A company that send electrical goods to the Philippines

[doofus]

Hi,
Can anyone suggest or recommend a company that deals with sending electrical stuff etc to the Philippines from the UK. A website would be great as well.

many thanks,

Pete

[Terpe]

Hi,
Can anyone suggest or recommend a company that deals with sending electrical stuff etc to the Philippines from the UK. A website would be great as well.

many thanks,

Pete

Just search online for balikbayan box forwarders in your area. Quite a few will also handle larger shipments too (lift van)

Just be sure that the items you send will actually function correctly and safely in Pinas.

[grahamw48]

I've sent all kinds of electrical items in Balikbayan boxes. All worked fine on the 220v sockets there, except clock radio type gadgets readings will be out a bit.

[Terpe]

...Just be sure that the items you send will actually function correctly and safely in Pinas.

Solely in terms of voltage there is usually no major problem for many items.

Plenty of people have sent electrical items to Phils without issues.

However, there are 2 causes for caution and concern that you should be aware of.

Problems may arise mainly due the differences in frequency, and also on occasion due to neutral and earth wire configuration.

UK is 240V@50Hz
Philippines is 240V@60Hz

When the required power is low, say for example less than 50 Watts, then it's virtually a plug and play scenario.
There's also plenty of other equipment such as computers, chargers for phones and camera's and the like that are actually designed to work safely with a range of input voltages and frequencies.
When this is the case it will almost certainly be indicated on the equipment somewhere.

It's interesting to see by simple calculation, { [(60Hz – 50 Hz)/ 50 Hz] * 100 = 20 % } that plenty of appliances/equipment will run 20 % faster than their normal rated speed. This may not always be safe if insulation and windings burn-out.

There's also quite a lot of equipment these days that have some or other form of electronic timer or micro-processor control system.
Such devices will at best run 20% faster than they are designed for. This may or may not be a problem, but it certainly makes electric alarm clocks pointless and you'll also need to develop new recipes for your electric breadmaker or microwave

Some washing machines may well work without major issues for a time and others will very soon not work at all. Depends on the motor configuration and internal wiring.
All similar 'motor-driven' appliances are going run 20% faster and produce an equivalent increase in heat output. Period.

My advice would be to seriously consider the likelihood of problems, the age of the equipment and cost of shipping versus the cost of buying new in Philippines.

If in doubt always double-check. Not only for the protection of the equipment but also for the body.

I've been reminded a number of times by an electrical engineer working in the Philippines that by far the most serious potential complication, especially for higher power appliances/equipment, is related to the neutral/earth wire configuration.
The key is to make sure that only one wire in the house is live and that the neutral wire is zero volts.
Residential electrics in the Philippines 'should' be an earthed system. That neutral wire 'should' be connected to the earth at the transformer.
At the house that neutral wire must be zero volts because it 'should' be connected to earth at the fuse box.

The earth wire is generally not seen anywhere except where is gets connected to the neutral wire ONLY in the fuse box.
This keeps any metal parts of the electric system and appliances the same as your body.
Take care and check it out. Correct earthing is important as it prevents you getting electric shocks from certain equipment.
Something that a lot people learn from experience. Not always good.
Don't rely on simple plug adapters.
Don't expect all electrical wiring to be the same or even in accordance with any standards.

Most newish TV equipment will operate on either 50Hz or 60Hz frequency, but there are still many that don't. If it does not automatically adapt, the different frequency is highly likely to affect the refresh, rate and picture quality.
Again, many TV's have built in capability to switch from PAL to NTSC, but not all. Do your research, ask the manufacturer and discover how the 'switch' works if it's not included in the set-up menu.

Many freezers, refrigerators and plasma TV's do not travel well. Again some simple self-research or technical details from the manufacturer will help you in your decision making.
Don't pay high shipping costs when the risks outweigh the benefits.

[stevie c]

Hi Terpe my wife has just purchased a new laptop to send to her sister in the phils can you forsee any problems of this operating in the phil ?

[Terpe]

Hi Terpe my wife has just purchased a new laptop to send to her sister in the phils can you forsee any problems of this operating in the phil ?

Hi Stevie, nearly all laptops can handle universal electrical inputs.
Just check the adapter that came with it. It should say something like 100-240v
50-60Hz.

If for some strange reason it doesn't then a universal one can be picked up real cheap.

I'm 99% sure your adapter will allow the inputs I mentioned.

[stevie c]

Thanks Terpe i just checked it & you are correct it is 100 -240v 50 -60H so no worries sending the laptop now

[Terpe]

Thanks Terpe i just checked it & you are correct it is 100 -240v 50 -60H so no worries sending the laptop now

Stevie, I'd be really very interested to know who you send it with and how you get on etc

I sent a netbook last September with DHL and they gave me a hard time with hard-drive and battery issues. I eventually managed it with them but they charged me nearly £80 which I though was really high.
If I'd had more time I would have searched around for a different courier, but no choice.
DHL are usually OK

Anyways, If you have the time please let me know just how it goes. Cheers

[stevie c]

Terpe i will of course let you know

We did think that there could be some issues sending by courier so we are undecided if to send it by courier or take it with us when we go to the phils in june

[Terpe]

...............so we are undecided if to send it by courier or take it with us when we go to the phils in june

Ah, OK that will probably be the best bet.

I still need to save quite a bit more before I can return to Phils.
Had a lot of unplanned expenses (all in Phils) these past months.

Carina says we must go for Xmax 2012, but I say flights are much cheaper after Xmas.
Battle of wills
I wonder who'll win

Anyways, hope you have truly wonderful holiday Stevie.

[stevie c]

Thanks terpe we was looking at going fot xmas & new year but what with the expense of Florsels ILR in october it was to much to pay out with them being so close together taking into account the cost of flights over the holiday period.

IM sure wether you go for xmas or just after you will have a wonderfull time.

By the way i have a sneaky feeling Carina will win that one