You need this 110Volts transformer if you will be receiving American Electronics this christmas

Its Christmas time and families in the diaspora will be sending home gifts and cash. If you are anticipating of receiving any Electronic device or Electrical Appliance from the United States then do not plug it in directly to the socket outlet in your house. You will damage it completely and not get to enjoy anything at all.  The Voltages Americans use in the USA is very different from what we here in Kenya use. In the USA they use 120 Volts of AC power at 60Hz frequency which is very different fro what we use in  Kenya.  Before you connect anything that does not have a Kenya Bureau of Standards sticker, check the Power ratings at the back. Take a look at the following image of TV that was imported from the US to Kenya.

The sticker above belongs to a very cool looking Vizio Television. As you can see this TV was rated at 110/130Volts AC at 1.6Amperes. This voltage is very different fro what we use in Kenya.

Kenya and other east African countries get 240Volts AC power at 50Hertz frequency. So if you connect an Electronic device or Appliance rated at 110,120 or 130Volts to a socket outlet providing double the voltage, it will damage your device or in the worst case scenario cause an electric fire.

The Power Rating matters a lot

Before you buy a Step-down Transformer make sure you read the label at the back of the Appliance or Electronic device. From the Vizio TV photo above you cannot see the Power rating but its easy to calculate it using the following formula if the current in Amperes is provided.

P=VI

where

P is the Power rating in Watts

V is the Voltage and

I is the current in Amperes

In Kenya we use 240 Volts so if the transformer is going to halve this value we are going to use 120 Volts for our calculation. So according t the Television above the Power rating using 120 volts is 130X1.6= 192Watts.

The step down transformer above is rated at 200Watts Max so will be sufficient to Power the Vizio TV. Do not buy any transformer with a power rating below what your Appliance will use as this can lead to serious injury to you or your property. Whatever your needs get a Power rating that is more then what your item will use.

And just for a heads up, your Transformer may produce a buzzing sound, this is normal just unplug it and tighten the screws. This will take care of the problem. The LUCKY SKY TC-200 transformer also accepts those American type power plugs.

Merry Christmas and a Happy new year.