Page 1 of Electrical Current ( Conversion)

As a typical male i own a lot of electrical equipment which like most things has lost a lot of its original value, i may be moving abroad where they use different voltages etc..

What I would like to know is it possible to use a Hi Fi, Multi region DVD player etc on a different voltage the place im moving to uses 220 V Ac as opposed to good old 240v AC in the UK

Are there any products that can be bought to protect the equipment i.e. transformers etc also does anyone kow what TV system is used in dubai.

Sorry if this is placed in the wrong forum i didnt know where to put it.

Thanks.

Not sure about Dubai, but I do know you can buy devices from USA & Japan & with a transformer use them in the UK so I`m sure you`d be able to find it for the other way round. Try searching US electrical sites. Good luck

240 volts is only a `nominal` voltage, used to calculate power consumption - the voltage we actually get in the UK can vary between about 220 and about 250 volts. In other words, electrical equipment has to be designed to work on a pretty wide range of voltages anyway, so you should have absolutely no problems running your stuff on a `nominal` 220 volt supply. It`s only a problem when the supply is radically different, i.e. the 100-120 volt supplies used in the US, Canada and Japan.

That said, I don`t know how reliable the mains is in Dubai (in terms of surges, blackouts, brownouts etc), so you might want to check this out. If it`s problematic, you may want to invest in some surge protectors for your sensitive electronic gear, and/or a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) for your PC.

Dubai uses the PAL system. TV broadcasts are PAL-G (as opposed to PAL-I which we have in the UK) - which means a different audio frequency is used. If you take your TV set, you`ll get pictures from terrestrial TV, but you may not get sound.

Mike

This item was edited on Wednesday, 28th May 2003, 09:36

You should be easily able to pick something up at one of the electrical souks in Dubai. I used to live in Saudi and came across the same problem, I agree with Mike and recommend you buy one with a surge protector.

Here`s a tourist website which might help:
http://www.datadubai.com/souks.htm

This item was edited on Wednesday, 28th May 2003, 12:22

Dubai is 240V 50Hz like us in the UK as I brought back mains operated Hi-Fi years ago and it still works fine.

When going abroad its not just the Voltage thats a problem, its the frequency as well, as we are at 50 Hz (cycles/sec) but others like the USA use 60 Hz, this will affect all equipment with electric motors as they will rotate at a different speed and also affect some electronic circuits.

"we are at 50 Hz (cycles/sec) but others like the USA use 60 Hz, this will affect all equipment with electric motors as they will rotate at a different speed and also affect some electronic circuits"

Not *all* electric motors are affected - only mains-powered AC synchronous motors. Power tools and kitchen appliances are among the sorts of equipment that might contain such motors.

DVD players, VCRs etc. use low-voltage DC motors in their mechanisms, so the mains frequency isn`t an issue.

Mike