We are soon moving to Switzerland from UK, I was wondering if I can take my lovely ceiling lights from here,will they be compatible with Swiss voltage ? has any one tried to use UK compatible lights in Switzerland, and do they work fine ?
Hi All,
They'll be fine, but if they have bayonet fittings for the bulb, you might find it harder to find replacements. Bring some spares if they're normal bulbs or change them for LED, so they'll last a lot longer - which is probably a good idea, anyway.
Thanks for your quick reply mirfield, will get them changed to LED, happy to know that I can use them in Switzerland.
In about 1972 and even later, Britain had 110 Volts, but Switzerland had 220 Volts. And buy a dozen travel-converters for use with the electrical gear anyway.
Sorry Wolli, I have never heard of 110 volts in the UK.
Until recently it was 240 volts, and then it was reduced to 230 volts. Switzerland went from 220 to 230 volts.
You can find bayonet light bulbs in France.
Cheaper to buy a two or three UK multi-way extension socket blocks and replace the UK plugs with Swiss plugs. Or, at CHF1 each, it won't break the bank to change all the plugs on the appliances. You could have an evening of plug-wiring ecstasy.
I've used a couple of trailing multi sockets, with just a change of plug, although, after time, the plugs on most appliances, themselves have been changed (all except for an indoor water fountain, because I like to have a UK fused plug when it comes to water and lecky).
The only exception is for anything that has a plug adapter (transformers/chargers) where there is no option to change plugs. Bear this in mind, for quantity, when purchasing sockets.
..... and don't throw the UK plugs away, either - I find it easier to take a Swiss socket block, with a UK plug on, with me, when I go back for visits for our Swiss phones and tablet chargers, then messing about with plug in adaptors.
Misinformation - despite aspirations to the contrary, the UK is not the USA.
Britain had round pin plugs and changed to square pin, about this time, but no voltage change.
I brought one UK desktop lamp and a few reserve bulbs with me, when I came.
The lamp lasted a few years, but failed, before I ever needed to change a bulb.
Wolli, shut up if you don't know what you talking about
Suspect Wolli's committed the cardinal sin of confusing the UK with the US, I understand they use 110v.
Or maybe he meant Ukraine? Or the Yukon?
Not for a long time. The nominal voltage in USA was raised from 110 to 120V many years ago. One often saw devices listed as 115 or 117V nominally, as an average to accommodate the updated actual mains voltage.
I only too well remember the trouble with the 110 Volts in the UK to ever forget it. Definite fact in those times and heavily into the 1970ies at least. I had spent quite some money on converters before departing to London. It was one of the last flights of MSA Malaysia-Singapore Airlines on the Zürich-London-sector, on 28th September 1972
[QUOTE=Today only;2316960]Wolli, shut up if you don't know what you talking about [/QUÒTE]
I know perfectly well what I am talking about
you might adopt a more decent and less aggressive language. Being aggressive when being wrong is not a convincing position
That the UK in the meantime shifted to modern Standards is known to me -- and when I visited the USA for the first time in 1976, I was prepared for the problem
As an electrician already in 1972 told me, up to 10 Volts difference does not really matter
Having lived through the 70's I have absolutely no recollection of 110V in the UK.
I have extensively googled many different connotations of '110V' and 'UK', but it always seems to come back with the US.
However, one result from a radio forum, seems to indicate that they may have a few local 110V networks, but this was definitely not a widespread thing and you (wolli) may have found yourself in one of these isolated pockets; but you should also try to find some documented evidence to back up your claim, other than a bit of forum hearsay that I've found ...... we all know how accurate forum information can be.
Or a 110 volt diesel generator.
I was speaking with my elderly uncle yesterday and he said the UK was never 110V.
He was an electrician from the late 50's until his retirement in the early 90's so I think he should know.
I guess the adapters/converters Wolli is referring to are just the plug adapters and didn't in fact have any effect on the voltage.
STOP.
Then you wasted your money. The UK has certainly not had any general 110V supply in my lifetime. And that goes back well before the 70s.
Possible (and there is a very vague memory niggling somewhere) but you are certainly talking about very remote communities in the Western Isles or similar. Certainly nothing within striking distance of London.