prairiechicken

Thanks Deb. We are heading to Van Island too - whereabouts are you?

charlsar

Unless you are going to get a very good price for your tvs, why don't you bring at least one of them over and use it in one of your other rooms? That's what we did and we have it downstairs, we watch DVDs on it, streamed content through my iPad or if you have cable with two boxes,use that. A transformer isn't expensive and if it is in a second room you are not running it all the time. I forgot also we bought an appletv so we watch Netflix through. What I am trying to say then, is that you can use it!

Deb.3

We are in Parksviile And loving it. Where are you heading.

rivingtonpike

Just about to start supplying the Little Qualicum Cheeseworks with ice cream up there. Nice part of the world; highest concentration of millionaires per something according to my friends who live up there!......Are you old?

prairiechicken

We are heading to the Comox Valley so not far away from Parksville. Nice spot. We visited Qualicum Beach last year, and thought it was beautiful.

rivingtonpike, we'll have to look out for your ice cream. And for the millionaires.

Deb.3

Ha Ha ,In our early 50s, I would'nt class that as old , but I suppose it all depends , what age you are lol

Eddmac

wouldn't the cost of shipping the TV's make it meaningless to bring them?
If your TV's are worth a couple of hundred pounds (its unlikely they're worth more as no one wants to buy second hand TV's) and it costs a couple of hundred pounds to ship them?

I understand if you're using a container and have the space available, and therefore its no extra to ship them, but if not - I would look at the cost to bring them!

I have a top of the range Pioneer and won't be bringing that!

MrHyperPants

I just bought an LG 55" LED tv for $800. That includes tax. Its not a smart tv. You save yourself a $100 on the smart tv option and can by a media box for just over $100 i.e. apple tv, rook box. These boxes turn your tv in to a smart tv with more features and options then a smart tv would offer imo.

prairiechicken

We are using a container as we have a lot of nice furniture we want to bring over, so there's not actually an 'extra' cost to bringing the TV. I think we've decided to sell it anyway. But obviously if we had to pay extra to ship it, we'd think twice.

MikeUK

Depends if the units comply with DLNA... also the abilty to upgrade software and available memory ???

chiefmissile

We brought out TV worked perfectly. I also ordered about 20 UK-USA/CAD travel plugs from Amazon, they have been very handy since we got here. Our iron also works, takes a little longer to heat up but once its up there you don't notice any difference from when used in the UK.

Our CD player didn't work, however the radio part did.

Kettle worked but was slow to boil.

Battery chargers don't work.

Electric knife and blender work but not the same power.

Get some rechargeable batteries before you leave the UK, they are really expensive here.

Our bedside lamps and other lamps also work with a halogen bulb equivalent, without them having to be re-wired

Get those adapter plugs, they have been a god send

withabix

A lot of electrical stuff is cheaper in Canada anyway (and even less if you can pop over to America, even with duties)

240v Kettles and irons will work, but they will actually take longer to heat up than 110v ones of the same wattage, due to Ohm's Law.

Things like blenders and electric knives and other things with motors will burn out eventually, because the electric motors will fail due to the voltage and frequency difference. (There are complex reasons for this, but it will happen)

Rechargeable batteries seem to be the same price and chargers will work if they are universal voltage.

As for lamps, you can get 110v bayonet bulbs in the UK (from eBay or tool hire shops - because UK construction sites use 110v) to bring with you or you can get Bayonet-Edison Screw adapters for the lamps for about $2 each. Bayonet bulbs are almost unheard of in Canada.

As for travel adapters, why not just change the plug instead? Also, we run UK 3-pin stuff off UK multi-socket adapters with a Canadian plug - that means less changes too.

For stuff that only works on 240V, you can get voltage converters from Amazon.ca for low prices, in sizes from 100W to 5000W (although I wouldn't suggest plugging ones over 3000W into your standard sockets (err...sorry 'receptacles')). Things with motors in still won't run right, due to the frequency difference however.

Canadian cables for electrical goods can be bought cheaply - we found independent computer shops the cheapest - similar prices to eBay and MUCH less than BestBuy etc charge

prairiechicken

Thanks, useful info

Oakvillian

You should exercise a little caution when using 240V lamps on 110V circuits. It is possible that the internal wiring will overheat.

A 60W bulb at 240V draws only half as much current as a 60W bulb at 120V. Or, in other words, if you put a Canadian 60W bulb in the same lamp as you had a 60W bulb in in the UK, the internal wiring will be operating at twice the current draw. Take a look at domestic lamps over here, and you'll notice that the wiring tends to be thicker gauge than the equivalent European lamp. There's a reason for that...

One way to overcome any concerns is to use bulbs that draw much less current. An LED (or even a CFL) bulb will not draw anything like as much current as an equivalent incandescent bulb, for the same light output.

I had this discussion at some length (and with the backs of many envelopes) at home. A chandelier with significant sentimental value was rewired with CSA-approved lampholders and thicker-gauge wire (at the cost of some skinned knuckles and much swearing) in the interests of domestic harmony; the flipside of the discussion was that a pair of table lamps was not rewired beyond replacing bayonet for Edison screw lampholders, but we've just changed out the CFL bulbs that replaced the UK incandescent ones, for LED versions which produce a rather nicer colour-temperature light.

withabix

True, but 60W @ 240v = 0.25A compared to 0.5A at 110V.

Standard table lamps in the UK will have 3A or 5A flex, so not really a concern.

It is the absence of fuses in Canada which can be the main issue in my view. The 'weakest link' might be the electrical appliance itself or the person being electrocuted.