Always nice to learn something new from a fellow country mate…
So probably my AEG fridge would have worked also…
Thanks for the tip and see you in the future in your “eating place”
I have a Philips at home and an other brand in my eatery and both have the same warm sides, even my freezer box has warm sides.
My pro fridge and freezer have exchangers with a fan.
We are now doing the opposite of the original poster of this tread.
We will put the TVs, refrigerator, PS2 and other electrical/electronics in the container (have to fill it…) for moving to “220V and PAL land”.
We bought us 4 step-down/step-up voltage converters - 1x1000W and 3x300W, heavy as hell. SONY confirmed our locally bought model also support PAL, but asked us to check the voltage.
The 1000W will be connected to the fridge, and the 3x300W will be used for various TV, HDD-PVR, small stereos, PS2 etc.
If we survive this experiment, I will try to report how it went in Jan/Feb.
Added:
G-P300W 220V/110V vs 110V/220V ,300watt unit price NT530.-
G-P1000W 220V/110V vs 110V/220V ,1000watt unit price NT1100.-
-Don’t know where we bought them, our secretary fixed it when I provided her with the specifications.
[quote=“X3M”]We are now doing the opposite of the original poster of this tread.
We will put the TVs, refrigerator, PS2 and other electrical/electronics in the container (have to fill it…) for moving to “220V and PAL land”.
We bought us 4 step-down/step-up voltage converters - 1x1000W and 3x300W, heavy as hell. SONY confirmed our locally bought model also support PAL, but asked us to check the voltage.
The 1000W will be connected to the fridge, and the 3x300W will be used for various TV, HDD-PVR, small stereos, PS2 etc.
If we survive this experiment, I will try to report how it went in Jan/Feb.
Added:
G-P300W 220V/110V vs 110V/220V ,300watt unit price NT530.-
G-P1000W 220V/110V vs 110V/220V ,1000watt unit price NT1100.-
-Don’t know where we bought them, our secretary fixed it when I provided her with the specifications.[/quote]
Cool. Good luck with the move. I wonder if you’ll have any of those 50/60 Hz frequency issues with the fridge or other stuff.
We will find out next year when the container arrives - either it 
or it :taz:
The difference of 50/60Hz doesn’t matter to all but a few elder
and delicate electronic things.
The problems the original poster had did not come from that,
but the fact that their “electrician” used 2 x 110 Phases to get
what he thought is 220V. Unfortunately that does not work,
since the two voltages do not add up due to something called
phase shift between the two cables. (Don’t worry if you have
no clue what that means, just accept that it is so!) He ended
up having something around 180V, which isn’t enough.
There is no way around a transformer for converting 110V to
220V or vice versa. That way almost all appliances will work!
Greetings,
Frank (Physicist and knowing this stuff)
Frank is spot on there. What the local cowboy electricians do is substitute a regular 110v live and neutral circuit for two live feeds that are 120 degrees out of phase (all poletop or roadside transformers output their power at 3 phases and your house is supposed to get just one). It’s a very dangerous practise because the short-circuit and current leakage devices that are normally in place to provide protection just wont work properly.
220V airconditioners will work at 180V to 260V or so because they are caveman technology that is designed to work in places like the Philippines where the power companies may not be able to keep up with summertime demand (“brownouts,” anyone?).
As for the 50Hz/60Hz thing, no manufacturers design appliances that run on one exact frequency. It’s smarter and more cost effective just to design all appliances to run on 50Hz and 60Hz. And that’s exactly what they do – not for the benefit of expats but simply because it makes financial sense for them to do so.
monkey, where do the three 110V phases come from and why should every house just get one? This does not seem to match the current practice since most residential places have a supply of two phases and one neutral. Each phase to neutral gives 110V, while phase to phase gives 220V since they are shifted by 180 degrees.
You can easily check this with a multimeter and the only way to get 220V from 2x 110V mathematically is if they are shifted by 180 degrees.
I also remember some old thread where this has been discussed and Connel posted a scope screenshot that confirmed the 180 degree phase shift.
The 3 phases come from the generating equipment and are distributed by pylons carrying conductors at 50kV or higher. Each pylon carries 3 or 6 conductors = 3 phases. The three phases are 120 degrees out of step. The 3 phases are carried directly into indistrial facilities where the machinery is already able to use 3-phase power after it has been stepped down to a usable voltage.
