Electrical Goods
 

Have any of you taken electrical goods from the UK to Canada and got them to work OK? I understand you're running 110V over there, so a step up transformer is going to be needed.....

I've spent years building up and refining my gadgets, I'd be gutted if I couldn't use them (but I wouldn't let this stop me emigrating :))

How does the cost compare with UK for items such as HD LCD-TV, DVD players, washing machines etc?

Re: Electrical Goods
 

Hi

There have been lots of threads on this in the past so its best to do a search and read through them. There seems to be mixed opinion but long story short is Most tv's you can kiss goodbye to but basics such as lamps etc you can change plugs and bulbs.

I know how you feel though, I will be gutted to leave my gadgets behind, but I think my sony sorround has dual power :) read through your manuals.

Re: Electrical Goods
 

Check out

www.sears.ca
www.futureshop.ca
www.bestbuy.ca

They have good selections of electrical equipement and their prices are pretty typical of what you pay from other places too.

regards
Jane

Re: Electrical Goods
 

And if your really bored, try a Canadian hairdryer on the Uk 230V, it becomes a blowtorch! Drys your hair in seconds.

Re: Electrical Goods
 

Hehehe. I was wondering if euro goods such as TVs are really 50Hz sensitive. I know my TV will accept an NTSC signal, just the tuner won't work. A digital cable or satellite box will fix that via S-Video. It's a 25" 5 year old TV but I'm quite happy with it. It says on the back it is 240V 50Hz only. Most appliances seem to accept 50/60Hz. Who has shipped a "50Hz only" TV and now runs it on 110V (via a transformer of course) ?

Re: Electrical Goods
 

Yes we brought loads of UK electrical goods with us from England. We brought TV's, VCR's, DVD players, all power tools, lights......pretty much the whole shooting match.

Our house is also wired up for 220V aswell as 110V and we don't have any problem running our UK stuff here.

We also brought a British generator with us so that hubby can do outside things with his power tools.

Re: Electrical Goods
 

I had the same question before I got here. If you look on the back of your appliances check the voltage. Some from the uk are 110v-240v which means that you can use them anywhere. From my experience you dont have to do anything with them apart from insert a canadian plug which dont cost lots. With appliances that are 240v you will need a transformer. I went to a shop and asked about this and they were a few hundred dollars - could have spent it on a transformer or bought a new playstation.
Hope that helps you.

Re: Electrical Goods
 

Thanks for the reply but it helps if you read my post before replying :)

My question is about the voltage frequency. Europe is 50Hz, North America is 60Hz. A voltage transformer will only change the voltage from 110/120V to 220/240V it will NOT modify the frequency. Since TVs can be more sensitive to this difference and my TV specifically states that it only runs 50Hz then I wanted to know if people have successfully run their 50Hz euro TVs on 220/240V 60Hz.

Re: Electrical Goods
 

The answer you need is:

Contact the companies that manufacture this equipment...

If you still have the manuals check these first but if that doesn't tell you what you wnt most of them will have a helpline.

Also if you don't have the manual you can type the equipment name into google and it should find you it.

A little note on the side it is far easier taking european equipment into 'America' than it is the other way around.

Re: Electrical Goods
 

You can bring 240v appliances and run them from a transformer. Check out www.voltageconverters.com. Transformers are pretty cheap to buy - I run my sewing machine very successfully from one. Just make sure you get the correct wattage or the appliance may fry!

Re: Electrical Goods
 

This depends on the internals. A lot of modern, light-duty, electronic equipment (particularly PC power supplies) use switched mode power supply units and/or convert to DC internally. However, certain items are 'direct drive', if you like, off the mains. Such as a hair dryer, or turntable. These appliances actually 'sync' off the alternating current. Therefore they will run at an incorrect speed (6/5), at best.

The other problems you will/might have is interference from the 60Hz mains, as the 50Hz TV is 'tuned', if you like, to filter 50Hz frequency. Secondly, you will also need an RF input adapter (this is trivial though). Thirdly, SCART does not exist in North America.

I think you will be better off buying an new TV in North America. From what I can see, the HDTV standard here (ATSC) actually provides for 25/50 fps PAL. Perhaps it's even possible to connect a PAL DVD player directly to an American HDTV. I haven't tried this though.

Re: Electrical Goods
 

Watch out for anything that has an inbuilt clock ;) We have an American motor home here in the UK. It has a transformer to step down the mains power from 240 coming in from the hookup to 110 for the inbuilt electrical items like microwave, fridge freezer etc. But of course it doesn't change the frequency. It has a built in coffee machine that has a timer on it that can be used like a teasmaid. The first time we used it we set it to wake us at a reasonable time in the morning but because the clock takes its timing from the 50Hz cycle after a couple of hours it was wayout. It still makes great coffee but we never know what time it is!!!
I am sure the guys on the other side of the pond can confirm whether its a problem with UK kit running in Canada

Re: Electrical Goods
 

Bare in mind too that transformers are lossy, so anything that you run on a transformer will be using 10 to 20% more electricity that you will have to pay for.

Big ticket items you dont use often are probably wort the effort of bringing, but if its something thats going to get a lot of use and doesnt cost much to replace, sell it and bring the money instead.

Stuff with syncronous AC motors wont like the change in frequency anyway, and stuff with quarts timing wil act odd. Timers and Microwaves for example willl not function. UK TVs AFAIK will still work fine with a UK signal source (DVD,PS... whatever) but new media for them will be non existant.

TVs and (digital tuning) Radios tune to different standards.

Wiring the house for 220 might raise some eybrows with the insurance loss adjuster if there is a problem too.

Re: Electrical Goods
 

I can assure you that North America HD is 30fps/60Hz - I work in this field :) The HD spec specifies handling either 50Hz or 60Hz. At least the HD resolutions are now standardised on both sides of the atlantic. I doubt the fps will ever be standardised because of the investment in studio equipment.

I watched SD Canadian digital cable and the picture quality was god awful so HD is a real revelation in comparison. SD European Digital is light years ahead in terms of quality, probably why the drive for HD has been slower.

My TV will handle an NTSC 3.58 signal - many euro TVs will. This basically means if you hook it up to a US VCR, DVD player or cable box via AV then you'll get picture and sound fine. The TV just doesn't have the NTSC M tuner so off-air reception will probably only receive a picture but no sound.

Re: Electrical Goods
 

Did it improve the quality of the programing at all? :D



Cant see the point in paying extra myself if its still the same old crap.