Job Discussion Forums

[poohbear]

Hello everyone,

This is my first post albeit i've been lurking these forums for months soaking up the wisdom. I'm headin to Tokyo in 2 weeks for possibly 1-2 years and i'm dragging my desktop computer w/ me (i'm a bit of a techie geek u see).

In Canada & US we have 120v and use a 60hz frequency, Tokyo uses 100v and has a 50hz frequency. These are 2 separate things, in that both the frequency and voltage are different. I understand that voltage can usually be accomodated by +/- 20%, hence in regards to voltage my comp might be fine. However, the frequency is what really worries me as i've been reading the 50hz "might" effect how my comp operates there (i.e. damages it )

Anyone have any experience w/ taking a desktop computer to eastern japan (western japan, osaka & nagoya, uses the same frequency as N america: 60hz) and have it work fine without the need for voltage & frequency convertors? I already have the plug convertors so that's taken care of.

thanks in advance for any replies and cheers.

[Glenski]

Good question. Laptops are supposed to have power converters built into them. My US model worked just fine up here in Sapporo, but it would be nice to see what others have written about taking one to a different zone.

Are you REALLY thinking of bringing a DESKTOP computer here? They are pretty bulky, especially the monitor, and I wouldn't trust anyone to ship one.

[poohbear]

thnx for answering. I'm a bit of a computer geek, my monitor is an LCD which is only 11mm thick (samsung 172x), and an aluminum case which is very light by itself and can actually be taken apart. I'm removing the components and they'll fit in my luggage no probs. I simply could'nt afford purchasing a laptop as a decent one costs ~$2000.:/

The only thing that concerns me is the voltage and frequency. If anyone has said experience w/ these their feedback would be greatly appreciated (and i'll owe ya a beer when u're in tokyo ).

[JimDunlop2]

You'll be fine. If you check your power supply it'll likely say 50/60HZ. If it doesn't, I'd still say you're alright.

You WILL run into a problem with the power cord (being 3-pronged)... May as well leave that at home and buy a new one here... All Japanese plugs are strictly 2-pronged.

The only devices that have problems in Japan are: electrical items with a heater (eg. curling irons, waffle makers, hair dryers, etc) and items with a motor (eg. power drills, hand mixers, blenders).

Remember, on a computer, all that extra juice you're putting through your power supply gets converted to 12V DC anyway, right?

[poohbear]

[lajzar]

Yes, that 100 volts gets converted to 12 volts. But when you divide the volts, you multiply the watts, or amps, or something. Anyway, the power doesn't get reduced, merely transformed. Voltage isn't the only critical dimension when considering whether power supplies are compatible.

My advice is to take the components (those that do not connect to an external power supply) and purchase a box shell when you get here. That monitor will depend on whether it can draw power through the computer's supply.

[poohbear]

thanks for your response. The LCD has it's own power cord so yea i'm gonna hafta be careful w/ it, but what are u refering to when u say "box shell"?

[JimDunlop2]

He means the PC's case & power supply. But like I said, I wouldn't worry about it... It may or may not be cheaper to buy one here versus taking it with you (if, as you say, you can disassemble it flat)....

Also, not to be contrary to lajzar, but I respectfully disagree with his statement. The power DOES get reduced AND transformed.

There seems to be a lot of overall confusion about how power (electricity) works... So, for anyone who failed physics back in school, this is for you.


First, to supply electricity to your computer, you are converting AC current (alternating current) to DC current (direct current) such as what is used in batteries... In AC current, the polarity (plus/minus) are constantly changing at a rate of 50 or 60 cycles per second (Hertz). If you were to draw this on a graph, you would get a beautiful "sine wave" which peaks at +100V and -100V.

Once you have converted the power to DC current, there is no more "50 Hertz or 60 Hertz" because the power is no longer fluctuating. It is now flowing at a steady +12 volts.

Now let's talk about amperage and wattage. If you look on most electrical devices, a label will tell you how many Amps (amperes) or miliamps (mA) your device needs to operate. It isn't enough, for example, that you are providing 9V to your digital camera. If your digital camera says it needs 1200mA, you need to provide at least that amount of power or it won't work. Amperes describes the amount of power needed by a device. Voltage is the "pressure" required to get it there. Voltage forces amperes into your device. This is measured in WATTS. Watts = Volts x Amps. For example, something that needs 110V power and 0.5A is sucking up 55W of power.

