Electricity: Lamps, Transformers, and Microwaves

OK, we got our stuff. That means we can start using our lamps. "Wait," you say, "will American lamps work in Europe since the voltage is different?" Actually, yes. A lamp is just wires to supply the bulb with power.

One might think that since the voltage is higher in Europe (220 volts, only 110 in the US) that you would need larger wires, but the opposite is true. The wires here are smaller because it is more efficient to transmit 220 volt electricity than 110.

That also means the plugs are bigger because the electricity can arc across a gap better, as evidenced when we plug an American plug into an adaptor. The girls were frightened to plug in the American computer because of the arc when they did. Now we have the computer plugged into a surge protector type outlet, so we can cut the power before we plug in the adaptor or the American plug.

Someone in America who had lived in Europe told us that we could use US lightbulbs in Europe. Early on, Darin tried a regular light bulb in a lamp from the States. That did not work. He blew the circuit and the bulb. (Now the hall lights won't work, but they are on a different circuit, so he tells us that it's not related to his light bulb testing.) He tested some compact fluorescent bulbs. They didn't blow any circuits, but they didn't last long with the 220 voltage.

Darin changed the plugs on the lamps, especially since we didn't intend on moving them back to the States anyway. The lights I had on the wall when I was a kid had very old cords on them, and the wall lights here mount directly to wires coming out of the wall, so Darin cut off the cords and will put new cords back on when we get to the States.

Lamps are about the only things that don't need a transformer to work.

However, we finally did something right when it came to moving, though it happened accidentally. I had ordered some transformers from a company in the States to be delivered so they could be packed with our things. But because of problems with the credit card (that weren't our fault, not like we were at the limit or something), the order was canceled. Then the stuff arrives, but the girls can't listen to their CD players because no transformers. Darin mentioned this to our neighbor who works for NATO, and his wife picked up some used transformers for us at the Thrift Shop on base, and very cheap. So now we have transformers, at about a tenth of what we would have paid in the States!

Microwave ovens and some clocks are the only things affected by a change in the hertz (50 cycles instead of 60). Transformers only change the voltage (110 in the US and 220 in Europe), not the hertz. We are borrowing a small microwave from another neighbor until we can buy one for ourselves.