acer rose

For a dual voltage laptop or a pc, you will be able to buy a power lead in Canada that will connect into the pc or power brick of the laptop. The cost should range from a couple of dollars (small computer store "kettle" lead) to tens of dollars for a special connector (manufacturer's design "clover leaf" or similar) to go into a laptop power brick.

Won't help with the mobile phone charger but the adaptor will do for that. Some of the cheaper multipin adaptors don't sit firmly in the sockets so check there is no strain on the lead or you'll find it has pulled out when you think it is happily charging.

liquidsuite

Ok Bit confused with the voltage. Can someone explain more. Someone at maplins told me I do not need to buy a voltage converter and just buy a plug converter for my laptop. Then today someone in pc world said I need a voltage converter.????? So thought would check with you guys whats what. Is voltage in canada same as here in UK. I know someone said in this thread dont buy a expensive adapter which sounds great.

Cookie

The voltage in Canada is not the same as UK (110V in Canada, 220V in UK)but many electrical items such as laptops, mobile phones, razors are 'dual voltage' and can run off both.

It may tell you on the base of your laptop if its dual voltage. If not, check your book or manufacturer's website, emailing them if you have to. We took over our PC and just plugged it in here using an travel adator.

For any items that are NOT dual voltage and run on 220V you would need a converter. You need to know the wattage of the item before you buy a converter.

or4ngecrush

I've noticed that theres a small symbol on electric items (Usually on the plug or the power brick) that seem to be dual voltage. It looks like a square within a square, I notice this when I was checking my appliances to see if they would work in Canada. Has anyone else noticed it and I'm guessing that if it has that symbol it is dual voltage.

For example my camera, video camcorder and Nintendo DS have this symbol and they all worked with just a travel adapter.

liquidsuite

Ok found this one which says this....
- Adaptor plug for UK and European travellers to countries with an American 110v electrical system
- (NB: This product does not convert voltage).

So will this be fine as long as my laptop or any uk device I have says 100-240v
Also what is diference between 100-240v and 100/240. Is it same thing or does 2nd one mean its dual which means it can convert from one voltage to another where as 100-240 you dont need to convert and just works from 100-240. Little confused on that as I have heard there dual voltage and also wide range voltage. Any info on this guys?

Jim2

The square within a square symbol means it is "Double insulated", which means it doesn't need an earth connection.

(UK appliances that are double insulated often have a 3 pin mains plug top with a plastic earth pin - only the live and neutral pins are actually wired up to the appliance.)

Jim

Jim2

Yes, 100/240 means it will work on either 100V or 240V (+/- a certain % tolerance, eg UK "240V" appliances usually work from 216V to 253V so that they'll work on any mains voltage in europe (the actual spec is 230V +10%/-6%).

Some 100/240 appliances will automatically switch between voltages, but some will need a switch to be flipped manually first (and may break if you plug it in with it set to the wrong one, possibly in a catastrophic fashion! ie sparks, smoke, flames etc...)

100-240V means it will automatically work on any voltage from 100V (- % tolerance) to 240V (+ % tolerance).

Jim

loafy

Hi Biiiiiiiink I was just wondering about larger electrical items (fridge) Got a side by side us type fridge not long ago.Would it be safe to use long term on a converter.just seems a shame to have to sell it for peanuts cause i am taking container load of stuff anyway.Many thanks Loafys wife floss

lee58uk

Running small items on adapters is ok, but DONT run heavy load items like fridges, heaters etc as will cause heat build up at the socket, as the equipment pulls alot of current through it, may be a fire risk long term. phone chargers ,laptops etc dont use enough current to worry to much.

I would'nt take a fridge, washing machine etc, out there as its not worth the hassle !

Paul Wildy

Before we moved I did an "audit" of all my electrical applances to see if they said they would run on 110-240v on the sticker on the back. Anything that did we took (and they worked fine by just getting a plug converter). Generally these were things like laptops, printer, other AC-DC adaptors. There were some things that said they needed 240v on the stickers and we planned to sell them but never managed it in time so we just shipped them anyway. A lot of them actually worked fine on 110v even though their labels said they wouldn't. These were things like TVs, DVD players.

We also had a few major apliances (washer, dryer, espresso machine) that were almost brand new and so we were really reluctant to sell them as used for next to nothing. Someone told us that most Canadian homes have 220v running through them even though the sockets are only 110v so we thought what the hell, lets take them too. We brought a batch UK electrical sockets with us from B&Q and our plan is to get an electrician here to rig us up a few UK sockets around the house so we can plug our UK appliances in. We have found an electrician who thinks he can do it but haven't had the work done yet so I will let you all know how it goes. Apparently most modern homes have 220v and Dryers and Cookers use special sockets that supply 220v to them even though the common perception is that everything is 110v so in theory, as long as the sockets are wired-up correctly, there shouldn't be a problem with running some 240v UK appliances (apparently even though they say they are 240v most UK homes don't output quite 240v - its nearer to 230-220 so 220v should be close enough). Watch this space!

lee58uk

UK nominal voltage should be 230v to harmonize with the EU,

Oakvillian

Be careful with this. While it's true that you do get 220V on domestic wiring circuits (dryer, range, aircon all typically run at 220V) it is not analogous to UK wiring, as the relationships between live, neutral and earth are different. In the UK 240V is supplied as a single phase, with the neutral conductor nominally at earth potential. In Canada, two opposing 110V phases are co-wired to get 220V, so you have two "hot" wires and the earth is a "floating earth" between the two phases.

Most kitchens, by the way, have 220V to the power outlets at the countertop, wired as two 110V sockets on opposing phases on a double-pole circuit, so you could in theory simply replace one Canadian-style double outlet with a UK one. While this isn't a problem in normal operation, you should ensure that your fire insurance coverage isn't invalidated by having non-standard electrical installations - go through the exclusion clauses with a fine-toothed lawyer or you may find yourself out of pocket big-time if you have an electrical fire of any sort in future.

I'm not an electrician, so I many have some of the terminology wrong, but we enquired extensively about this when we arrived and were advised by several electricians and a couple of expat friends not to go there. I ended up passing on my much-missed espresso machine to a German acquaintance shipping back to Europe rather than play with the wiring, so I'll just have to find a new one!

dbd33

The recently bankrupt cafe next to here had a commercial espresso machine. It cost nearly $2,000 a year ago. Last I heard the owner was looking for $700for it. I could ask her if she still has it.

In answer to a question above about the longevity of plug adaptors I have had some appliances, certainly the record player and amplifier, maybe others, running through adaptors since I came here in 1981.

Oakvillian

thanks, I'd love to, but I think SWMBO would baulk at a commercial machine - the one I had was a dinky little Gaggia that occupied a small, unobtrusive, barely noticeable (honest...) piece of kitchen real-estate. Anything that requires plumbing in is probably not going to sneak in unnoticed past the tea-drinkers!

In the mean time, there's something satisfyingly low-tech about the hexagonal stove-top boiler affair that is doing sterling service currently.

MarkG

Modern switched-mode power supplies (used in a lot of computers and consumer electronics) will usually take any old crap you feed them, often including DC power rather than AC; though the only way to be sure is to try it . Transformer-based power supplies won't, since they divide the voltage by a fixed amount; some have a 240/110V switch which just disables half of the transformer, but the cheap ones don't.

Plugging a 240V-only device into 110V shouldn't make it explode, it just won't work because the voltage will be too low. I guess if it has mechanical parts there's a possibility that they could be damaged if they try to operate on half the normal voltage.