Ok, bear with me.

I've read some recent threads about taking UK electrical goods to the US, but I'm still unclear on some things.

Majority of the advise seems to be to start again, but some things will work. How do I know what will work?

A friend who works for Apple in Cork has advised me that the iMacs will work with just new power cables and I've previously had advice here about game consoles. What about TVs and kitchen equipment? What should I be looking for to tell if they will work in the States?

Simple language please, my head is swimming with stuff right now.

Cheers

Our TVs both work fine with HDMI & inputs from the consoles. Look at the back of the TV where the power cable plugs in - if it says 110v-230v, 50/60Hz it will work, if it only says 230v 50Hz it may work.

Kitchen equipment is almost certain not to work as the motors will not run fast enough to do their jobs.

If it has a heating element or a motor, it is probably easier to get rid and start over.

Computer stuff with a power brick is more likely to be ok with either a new cable if it says 120/240v on the brick or a new power brick.

If it has one of these types of plugs then you can probably bring it and plug it in (though there are all sorts of caveats) with a travel adapter type thing. Though you will still want to check what the input range on the device is (see picture 2).



If it is a regular plug then you probably don't want to bring it without doing more checking - what is the range of voltage on it - if it says something like this then you are OK:



If you still want to bring things that aren't designed to operate on US supply, you will need a lot of these:



These are expensive, unreliable and pose a fire risk - they get very hot. The convert 120V to 240V.

Basically, if it generates heat or lots of air, don't bring it. Kettles and hairdryers are not the things to ship over.

For things to work they need to work on 110-120v and 60Hz mains.

Things marked (on the back/bottom, usually near where the power cord is attached) 100v-250v and 50Hz-60Hz (or similar) will work normally once they have the right plug/ power cord (plug adapters should not be used as a long term solution).

Things marked 220v-240v and 50Hz might work if you use a suitably powerful transformer. If you decide you must go down this route I recommend a transformer rated at twice the rated power (wattage) of the largest appliance you run on it (or the sum of the appliances if you run more than one at a time).

The problem is most likely with appliances rated at 50Hz is with appliances with a motor or clock as they might run at the wrong speed/ rate, and this can create a fire risk, or in the case of speed critical appliances such as hifi components, they might be unusable.

Generally, using appliances through a transformer creates an insurance risk - insurance policies typically exclude fires caused by use of transformers, so use a transformer with caution!

Another solution to integrated plugs/power bricks/wall warts as in Weeze's first picture is to take over a UK 4-way extension and put a US plug on it to plug it into the wall socket, this removes the need for travel adaptors that end up too heavy to stay plugged into the wall socket. Only universal or dual voltage bricks will work, but generally a 230v shouldn't fail in interesting ways, just not work properly.

I join in reading the labels. On the opposite side of things, over the years, I've taken my laptops, tablets, digital cameras and smart phones over to the UK and Europe using only plug adapters [e.g. no transformer] usually with no problems. All had those 110-230v, 50/60 hz labels.

That said, on a trip earlier this year, I took a Memorex dual USB charger over and it stopped working after 10 days. Why, I don't know.

Anything that heats, do not bring over. I've seen many times that people from 220v countries are disappointed that water kettles take seeming forever to boil water in the US. Careful on hair dryers.

Anything with a motor may or may not be problematical. If the motor speed is controlled by the frequency [e.g. a clock], they will run FASTER, not slower. If the speed is controlled by the voltage, then US will run slower.

BTW, I've seen it noted that much in the way of consumer electrics can be had for what is considered fairly cheap in the US. What I've seen over time that if European items are not "high end," it is better to buy it in the US [on-line, Costco, Best Buy, Frys, etc].

On mobile devices [usually called "cell" in the US] do note that not all carriers in the US are on the GSM standards and watch your frequency compatiblity. My GSM Motorola Moto recently worked just fine in both Iraly and Israel. When I used to have a CDMA device with Verizon, it rarely worked abroad.

Fantastic advice as always. Wasn't planning to bring hairdryers/straighteners/curlers as have discovered on holidays to the US that they don't work well (or at all) with adapters.

I'm not going to get into the transformer option. Will check the back of the TVs.

Looks like I'm not bringing my magimix, blender, kitchenaid mixer or the coffee machine. Our kettle is a stove top one.

Cell phones are all iPhones (mix of 4s, 5 and 5s) so hopefully they'll be fine with PAYG sims until we can establish enough credit for contracts.

What's the deal with DAB radios and internet radios?

That should be OK then.

Tip: when you go shopping for a stove, take a look at induction stoves (you might have to special order one). A kettle on an induction stove top will out-perform any electric kettle as it is pumping the entire power of a stove "eye" into the kettle - and you can safely heat just a few ounces of water.

Once you have experienced an induction stove you will never go back to a gas or regular electric stove. An induction stove gives you the control of a gas stove with the convenience of an electric stove, and yet is more efficient than either because all the hear is created in the pan, and only a little is radiated into the kitchen from the pan, or conducted back into the stove top. ..... If a pan boils over, you can lift it up and wipe up the spill with a damp cloth without turning the eye off!

No DAB in the US I believe, and the UK uses an early-generation of DAB that's not compatible with most other countries that do use DAB. Internet radio if via wifi or network cable to a hub should be fine, so long as it's happy with a 110v supply, which it probably will be.

Make sure they're SIM unlocked! I think SIM unlocking is illegal, again, in the US, so do that before you leave. The GSM-family networks here are AT&T and T-Mobile. AT&T used to have the best coverage but T-Mobile recently rolled out a network upgrade. I had a UK iPhone 4 on AT&T PAYG for years before finally switching to a new phone on contract and it worked fine - only thing that didn't work was voicemail.

It is now legal again to unlock SIM -- see this article in CNET.COM. On occasion, Congress actually does something.

Consoles, depends on what you've got. Some will work fine, some you'll have problems with games if you get them over here. The usual issue is online accounts and either being able to update or renew them, or play any DLC.

+1 for an induction hob.
Ikea have a pretty decent one for about $1k which makes my eyes water but it's the cheapest one I've seen here...

Kettles/rice cookers here are really slow - I think the manufacturers just put US plugs on EU items.

I bought an iMac back from the U.S. to the UK. I just bought a new power cable online for a couple of pounds so it had the correct prongs for the power socket. Works fine.