In residential neighborhoods, the 3 phases are carried to poletop or roadside transformers where they are stepped down to 110v (in Taiwan and the US) and the individial phases are wired into people’s homes. Whether you and your neighbor use different phases doesn’t matter, so long as the overall load of the neighbohood is balanced across the 3 phases.
At least, that’s the way it normally works. In Taiwan, anything can happen.
Edited to add a URL
more info here and probably a lot better than i can explain it:
Truth be known I would not bother shipping white goods to or from your home country. Not only is there the initial shipping cost, but if there is a difference in Hz and voltage supplies. You will then need to purchase a transformer.
Then in addition to this a PSU designed for 60Hz is unlikely to work as efficiently at 50Hz and vic-versa, so you are going to use more power during the life of the product. Also a transformer is not 100% efficient, so you are going to be using more there too…
What starts out looking like saving a few bob, may end up costing much more.
I our case, the frigde cost us NTD 60.000 in Taiwan, and same fridge cost NTD 120.000 where I am moving to - that is not a “few bob” in my book. Ad to this that electrical power is cheap here, and I can afford a bit higher power consumtion over a few years. For that price difference, I can use 40000 kWh - that is a lot of power.
Also, the cost of shipping a 20’ container is the same, with or without the fridge…
[quote=“Rascal”]monkey, where do the three 110V phases come from and why should every house just get one? This does not seem to match the current practice since most residential places have a supply of two phases and one neutral. Each phase to neutral gives 110V, while phase to phase gives 220V since they are shifted by 180 degrees.
You can easily check this with a multimeter and the only way to get 220V from 2x 110V mathematically is if they are shifted by 180 degrees.
I also remember some old thread where this has been discussed and Connel posted a scope screenshot that confirmed the 180 degree phase shift.[/quote]
Erm, I had to wire up a deep freeze for my father-in-law a few months ago. AFAIK he has a full 3 phase 220v supply (as well as his 110v supply). The difference between any two of the 3 wires coming in reads 220v.
I tried to use the two wires that would balance out the air conditioning the best (he has faily industrial air conditioning, since he has an office in his residence), but after a power cut one day (nothing to do with my wiring, thank you very much, it was a neighbourhood power cut caused by freaky weather), I swapped which 2 wires I was using and got him up and running even during the power cut. I guess only one wire had gone down. Needless to say the FIL thought I was a genius and awarded me 30 extra browny points.
True for most devices. Heating devices can be a problem. I had a 50Hz iron board, which went terrible hot when I operated it in Taiwan. No wonder considering that with 60Hz it gets 20% more energy compared to 50%.
And my little electrical clock went 20% faster, making it a bit useless…
Ok, my turn now, I read this thread and was stunned what people write here 
- for heating devices, such as irons, iron boards, electric kettles, filament heating and so on it’s absolutly unimportent, which frequency you use (50Hz or 60Hz). If there’s a problem with too high or too low temperature it’s 99.9% a problem of the thermostat.
- right here: older or cheap alarm clocks run faster on 60Hz, because if they have a motor which is calibrated to 50Hz.
- same for electric shavers: they might run faster, but that’s all. They still work without any problem.
- a fridge runs also fine as long as you have 220V. If the temperature is not ok, it’s again a problem of the thermostat or the freon (as someone already wrote here). But make sure that you really have 220V!!! Don’t trust these TWese “electricians/engineers” especially if they come in a blue truck
I’ve seen installations here, you wouldn’t believe it. - TVs and audio systems work fine here. Most of the newer ones have either switched power supplies (work from 110 to 240V) or they have a switch, where you can adjust the voltage (watch out: sometimes these switches are hidden under a small cover). Usually you find them near the place where the power cord is connected. If there is nothing like this, you can use the transformers (110V to 220V).
- Oh yes, the transformers: they transform the voltage (in this case 110V to 220V, or ratio 1:2)
Be careful: some of them can be connected the other way round (ratio 2:1)!! You can calculate yourself what happens then Transformers do NOT convert the frequency, they just transform the voltage. The devices which convert frequency are called “Frequency converters” and are very expensive.
If you need any help, let me know. I’ll be happy to help you.
Greetings and have a Happy New Year 2008 !!!