silly question? Electricity??

depends where you are coming from.

here they use 110v (and is it 60Hz?).
my laptop charger works on both 110v and 220v.

be careful with power surges!

DCfred said:

be careful with power surges!

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I can't stress enough what Fred says! Make sure you have a surge protector, both for electrical connections and phone lines. I lost much valuable equipment in the DR because I didn't that warning seriously enough when it was given to me.
Best Regards,
Keith

Silly Answer, Electricity...

It comes out of wires! Here in DR it sometimes doen't come out of anything!! Also, when it does come out of the wires it fluctuates horrifically!
Take others advice and use surge protectors!
Just blown my puter up cos' the surge protector box stopped working!!!

To my knowledge, a surge protector is a 3 prong type unit which needs an earth ground. If you don't have an earth ground connected to the 3rd prong, forget it. No house or electrical outlet has the earth ground connected (in DR) unless you do it yourself.
Don't worry about the voltage fluctuations, there is a chance that something will fry if you use it continuously for 6 years.

You should run your computer off an inverter, anyway.

Everyone in the DR needs an inverter system.

In a recent post, I described a system for about $200 that can power a computer, fan, and light for 4 hours or more.

Even if it initally appears that a power fluctuation does not have an effect on your PC or laptop, a power spike or sag generally accelerates the failure of your device power supply. Sometimes a device failure can happen in a few days or in as little as 3 or 4 months. But, why risk decreasing the longetivity of your PC power supply from years to months.

Volage in-rushes are very hard on electronic circuit cards and power supplys, and I would very much recommend that when using a PC that it be plugged into a UPS, not a $10 or $15 power strip. You can buy an UPS offering adequate protection for your PC starting at about $60 up to several hundred dollars, depending how many devices you want to plug into the UPS.

If you are fom the States or Canada

You should not have trouble with the current 110/ 60 cycles

Here in the Hillbilly Hovel I use
1) Spike strip
2) then to a voltage regulator
3)then to a UPS
4) then to the computer.

So far-knock on wood- all is well...

HB

AZB said:

To my knowledge, a surge protector is a 3 prong type unit which needs an earth ground. If you don't have an earth ground connected to the 3rd prong, forget it. No house or electrical outlet has the earth ground connected (in DR) unless you do it yourself.

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Bullseye.

I have had more shocks down here than ever in my life thanks to these so-called engineers who don't ground anything, even in new construction. And then you have to watch out in connecting a ground yourself AZB because in many cases hot and neutral are reversed from outlet to outlet. You'll really make things sizzle if you connect a ground to one outlet through a metal stake in the yard, and use that for your computer, but say plug your printer in at another outlet where the current's reversed.

Here at Xanadu we're literally ripping it all out and replacing it. Oh yeah, and the shocks? I measure 198volts AC between GROUND and the tile floor. That's not at a reversed outlet either!

P.S.
Son't worry though if you've come for the games. Hippo has his new pen and his checkbook out. So if your place doesn't have a ground just call him up. I am sure someone will be around to fix that right up for you!