Moving to Japan

[MaverickHL]

Hey guys, this is more of an electrical question and wondering if there will be an issue if I bring my PS2 V5 w/DMS3 V2. I checked the power rating where I am going to be staying at and they have the following:

100V @ 60Hz

I know that that in North America it is 110V @ 60Hz, will there be any issues if I bring it?

Do I need an adapter or power converter. Although I personally doubt it, I was just a little concerned.

Any replies would be great

[P__S__2]

im not really sure on electronics..but..i think u should be fine..cuz the ps2 takes less the 100v..i think.. correct me if im wrong.

[agee]

I know in Laos, one would need power adapter but not sure about japan....

[Neil Stevens]

If I were you I'd go to Anchorhead and pick up some power converters, just to be safe.

[messiahfan2003]

Well Gorim said in one post that he had no problem using a US ps2 on a japan outlet but get a converter. Japan sometimes uses 50Hz too. Correct me if wrong. I hope this helps.

[MaverickHL]

Yes I know Japan uses 50Hz as well, but I am going to be stationed in Astumi which is in Nagoya, they are in the 60Hz region so the cycles are ok since they match those in North America. As I said it is mainly that 10V difference on whether or not it would do something major to the PS2 if I plug it in.

[radalv]

there should not be any problems with it.
I am using my jap PS2 in a 110v outlet without adapters and so far no problems.

[Neil Stevens]

Come to think of it, 10 volts is probably close to the range that a residential circuit will normally fluctuate within anyway, maybe even within the range.

[messiahfan2003]

It would be best unplugging the output when you are done with it.

[gorim]

Well Gorim said in one post that he had no problem using a US ps2 on a japan outlet but get a converter. Japan sometimes uses 50Hz too. Correct me if wrong. I hope this helps.

Indeed.

I have *never* used a special transformer or inverter in Japan for anything I brought from the US, which was alot of things. It simply will not be a problem for 99% of the things. 100v50hz (Eastern Japan) is well within the tolerance of electronics rated for 110v. Remember, Japan manafactures most of those electronics, and the tolerances are usually at least +=10v.

Of course, voltage auto-detecting/switching electronics will have no trouble.

HOWEVER, there are these gotchas:
1. In my newly-built apartment building, not a single 3-prong outlet existed. Most outlets didn't even have an ground wire or screw inside the outlet that could be used when I tried to change out the outlets to 3-prong.

The exception to this are the outlets placed explicitly for your heavy-duty appliances, and more often than not, it was a ground screw for a separate ground wire lead from the appliance. Most of these outlets are placed near the ceiling or midway up because that is what is convenient for those appliances, so its not convenient to run long power strips to any that are unsued. Besides, sometimes these outlets are 200v instead of 100v, depending on the current configuration of the circuit breaker box (for my air conditioner, the installer swapped out the 200v for a 100v).

Advice: get lots of plugs that converted from 3-prongs to 2-prong.

2. TV set tuning frequencies are different. Space is small. Unless you got an expensive big screener or one that can adjust to Japan freqs or use an outboard tuner, leave it in the US. You CANNOT sell them in Japan, there is no such thing as a used-market (except amongst foreigners, good luck), and it is illegal to dispose TVs in the the trash, you must pay someone to specially haul it away.

3. I only have one problem with voltage - the voltage must have been just outside the tolerance for the well-regulated wall-wart to a handheld ham transciever that I have (US model of a highly-regarded Japanese manufacturer). Switching to another wall-wart worked just fine. None of my other wall-warts had any problems.

4. If you can avoid it, do not bring your washer/dryer/fridge. Get them in Japan. The US ones will be any of the following: too large for the apartment, suck too much power, can't be serviced, and more than likely, won't interface with standard Japanese water taps, air-exhaust for dryers (none in my apartment), etc... they are way more trouble than any inherent value they might have. Donate them or store them with a relative. You don't really want to have to ship it there and then ship it back anyway.

Japanese ones are better sized for the apartment, warrantied, way more efficient. Don't worry about installation, they are always delivered and installed for you. Worry instead about operating them, they have tons of little buttons labeled in Japanese - no such thing as using universally understood symbols in this country. I had to buy a Kanji dictionary immediately to figure out how to operate my air-conditioner/header, and the washer/dryer.