Moving from the UK to NZ and need my electrical questions answered . . . .
 

Hello all,

So I have just got my Visa and will be moving to NZ in the next few months. Im moving over to live for the rest of my time so Im shipping over a fair amount of stuff.

I want to bring over my Sony Amplifier, Sony Radio (seperate), Sony Playstation 3 - I would like to first of all know wether its worth it, or should I sell them here in the UK and buy new in NZ (will I save money in shipping them over). Also Im not a fan of having to use adapters for everything so can I just change the plugs? Id also want to change the plug on my Nikon D90 (SLR) camera, my mac book pro, will this work.

Thanks for your help.

Re: Moving from the UK to NZ and need my electrical questions answered . . . .
 

Electronics are expensive here, if you are looking at upgrading your PS3 to a PS4 then by all means, sell it and buy a PS4 over here.

All your electricals will work, either change the plug in them or use an adaptor.
I took UK extension sockets and put an NZ plug on it.

Most electronics have a seperate plug cord and power brick. So you can just buy the NZ power cord and all sorted.

Re: Moving from the UK to NZ and need my electrical questions answered . . . .
 

Yes- totally agree with above - you'll cringe at the electronic prices here. Even if you bring them and want to upgrade later you can still sell them here. We just changed the plugs on our items.

Re: Moving from the UK to NZ and need my electrical questions answered . . . .
 

That's what I did and still have the hifi and computer gear on a UK Belkin surge protected Surgemaster boards 8 years into our NZ experience. The surge protection can be doubly useful as NZ mains power is a bit tempremental - lots of overhead lines/trees, thunderstorms, etc

Just a couple of points about adapters though.

Watch out when using travel adapters, some cheap ones only have two pins so don't give your kettle/toaster/etc any earth. Death may result. No really!

You can use them for phone chargers or other stuff that has two pins, the double insulated symbol on the rating plate will tell you - its two squares a small one inside the other.

Also most travel adapters are for temporary use and often are rated at low currents - sometimes 5 amps or less, they are not suitable for kettles or heaters, etc or for whiteware like clothes dryers or dishwashers.

NZ does not have plug top fuses and NZ power circuits are not like UK ones which are mainly ring mains. In the UK we have 32 amp ring mains, NZ have 10 or sometimes 15 amp radial circuits. Upshot is that lots of NZ appliances plugged into a UK 4 or 6-way adapter will not have any local protection for the board's power cord (as it doesn't have a fuse in it's own plug) and using them together can overload the cord for the adapter and the adapter itself as well as your home's power circuits. Fuses at the consumer unit (or meter board/fuse box/whatever to use NZ terms) don't always fully protect you in this regard and so......

NZ adapters (called multi-boards/multi-boxes most often) have a local protective device fitted to the board, usually a 10 amp cut out device. These cut-outs should prevent you from overloading the household wiring and blowing fuses/taking out breakers when using a multi-board.

So I would urge caution when using high power appliances on UK extension leads - NZ replacement plugs are pretty fiddly to fit was well, that's coming from a person who once had a temping job making up mains leads for fruit machines.

I offer these opinions as an experienced forensic scientist/fire investigator (20 years in UK and NZ) who has seen lots of these things go wrong.

But as I said if you take a few precautions then "she'll be right"......

Re: Moving from the UK to NZ and need my electrical questions answered . . . .
 

Yep, easy enough to do. Pop into your local hardware store (Bunnings, Mega Mitre 10 etc), get some NZ plugs and then re-wire your appliances.

elto PLUG 3 PIN SIDE ENTRY ELTO - Mitre 10

Good luck with the move :thumbup:

Re: Moving from the UK to NZ and need my electrical questions answered . . . .
 

Yep we just changed the plugs too, works fine

Good luck

Re: Moving from the UK to NZ and need my electrical questions answered . . . .
 

leave em at home, Radio is terrible down here. . . . truly truly (billy Idol is still being played ) terrible.

Re: Moving from the UK to NZ and need my electrical questions answered . . . .
 

Hahaha... So true. I never listen to the radio anymore