Job Discussion Forums

Gordon · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 5309 Location: Japan

Has anyone had any experience taking Japanese appliances (100 volts) back to N.A. (110 volts)? Did they blow or not? I know in reverse it is no problem.
I am considering sending back my flat screen TV to Canada, but am not sure if it would last or not.

southofreality · Joined: 12 Feb 2007 Posts: 579 Location: Tokyo

I bought a drum machine here in Japan a few years ago, took it back to the US, and used it there quite a bit. I never had any problems with it.

canuck · Joined: 11 May 2003 Posts: 1921 Location: Japan

AndyH · Joined: 30 Sep 2004 Posts: 417

My wife and i moved to Guatemala last year from Japan, and brought a couple of Japanese electronic appliances with us. We had a transformer, but I don't think it was really necessary. Our Sony DVD player crapped out after a couple of months, but I think it had more to do with the player than difference in voltage.
Anyways, we didn't last long in Guatemala (terrible gang problem), and found ourselves back in Japan after six months. Now, i'm getting ready to move back to North America for good, and will buy a new DVD player to play all the Japanese region 2 DVDs we've acquired here.
This time, I'm buying a Toshiba instead of a Sony.

canuck · Joined: 11 May 2003 Posts: 1921 Location: Japan

Sherri · Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 6:06 am Post subject:

We have been using a rice cooker, a DVD player, a multisystem video player (to name a few) all bought in Japan. It has been almost 3 years now and everything is still working.

Are you moving back to Canada, Gordon? If so, can Sweetsee have your job?

Sherri

Gordon · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 5309 Location: Japan

JimDunlop2 · Joined: 31 Jan 2003 Posts: 2286 Location: Japan

I made a number of voltage-related posts in the past.... Anyone can do a quick search to find them, but just to do a quick summary.....

As long as your electric device doesn't employ a) a motor b) a heater (so that means stuff like electric drills and space heaters) you will probably be O.K. without needing a step-up/step-down converter.

MOST electronics (that means TVs, DVD players, computers, etc, etc, etc) as a general rule, ALL convert 100/110/115/120V AC power to something more useable -- namely 3/6/9/12/24V DC power. Even a TV that uses a high voltage cathode ray tube generates that power by using capacitors and a high voltage transformer, so whether you are using 100V or 220V AC, neither are high enough to supply that -- so again, it doesn't matter -- the TV will take what it gets and convert it into something it can use.

The problem with motors is that they take the direct A/C power and use copper electromagnetic coils to cause them to spin... So if something is rated for 120V and you're feeding it 100V, yes, it will spin slower.

Likewise with heaters, the power is being converted directly... So by feeding it less juice, you will also get less heat... Or vice-versa.

Gordon · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 5309 Location: Japan

Thanks Jim, I was wondering what took you so long to answer. Laughing

I was going to PM you but thought there might be someone else who might find this useful.

JimDunlop2 · Joined: 31 Jan 2003 Posts: 2286 Location: Japan

No problem, Gordon. Sorry about the delay -- I was locked out of my ESLCafe account for 2 days because I tried to change the e-mail address in my profile and it locked me out for some reason. I had to e-mail Dave who kindly reset it for me.

Anyway, this question does come up on occasion, and I was able to find my previous posts on this by using "voltage" as a search keyword and "JimDunlop2" in the "author" field.....

Here is a good cross-reference post on voltage, which also links to some additional reading on the topic for anyone who wants the gory details.

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/job/viewtopic.php?t=38271&highlight=voltage