Can I bring my 240v electronic gear?

Scrivo

Hi,
I've heard that New Zealand runs on some bizarre voltage and that we might not be able to use our TV, computer, microwave, fridge etc over there.
Yet there have been threads in this forum where people have encouraged migrants to ship all this stuff to NZ.
Our stuff works fine with the UK and Australia voltages, but I know absolutely nothing about electrics. Nutcase

If NZ is on a different voltage, can we still use our stuff or do we have to run it all through those transformer things?

andy · Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2004 4:45 pm Post subject:

All our stuff from England works. Thats 240, think NZ is 230 but it all works ok.

Robert · Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2004 9:02 pm Post subject: It (almost) all works.

Coming from the UK, the only things you are likely to have trouble with are TV and VCRs. Everything else works. The phone jacks are also the same (although I did not bring my UK phone with me my PC works fine here)

Although the broadcast system is PAL, NZ uses different frequencies for sound from the UK. The local solution seems to be to buy an NZ VCR and use that as a tuner. Prices for basic models are from $120) All A/V input kit from the UK will also work with NZ TVs (such as playstation, dvd etc) but NZ TVs tend not to have SCART sockets, preferring standard AV leads. I have noticed that most DVD players here will also play UK (region 2) discs without modification, although most have been 'chipped' before purchase to allow multi-region use. Unless you have a multi region player already, it may not be work bringing one over.

Sockets here are different - make sure you bring a travel plug, a 4-way extension lead and possibly some tools to change plugs locally. Most NZ plug sockets are rated for 10A only (rather than the UK standard 13) so technically, some 'fast boil' kettles and such will overload the socket. In practice, this is unlikely to make any real difference though.

Scrivo · Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2004 11:18 am Post subject: Thanks!

Wow, that's great, thanks so much for illuminating me on the subject! At the moment we're living in Australia with a mixture of Aussie and UK appliances - we've got a UK TV which we had to run through an Aussie VCR with a Scart cable, so hopefully that set-up will still work in NZ. We also have an Aussie TV too, though.

We have replaced most of the plugs with Aussie ones, which fit NZ sockets as I understand it, so that should be OK too.

Don't know much about plug amps and all; I guess the worst that can happen is you blow a fuse on the kettle? Mainly I was concerned about big things like the PC, the fridge, stereo etc... as long as they work and don't set fire to the house, I'm happy! And it sounds like we'll be OK. Thanks to both of you for your help. Nice One