Plugging in

[Daniel Park]

Hi all,

Quick question about bringing electrical stuff from the UK to NZ. Is it simply a matter of buying a boxful of plug adaptors (and who sells them?) or can you snip off the old plug and just wire up a NZ plug?

I read another detailed post about US voltage differences but I don't think it's a problem for UK electrical things, is it?

Just thought I'd ask before I manage to electrocute myself making our first cup of tea in NZ!

Dan

[SteveR]

just cut off the uk plugs and wire in a NZ style plug. a few 4 or 6 plug UK style extension leads are usefull, you can then put a NZ plug on it then run a few things before you swap the plugs over or if the plug is molded into the appliance like some mobile phone chargers or small adaptors for powering cd players/cameras etc.

[Beach Kiwi]

...or can you snip off the old plug and just wire up a NZ plug?

You should be able to do this on most, if not all your electrical goods, as I did it with stuff my father bought back from the UK. We run on 230V, like the UK, so as long as you get the wires the right way around things should work just fine.

Plugs can be bought almost anywhere.

[Junnifer USA]

SO, cutting off the ends and putting on new plugs only works for items from the UK...?
Question? Will it work for my lamps from the US... or other things?
Thanks
Jennifer

[markkellaway]

Jennifer,

The US operates at 110v I'm afraid, you won't be able to use your electrical goods in NZ at all . It is possible to get converters to allow you to run goods at 110v from a 230v source but that would be prohibitively expensive, not sure if they would be available in NZ either.

Mark.

[cloudboy99]

Not to mention the frequency of the current as well. In the US we use 60Hz, the UK/NZ/Japan/etc. use 50Hz. What this means is although you can buy a transformer to step-up the voltage (110 to 230V) the frequency will still be slower, hence anything with a clock (microwave, alarm clock, etc.) will loose 10 seconds every minute or 10 minutes every hour. Anything with variable speed (electric hand mixer, vaccuum) will operate at about 83% efficency.

Short of it is, feel free to bring any furniture, beds, clothes, but leave anything electrical and the car at home. Ah the joys of being stuck in the land of standard measures and 120V.

[SoCal Gal]

Junnifer, we are bringing a few electrical things. If you can do a search on a forum member named Rich Adams, he has detailed breakdowns of things, he moved from Arizona. Also, you can bring your lamps, and just get that plug converter, but you have to use NZ lightbulbs. It's not much, but I was happy to hear that, as I have some really nice lamps I didn't want to get rid of. :cool

[deebat]

Junnifer, the post SoCal Gal mentions is at:

http://www.enz.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=613

Rich is the best!

HTH,
Dan

[sarahw]

Hi Daniel,

We bought a bunch of plugs today from placemakers $5.25 each to swap for all our UK plugs - everything works!

[SteveR]

if you want NZ plugs to wire up go to a $2 shop in new zealand, there is a couple around Rotorua so presume they are in most towns