Usa Appliances In Thailand

[old wanderer]

I have been looking through a lot of boards to see about using my USA appliances and "stuff" when we move to Thailand.

I have a houseful of upscale stuff. I have looked at comprable stuff in Thailand and like mine more. I am building a home, and I do not want the expences or upkeep of running my own electrical generator.

I figure I can get my with 2KW - 3 Kw of power. Is there a solid state converter available? I have thought of a motor/generator set, but again will lead to high electric bills.

I lived on a boat for 3 years, and on a ranch generating my own electricity for 10 years, and am an electrical engineer, so not naive about this subject, but why re-invent the wheel if someone has a good solution.

[IMA_FARANG]

I have been looking through a lot of boards to see about using my USA appliances and "stuff" when we move to Thailand.

I have a houseful of upscale stuff. I have looked at comprable stuff in Thailand and like mine more. I am building a home, and I do not want the expences or upkeep of running my own electrical generator.

I figure I can get my with 2KW - 3 Kw of power. Is there a solid state converter available? I have thought of a motor/generator set, but again will lead to high electric bills.

I lived on a boat for 3 years, and on a ranch generating my own electricity for 10 years, and am an electrical engineer, so not naive about this subject, but why re-invent the wheel if someone has a good solution.

Motor/generator systems that I know of are made for industrial or military use. Most are far too big/noisey/expensive for household use. Used to have one at a military communications site in Iceland. Converted the local 220 50Hz to 110 60Hz A/C. Worked well, but was about 15 feet long (2 sections) and probably cost several thousand dollars (or more). Not likely to be what you want.

I have seen a solid-state converter that we used in Saudi Arabia for our CCTV head ends. Took the 220 at 50Hz to 110 at 60Hz. They were all solid-state, converted the incoming 50Hz to DC then ran it thru a thyristor and power transistor array that gave 110 A/C at 60 Hz (switched on-off at 60 Hz). Used filter to smooth out the waveform but was still more square-wave than sine wave. Can't recall the current, but think it was about 5 or 6 amps. Problem was that the ###### power transistors kept burning out. I didn't think it was very reliable, spent more time in the shop replacing the transistors than in the equipment. You might find something comparable in an industrial power systems catalog, but don't have any idea where or if such a thing would be available in thailand. Probably would be expensive too.

Think that any such systems would be only available in industrial or trade catalogs.

[lopburi3]

As you know the transformer would take care of simple 220/110 but getting 60Hz is a lot harder. Motor generator or your own generator are the only ways I know of (but it has been years since I was concerned with this). I assume you have a Thai wife that will be importing this? If not you will owe duty and it would probably be better to buy here.

You do not want motors running slow and timers not working, internal transformers (built for 60Hz) running hot and failing.

You may have another option and that would be to convert major appliances as often 50Hz timers and motors are available but it probably would not be cost effective.

I would strongly advise local purchase; especially if you intend to repair anything.

[Crossy]

If you REALLY want a little bit of the US here, buy yourself a 24V to 110V 60Hz inverter in the US, you'll probably want two 1500W units. Once here get a couple of 12V sealed lead-acid batteries and a 24V charger. Instant 110V 60Hz, clean and reliable.

Of course, all these headaches will go away if you buy in Thailand.

BTW, don't even think of bringing your NTSC TV, it won't work.

Edited December 19, 2006 by Crossy

[toptuan]

I bought four converters/transformers (whatever--I'm not an electrical engineer) in the States to convert to 110V for the few electrical items I brought from the states (hair dryer, chargers for electric toothbrush and shaver, some sound equipment. All units burnt out before the first year was up, destroying some of the equipment as well. Of course, my knowledge of electricity and electronics is severely limited, but it convinced me I should have bought local as well.

I noticed that at Toyu Dept. Store (MBK in Bangkok), they have a supply of hefty-looking 220V to 110V transformers, which I wish I'd saved my money and tried to buy here instead. They looked much more heavy-duty than what I brought.

[pampal]

Try this,

two wires bring in 220v into your house. Use one live wire 110v and one ground. Split the voltage, instant 110. Used this trick in the middle east. You won't get 60hz. Easy fix, set timers for a longer period and things like washing machines will work slower, so lenghten the cycle. we call this fix a kludge.