You don't have to worry about most of this with your computer. Your power supply should happily accept 50/60Hz AC input and spit out 12V DC capable of powering anywhere from 250W to 400W worth of devices (including your motherboard, hard drives, CD drives, floppy, etc.. etc... etc...)

Here is some great reading...

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/power-supply1.htm

http://www.tcpmag.com/linkstate/article.asp?editorialsid=139

Let me know if you have any other questions about this stuff....

[earthmonkey]

I wouldn't worry. I came here to Tokyo three years ago from the US, also lugging my desktop PC with me. I was worried that the power supply would die with the lower voltage, but it's working just fine to this day.

[poohbear]

whoah! thanks so much for the elaboration there jimdunlop2!!!! It's much appreciated and i can rest assured my $1500+ comp won't blow up before me in Japan. (btw, yes my psu says 50/60hz )

[Mike L.]

How about going the other way?

Japanese Electronics taken to Canada.

Anyone ever buy or use one of these special power bars you can use for these appliance in Canada?

I've heard they exist.

To the OP sorry to modify your thread just don't think this one is worth a new thread and since your question has been answered in full...

[JimDunlop2]

Mike: Broad question. Many ways to answer it.

Japan to Canada: similar idea as N. America to Japan.... Except this time, instead of underpowering your appliance you may be overloading/overheating it...

First of all, do consider that if your appliance should be grounded, Japan uses a 2-pring plug with a (green) bare wire in lieu of a third prong on the plug... (Safety issue -- but it won't prevent your device from working).

Second, if it's anything with a heater or motor, you may run into problems... Hair dryers, curling irons, blenders, drills, waffle irons, sandwich makers, George Foreman grills, etc.. etc...

Stuff like: audio equipment, video equipment, TVs, computers, etc... should pose no problems.

The exception is: DVD players. Unless you have a way of making it "region free" with a patch code or chip, you will not be able to view DVDs made for distribution in N. America. That also goes for VCRs being shipped to Europe or AUS or NZ (NTSC vs PAL).

Radios have a slightly different frequency range in Japan than N. America. It MAY work for you but it'll be crippled. Eg. Let's say your favorite radio station is on 92.5 FM. You've got a problem because many JPN radios will only go from about 76 FM to about 89.9 FM .

If you walk into Akihabara (Tokyo) district and go into a Laox store (which has a large duty-free), many appliances will actually SAY: "Not for use outside of Japan" -- most notably hair dryers (they will burn out). The store staff will also ask you whether you realize that you can't take it with you when you leave Japan...

As for special power bars.... I'm not sure what you mean. I don't think I've ever seen one.

[Albright]

I'm going to be bringing my computer over too; thankfully, it's a laptop, and a small one at that (12" PowerBook), but I'm also going to bring an external hard drive and an AirPort base station, and perhaps other nerdly goods... I'd like to bring a power strip over to be able to plug all this stuff into. Now, the third prong just handles grounding, right? So if I were to pull out or file off the third prong from the strip, and then plug various two- and three-pronged devices into the strip, it would still work okay; my stuff just wouldn't be grounded, right? Could you answer that one, Jim (or some other helpful person in the know)? Thanks in advance.

[JimDunlop2]

Re: filing down a three pronged plug: Yes, it'll work. No, it's not safe. There's a reason why those things are there... I can't recommend for anyone to purposely damage a power cord to force it to fit a type of plug it wasn't desinged for. (Covering my a$$ here)... However, having said that, I've never heard of anyone ever running into an issue doing that kinda thing with computer equipment. That's right -- the third prong handles only grounding. Without it your appliance will still operate... On the other hand however, it's usually just as easy to buy power cords and power strips locally.... No need to trouble yourself with filing stuff down and risk damaging perfectly good power cords...

Japanese power cords get around the problem of grounding by substituting the third prong with a thin, green wire that you're supposed to "ground." Many devices don't have this. Power strips usually do, as do large appliances (fridges, washing machines, etc)... So do computers, many TVs and some consummer electronics (but far from all). It all seems kinda random I guess. But a computer power cord usually does.

[VanKen]