Correct Voltage

[Mongo Slade]

[b][i]Moving to Hua Hin in November and I will be bringing my PC, digital camera etc. I would like to know can I use them there or will I have to purchase some sort of adaptor or transformer ? The line voltage in the states is 110volts
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[Norseman]

Hi Slade and welcome in November.
In Thailand we have 220V.
You will either need to buy some new powersupplies if they can't take the 220V 60Hz. (Universal type of powersupplies).
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[billseymour]

You can buy a transformer in the US that will meet most of your needs. I did this when I moved here, and run two printers, scanner, electric drill, telephone, digital camera, and various other devices (not all together!) I have never had any problems with the frequency difference, but my computer is a laptop, so I can't speak for that if your's is a desktop.

I lived in California and bought my transformer in Fry's Electronics, but Im sure you can find them in Maryland. I suggest you not wait until you arrive here -- I have never seen them on sale, except those little travel ones good only for your electric toothbrush.

If other correspondents have indeed seen them in Thailand, perhaps they can advise where.

[Guess]

No electronic kit works on AC of any voltage. What happens is that the AC power supply is plugged in to a Power Supply Unit. In most cases they are intelliegent to raed the incoming voltage and correctly supply the DC voltage needed at the other end of the PSU. In the case of PC three different voltages are pumped out for different pieces of kit.

As for the camera I have never seen one does not run on batteries. If they use re-chargeable batteries the manufaturer will have supplied a charger. This should have the intelligence to pump out the required coltage no matter what is fed in. It should say somewhere in your manual or on the back of the charger what voltage ranges the adapter will support.

My advice for all kit in Thailand is to invest about 2000 Baht on a UPS. This will take in any voltage and charge a battery. Electronic circuitry will the convert the supply back to a clean sign wave of 110/220 or 240 volts.

The supply here is very dirty with spikes that can pass right through a strandard PSU and damage you PC.

The added benefit of PSU is that when the power goes out you have a few minutes to shutown your PC cleanly and save all open files.

Most outages are only a second or two so you can carry on working without interuption.

T
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[Guess]

I was writing this at the same time as Bill. Good advice but make sure it is a UPS not a straight transformer and ensure that it supports 220/240 output. This is often done with a switch somewhere on the unit. I have seen some with two outputs.

As Bill said Fry's or USC are the best bet.
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[STEVE G]

Hi mungo, Thailandguru.com has a good web page on the general situation with Electrical supplies, just follow the drop down menu's to infrastructure and electricity, I would post a link if I knew how!

[Mongo Slade]

To Guess, Norseman and Billseymore...thank you for the information you provided. This should certainly keep me from burning up my equipment. When I was in Hua hin last October I was wondering why my camera battery would not hold a charge very long, well I took it and the charger to the photo shop and was informed that I had burned out the charger. It was a good thing that I left my laptop home. Thanks again, Mongo
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One must always revisit the past in order to move ahead to the future.

[Mongo Slade]

[b][i]Hey..... Steve G, sorry I didn't thank you.....thank you. Mongo
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One must always revisit the past in order to move ahead to the future.