I got a bit fed up with calls almost every other week. Then I realised these people had access to search for other peoples resume on monster so I helped one agency guy out in the UK and he searched monster for anyone in the Power industry within Canada. In all he found 3 people who had worked for BC Hydro in the past or present. I sent a few e-mails as an introduction to these guys and all responded. One guy had recently retired from Hydro and was looking for consultancy work. I started some general correspondence with him and he gave me a bit of background as to life within Hydro and said they were looking for seasoned engineers like myself. He asked for a copy of my resume to which I duly obliged and within 2 weeks I had a call from Hydro for a general 'what do you do' type interview. This was followed by a technical interview and finally I got a call from HR requesting they fly my out for an interview at their offices in Vancouver.
Now the odd thing was the hiring manager told me they had trouble filling vacancies in the interior and Northern BC (for obvious reasons). However the HR manager said 'you would like to work in Vancouver wouldn't you?'
So still not sure what, when and where the job is, but I fly out on the 8th September for an interview on the 12th non the wiser with all expenses paid.
But the morale is get to know someone in your field of expertise who can pass on your resume and build a relationship with. I talk to at least 2 guys on a regular bases now in the industry.

Even on these groups its worth stating what you do and where you would like to be as there is always someone looking that may be able to help you.

Good luck with the job search.

Paul