mickey@altos86.Altos.COM (Michael Thompson) (08/29/90)
I am sure this topic has been discussed before, and I apologize for exhuming it. I am moving to Germany soon. In the U.S., I have accumulated various and sundry electrical equipment (TV's, vcr, stereo, digital clocks, microwave oven, computer, CRT's, juicer, electric keyboard, etc.) Ignoring the TV's and vcr for a moment, if I use an adaptor to convert 220v to 110v, should I have any problem with any of the other devices? I mean, I suppose the adaptor doesn't convert 50Hz to 60Hz, so will the timer still work on my microwave oven? Will the lower frequency affect my computer or the electric keyboard? Also, for my stereo, I use a power strip to plug in all the components: receiver, cd player, two tape decks, a graphic equalizer. Is it O.K. to plug a power strip into a 220v to 110v converter? Or are these converters only designed for low wattage? Where can I get "heavy duty" converters? Military surplus? 1/2 :-) As far as the TV's go, I understand that in Germany, images are transmitted in PAL format, and we use NTSC in America. Someone posted an article about a company (Instant Replay) who offered a VCR that can convert between these formats and would allow me to watch PAL broadcasts on an NTSC t.v. I called Instant Replay and asked them about the quality of the image produced by VCR, because I remember reading that the conversion is difficult and messy electrically. They claim that the converted image quality would be as good as my NTSC T.V. could produce. Is this just sales hype? I asked them about the 50Hz v.s. 60Hz problem, and they said that some TV's are rated for 50Hz OR 60Hz, and that if mine was rated for 60Hz only, it might develop a heating problem at 50Hz and I wouldn't be able to watch it for long periods. I checked the specs for my tv and it is rated for 60Hz only. (Note: it also has a clock in it, so the frequency might be significant for that reason too). (If it matters, I have a 26 inch Sony Trinitron; it has an amazingly clear picture, so I'd rather not give it up if I don't have to. My other tv is a smaller RCA). If anyone has any experience and/or suggestions about how to do what I want to do, I'd appreciate it very much. Vielen Danke, -Michael mickey@altos.Altos.COM