[astral]

Tape decks and Vynil disk players will not cope with the 50Hz.

two wires bring in 220v into your house. Use one live wire 110v and one ground. Split the voltage, instant 110. Used this trick in the middle east.

I am not sure this will work.

One of those wires should be the neutral and pretty close to earth already........

[elkangorito]

Try this,

two wires bring in 220v into your house. Use one live wire 110v and one ground. Split the voltage, instant 110. Used this trick in the middle east. You won't get 60hz. Easy fix, set timers for a longer period and things like washing machines will work slower, so lenghten the cycle. we call this fix a kludge.

This will not work in Thailand because only 1 wire brings 220 volts to your house.

[autonomous_unit]

Because we were shipping stuff anyway, I threw in some decent but aging hifi equipment. We bought a small 400W step-down transformer in "Ban Mor", an area where lots of loudspeakers and such are sold. It only cost about $15 USD as I recall, but it was a while ago. They had larger but I didn't expect to actually be drawing too much power.

Because the receiver seems to have an internal DC power supply, the 50 Hz power does not seem to cause any trouble. The down side is that the transformer vibrates when switched on, and it gets warm. It has an internal power switch so I just turn off the transformer and leave the hifi dead when not in use.

Aside from appliances like refrigerators and washers, is it really that common for modern devices to care about the AC frequency? I would expect anything time-sensitive to be using switching, regulated DC supplies, quartz oscillators, etc.

[LaReina]

Bringing your appliances in the long run just may not pay out. Sure you can get a transformer, but what happens when somone who does not know any better plugs your appliance into the wall and fry's it for you?

If you MUST bring from the states, then look for items that can be used both in the US and Overseas.

[Gary A]

Do yourself a favor and sell the stuff in the US for whatever you can get for it. I did have a Sony table top radio that I was especially fond of. I used a tranformer here and it worked fine.

My then girlfriend took it from the bedroom to the kitchen MINUS the transformer. That took care of that.

[Pink Mist]

frequency is allways the problem, it affects inductive reactance, or, and I hate saying this ac resistance, the voltage difference is easily over come.

A UPS could provide a solution, some do have frequency options in the invertor section

[elkangorito]

Do yourself a favor and sell the stuff in the US for whatever you can get for it.....

I second this motion.

[lopburi3]

1. Electric power, to most homes, is two wire 230v - one hot and one neutral. You do not get 110v using this system. If four wire they will be 3x230v plus neutral.

2. Although you are right about most timers now being quartz on better equipment the US is a low price leader and as such the least expensive materials are used for consumer products. The stereo you buy overseas will likely have multi voltage/Hz capacity but the one you buy in the US will have single voltage and a transformer that will overheat if used with 50Hz power. It costs more to build for 50Hz and they are not going to pay the extra for the huge US market.

3. Step down transformers are hugely inefficient and provide a lot of excess heat making your air conditioner work even harder, using extra electric to make the heat, and almost always removing the electric ground wire (at least on the normal transformers I have seen here).

4. US plugs easily fit into Thai electric sockets.

5. As mentioned NTSC (TV) is useless here. Also FM radio here uses a different band-spread than US so digital units will probably not tune 101.25 and such frequencies correctly.

6. Refrigerators are made for the climate sold in. Most will be overworked in Thailand even if rated 50/60Hz.

[thomasallen]

I have been looking through a lot of boards to see about using my USA appliances and "stuff" when we move to Thailand.

I have a houseful of upscale stuff. I have looked at comprable stuff in Thailand and like mine more. I am building a home, and I do not want the expences or upkeep of running my own electrical generator.

I figure I can get my with 2KW - 3 Kw of power. Is there a solid state converter available? I have thought of a motor/generator set, but again will lead to high electric bills.

I lived on a boat for 3 years, and on a ranch generating my own electricity for 10 years, and am an electrical engineer, so not naive about this subject, but why re-invent the wheel if someone has a good solution.

Hi, I have a brand new 3k watt, 6kw 120AC pure sine wave, inverter for sale it make perfect USA 120VOLT 60HERTZ power, Its all brand new and

un-used still in the box. //edit to remove email// its in Bangkok, imported from USA in Sept 2006. have everything you will need

[popshirt]

I bought four converters/transformers (whatever--I'm not an electrical engineer) in the States to convert to 110V for the few electrical items I brought from the states (hair dryer, chargers for electric toothbrush and shaver, some sound equipment. All units burnt out before the first year was up, destroying some of the equipment as well. Of course, my knowledge of electricity and electronics is severely limited, but it convinced me I should have bought local as well.

