Electricity/Voltage in Europe

[kmack]

we are moving to ireland in the spring for 2-3 years b/c of DH's job. we were given a book about living over there but i am totally confused about the different voltage and what to do about it.

from what i understand, most US electroncis are 110v, and european ones are 220v so we will need to buy transformers. this website is mentioned in the book - www.appliancesoverseas.com - where i can buy transformers. there are several different ones and i am confused as to what to do and how many to buy, i.e i see a 1000W transformer as well as a 500w one but dont know what the difference is?

we will probably buy a bunch of new 220v small appliances (toaster, hair dryer), but i am concerned about our laptop, printer, scanner and our digital cameras (the chargers). would i have to buy a transformer for each one? and what are adapters and how are they different from transformers?? any help someone could give me would be greatly appreciated, thanks!!

[alisong]

If you look on the AC converter for each of your appliances (i.e. the black box on your laptop cord) it should say something like "INPUT: 100-240V". This means it will be fine at 220V. This should apply for all computers, scanners, and printers. I'm not so sure about digital cameras. About the only thing I ever use a transformer for is charging my electric toothbrush. And even if you do have a dual-voltage hair dryer, it's definitely worthwhile to buy a 220V one, as it will get fried with long-term use.

Adaptors only make the plugs fit, and don't do anything to the voltage. I'd imagine you'll need a bunch of adaptors and perhaps a couple of transformers.

[kmack]

oh great, thanks! that info is helpful. so far it looks like my laptop, ipod charger and DD's DVD player all go up to 240V. so this means i will just need an adapter to plug them in, correct? i haven't managed to get on all fours and check my printer and scanner yet but now i know what to look for. of course my brand new digital camera charger just says 110v so i will get a transformer for that.

also in this book it says that only US DVD's will play in a US DVD player that we bring over, do you know if this is true?

[alisong]

Yep, you'll just need an adaptor for the things rated up to 240V. It might be worthwhile to get a new charger for your camera, as IME transformers just don't work that well or last that long. My parents have two that they brought over from the US in the early '70s that are still going strong, but they're the size and weight of a brick!

There is something about differently formatted DVDs, and I think you're correct about only US DVDs working in a US DVD player. I know it's possible to buy "universal" DVD players, so that might be worthwhile if you plan on bringing and purchasing/renting DVDs while you're there.

[tlew12778]

I would get a new charger for the camera. In the long run, it will be worth not risking frying the battery entirely.

Re: DVDs and TVs - There are two issues here, format and region coding.

TVs are PAL format in Europe and NTSC format in the US. A PAL DVD player will only play PAL DVDs on a PAL TV and the same is true for NTSC TVs, DVDs and and DVD players.

Then you have region coding. US is region 1, Europe is region 2. DVDs that you buy in Europe will be region 2 and will not play on your US NTSC Region 1 DVD player. Likewise, if you buy a new TV and DVD player in Europe, your American DVDs will not play in them.

That said, if you leave your laptop on Region 1 settings, you can watch American DVDs there. Or change your laptop to region 2 to watch local DVDs and use all your American electronics in the EU to watch your American DVDs. Personally I would leave the laptop on region 1, and buy a new TV and DVD player when you get there. My DVD player was like 40 euro which is way less than it would cost to move that thing oveseas.

[kmack]

oops i stand corrected, my digital camera charger says: foreign input 100-240V - so i am okay, right?

so essentially if i use a transformer for something, it sounds like doing this will wear down a product sooner then?

any idea how to change the regions on my laptop? we have tons of DVDs so i can't imagine needing to buy more over there. DH's company is paying to have all our belongings shipped, so if we need to buy things i would rather do it here and have them pay to send them over (although i dont know how easily something like a TV could get broken.) b/c i imagine something like a TV would be really expensive there. i just looked at that appliance website and they dont even have any TVs (or DVD players) available anyway. oh well!

[tlew12778]

Your company should also offer to pay to pay to buy stuff for your place when you get there. I used to handle expat relos to Italy and that is what we did. We also recycled a lot of the housing and the people leaving would leave their stuff for the next people.

Anyway your camera should be ok. Honestly nothing I have run on a transformer has worked properly. I don't even own anything with US plugs anymore. Granted I have lived here for almost a decade but I didn't even have that stuff after the first year (gave up after frying a bunch of stuff).

You cannot switch back and forth an unlimited number of times. But once you insert a different region DVD into your laptop, it should ask you if you want to switch the region. Otherwise you can probably find it under your system settings.

Incidentally, those books on living in Europe tend to suck. They are generally outdated (even if the copyright is this year) and are written by people who live in the states. Totally useless. Go look for some message boards for expats in Ireland. It will be MUCH more helpful and can help you find some local friends in Ireland. Those are the people who are in the know, not the editors of those books.

Actually I had another thought about the TV... in Europe you have to synchronize the channels. I know they do this on the mainland as well as in England so I assume it is the same in Ireland. Basically you have to scan the signals and set up your channels with the local channels. I don't know if an American TV can even do that. Plus you will not have access to teletext which is this cool EU TV service that lets you access TV guides, weather, train schedules, news, etc. It runs parallel to each TV station and there are special keys on the remote to access it.

Our TV was like 300 euros. It's 32 inch flat, samsung. If you don't care about flat panel you can regular flat screens super cheap now.

[jajacobsen]

I moved from the US to England in 2001 and lived there until 2004.

Basically, you will need all new electrics. Laptops usually have built in transformers and will work with a plug adapter but everything else will not. The adapters and transformers you can buy may work fine for the two weeks you are on vacation but really, are not up to being a permanent solution/

So I had to but everything new. But since I knew this was not my forever home, I did not buy the "top of the line" kitchen appliances/vacuum/toaster/washer/dryer which I might have done so I the US. I bought stuff of a sufficient quality to last about the 5 years I intended to be there. I lived without a microwave the entire time. I used a manual can opener. The place I rented came with fridge/stove/dishwasher so that was cool.

I bought a combo TV/VCR/DVD player after a year. It was smaller than I would have had in the US but then again, so was the place in which I lived so no biggie. I didn't buy a lot of DVDs. Really, I was more into the experiences I had than buying a bunch of stuff.

It is much better to buy this stuff over there once you know where you are living than attempting to buy it and ship it from the US. What if you have problems with something a few months after buying it. You can't take it back to the store if you bought it in the US which you could if you bought it locally in Ireland.

I sold/gave away all the electric stuff when I mived back to the US. Oh and the stuff in the US I had when I move over there - I sold it before I left because I figured I would probably want to upgrade in 5 years or so or have completely different needs. Which was true.

You may have a relo allowance as part of your package. This type of expense is for what that is meant to be used.