Electrical supplies........

[kelly]

Hello again..........
Not sure where my other thread (message went) so back typing again, hope this one gets through...

anyway to my question on a cold October night.....electricity supply in Spain, can anyone tell me, things like laptops, games ie Nintendo Wii and playstations, can they be used there, or will I have to buy all new equipment?? I don't fancy the idea, so hope someone can shed a light on this for me please...

[oddball]

The electric supply in Spain is 220 volts ac , with only 2 pin plugs , Brit TV is not usable as Spanish system only supports PAL colour TV system , this could affect the performance of any 'Add on systems' , the voltage problem can be overcome with the use of a voltage adapter . There are multi voltage travel plugs on the market that readily do conversion for small appliances such as phone chargers etc . Some-one living in spain should ge able to assist you more than this . Colin

[Stravinsky]

Hi

Sorry to correct you Oddball, but British TV's are not a problem over here and add ons are fine. We bought a playstation over here and it worked OK. There was a time with older UK TV's that the sound was effected over here but that was mainly on terrestial, Satellite is not a problem. For satellite (SKY) you will need a 1.8 or 2.4 dish depending on where you are moving to. SKY are not allowed to broadcast in Spain, but the answer is to bring your existing system over here and dont tell SKY you have moved. Keep your d/d running. You can get cards over here, but again your UK SKY box will work over here.

As a general rule of thumb electrical stuff like TV's fridges etc etc can be more expensive, but you do get the odd deals. Again, white goods work OK here

Of course you will have to change the plugs to 2 pin, and for valuable equipment its an idea to consider the use of UPS (Uniterrupted Power Supplies) and / or surge protectors as power cuts occur from time to time.

In general most electrical goods are good to go over here, but you must remember that when you bring them over the guarantees may be worthless unless you have worldwide guarantees. Also, factor in the cost of bringing it all over with you.

[oddball]

That is strange you should say that , because i looked it up on Spanish electrical and passed on the info given , the point about electrical surge protection is good , i have a multi voltage stabaliser system to protect my computer etc because here in Cambodia we suffer from power loss also . Perhaps they were refering to regular TV transmission in Spain not satelite , the proof of the pudding is always in the eating . Colin

[ssd]

MY experience is similar.
Lots and lots and lots of electrical equipment bought over from the UK!
We bought a big bag of 2 to 3 pin adaptors off of Ebay and use these with everything.

Only 2 issues;

1. An older crt type tv cannot receive sound from the analogue Spanish signal through the coax roof arial.
2. The wifes hair tong/brush thingy (technical term) keeps blowing the fuse in its plug.

We have had no problems with anything else...

But we do have surge protectors on all the AV stuff (DVD, Digibox, T.V., surround amp etc) and all the PC stuff. Because the power does go off (even if only momentarily during most electrical storms, and normally comes back with a 'whoosh' (another technical term).

[Stravinsky]

Originally Posted by ssd

1. An older crt type tv cannot receive sound from the analogue Spanish signal through the coax roof arial.
But we do have surge protectors on all the AV stuff (DVD, Digibox, T.V., surround amp etc) and all the PC stuff. Because the power does go off (even if only momentarily during most electrical storms, and normally comes back with a 'whoosh' (another technical term).

Surge protectors may not be quite enough with the sometimes erratic power supplies in Spain. We had them at one point but have now changed to UPS as this not only protects the TV / PC, but keeps the router and SKY box powered up so we dont get any problems (which we were having before)

[kelly]

Thanks for all you comments..............Will take it all on board,
Regards Kelly,

Wait for the next question I probably will be asking in a day or so.....so much to consider with different things that pop up, on a day to day basis.

[Stravinsky]

Originally Posted by kelly

Thanks for all you comments..............Will take it all on board,
Regards Kelly,

Wait for the next question I probably will be asking in a day or so.....so much to consider with different things that pop up, on a day to day basis.

Dont worry .... I must have asked a million questions when I started off over here

[Big Pete]

Originally Posted by kelly

Thanks for all you comments..............Will take it all on board,
Regards Kelly,

Wait for the next question I probably will be asking in a day or so.....so much to consider with different things that pop up, on a day to day basis.

Hi Kelly

On the power side , i havent had any problems with it and use laptop and stuff , the only thing i do notice is the power does seem to surge more than we get in UK , so a surge adaptor on sensitive things would be a wise investment , but apart from that dont worry your little head over it ..

Anything else to ask just go for it the more the better ,

[Stravinsky]

Originally Posted by Big Pete

so a surge adaptor on sensitive things would be a wise investment

Yes Big Pete, as several of us said already