I noticed that at Toyu Dept. Store (MBK in Bangkok), they have a supply of hefty-looking 220V to 110V transformers, which I wish I'd saved my money and tried to buy here instead. They looked much more heavy-duty than what I brought.

I bought one of these at Toyu to run a coffee maker, espresso machine and a hand blender brought from the U.S. It works just fine (for two years now), just be sure to select a heavy duty transformer. . . the guys at Toyu gave me good advice because I brought along the correct wattage of these three applianes.

[autonomous_unit]

Yes I agree with all the advice... I would never have brought any equipment if it hadn't been essentially "free" to toss it into the shipment along with our books and other heavy items that came over by sea. It was also old enough that I really wouldn't care if it did give up its magic smoke, as long as nobody gets hurt in the process.

As for the accidents, I suppose anything is possible but my family is technically inclined and my mother-in-law knows to ask me rather than to change anything to do with my "toys". Nobody else will even power on the system except me... they just use the locally purchased TV and its internal speakers.

Edit: Oh, I should add for the original poster, the typical construction and decorating materials used in Thailand are a serious accoustic problem.

I would not even bother bringing any true hifi equipment if I had not thought about how it would sound in a concrete and glass box with ceramic floors. Houses here are just chock full of echoes and resonance.

With the heat and humidity, I am not interesting in thick rugs and/or wall coverings that could help the problem (don't want the instant musty room), so I have mostly resigned myself to terrible sound.

Edited December 20, 2006 by autonomous_unit

[old wanderer]

Thanks for all the input....I was not aware of the TV difference (and I love my 60" TV).

I am going to talk with a shipper and see if I can include a bunch of stuff as "hobby tools". I have a portable welder, was on the race track with my motorcyles, and have way too many tools for anything. (I like to do most all my own work). See if this will fly under the exemptions.

What I am finding is I have too much "stuff"

2 cars

1 Jeep

1 Diesel Pick Up

5 Motorcycles

Metal Milling Machine

I could proably fill up 2 40' containers with "stuff"

10 years ago I moved from a 5000 acre ranch (where space was never a problem) to the city, and stuffed a house and garage. Something has too go. The problem is I always by the "best" and I know what this stuff costs.....and somehow my nature just does not want to let it go for pennies.

I have 3 pack saddles for my mules (who are now gone) but they cost $650 ea. Plus the ropes, panyards, rain cov ers....all this for my elk camp that I will never use again. Hope I can find somebody that appreciates quality. (My guns are almost like children to me, each with stories and good memories, hard to sell your children).

I am committed to moving so guess it is like when you find you have cancer....get it cut off, and enjoy your life afterwards....

And in answer to a question....yes I have a Thai wife for the past 10 years.

[autonomous_unit]

Old wanderer, you sound like my dad.

Definitely, sell off everything you can. Think of it this way---if you will never use it again then it actually has no value to you, no matter how much you paid for it. Get some cash for it that you can put to better use. Also, even if you sell nice stuff at a "loss", isn't it better if someone can make use of it rather than just letting it slowly rot away on a shelf?

We sold our cars, furniture, major appliances, etc. We gave away computers, hobby stuff, small kitchen appliances, and anything else we couldn't sell in the last month or two. We shipped some books and extra clothing, assorted kitchen items (non-powered) and the few hifi things I mentioned. Sometimes I wish our shipment had disappeared just so I wouldn't have to think about it.

In the end, our lifestyle adjusted rapidly to the reduced wardrobe and essentials we brought in our luggage (not nearly reaching maximum baggage allowance). When the shipment arrived, we got a relative to store it for almost a year before we even broke open the boxes. It was nice to get the kitchen stuff back into use, since we had avoided buying redundant stuff on arrival. But the rest remains mostly in boxes, shuffled from one storage room to another. (Maybe a medium closet's worth of stuff now.)

I would suggest that you look very carefully into the situation with the motorcycles. The import duty is probably a killer. I don't think the welder or milling machine are feasible, particularly as that is way beyond the power requirements people were talking about in this thread!