Moving from US to UK PC problems

[milkman]

Hello,

My brother has just moved from the US back to the UK. He has 2 PC's that are set to work on the standard US electricity, whatever that is, 120v or something. He bought a mains adapter so he could use it over here (UK), firstly the adapter broke, it also hummed loudly when it worked and he was told not to leave it on all day. Could he solve this problem simply by buying a new tower and moving the motherboard etc... over? Or do PC components have differing power needs depending on which country they are bought in?

I don't have his PC to hand, but I could find out specific make, manufacturer if need be. I was under the impression PC components were universal, so was hoping the power pack in the tower would deal with any power conversion and that would be a cheap solution.

Thanks for any help.

[pave_spectre]

The power supply itself will often have a switch on it(commonly on the back) to select between input voltages. it should just be a matter of changing that switch to the 240V setting and finding the right kind of power cable to be able to plug it into British sockets.

Components themselves are universal since they run off the DC voltages output by the power supply, you just need to tell the supply what input voltage it has so it will work correctly.

[milkman]

Nice one cheers pave_spectre, i'll tell him to check it out. At least if it comes to it, he can just buy a new power supply. Now all he's got to do is find a solution for his TV.

[johnny_quest]

Is it really viable it to ship a TV from US to UK? Why not just buy a new TV?

The worst case for the PC, you'd have to buy a new PSU, but like they said above, just about all of them have a 110/220 switch... or they are auto-switching (don't just assume that though, look it up).

[jlreich]

I have heard that TV's are a problem because the adapter just doesn't work very well, like you said you can't keep it on all day as it can overheat and such. Sounds kind of dangerous to me. He should have sold the TV before moving.

You have the switch in the back, but you have a physically different plug in the UK right? If that is the case I think the best thing to do would be to just buy a new localized PSU.

[milkman]

Thanks again. He shipped the TV with a load of furniture and other stuff so it probably didn't cost him any extra. He's as technically minded as my gran, so no doubt didn't foresee any problems. I think he'll enquire whether an electronics shop can replace the transformer in his TV, if not, I think he will just buy a new one. Same problem with his monitor too I think, although they are not too expensive nowadays.

[jlreich]

You have the switch in the back, but you have a physically different plug in the UK right? If that is the case I think the best thing to do would be to just buy a new localized PSU.
Oh sorry, I was referring to the PC PSU when I said that. Must have left that out when I was editing. :o