hi! our stuff finally arrives via container soon and i’m so eager to let there be light in our very empty and dark apartment lol!
i have a bunch of lamps that are US voltage and need to be rewired to JP voltage. i realize i could theoretically use a voltage converter but voltage converters are all very bulky and lamps need to tuck behind dressers and such. so it seems easier to get them all rewired. (if you happen to know of a voltage converter i could buy that’s not huge and ugly, i’d also be open to that, but i literally couldn’t find!)
i’m in minato-ku near hiroo station. can anyone recommend a lamp shop that does this service? or potentially an electrician?
i’m totally open to going somewhere not in the neighborhood as well so all suggestions ideas insights welcome 🙂
thank you so much!
8 comments
What kind of lamps? just E26 screw sockets? no need to rewire anything unless your place is so old it doesn’t have polarized recepticals.
You just need a different bulb.
**edit:** Actually you don’t even need a different bulb. Realized you’ve got a US lamp (110v) and want to use it in Japan (100v). It will work just fine. A voltage difference of that amount for a light bulb is nothing.
Before you go into that work, what is the operating voltage of those lamps? 90% chances they work fine, since the difference in voltage in the US and in Japan is minor. If it was europe that’S another story. Most applicance work 100-120v 50/60hz nowadays, not all, most.
Also is it a simple lamp or something with a lot of electronics? If it’s a simple bulb lamp, get a bulb on amazon, usually both japan an us use E26 so they should fit and work.
Isn’t US voltage close enough to JP voltage that they should work fine as is?
Lamps are plug in and turn on
Very few US small appliances and things won’t work in Japan.
Us and Japanese voltage are close enough you won’t have any problem with your lamps.
Your lamps and most other things will be fine as you using less voltage. If it was a fridge or microwave I’d say consider getting a step up transformer. You don’t need it for safety, just to keep your elec bill down as it’ll always try to draw more power than is available.
The wire is the last thing that can be a problem. Like you can use an American extension cord in Japan, it will be a piece of copper just as a Japanese cord. The difference is the device that is connected to the wire and what voltage they are rated for. As other people mentioned, as Japan is 100v, some devices can work perfectly fine (for example if rated for 100-240v), could work ok outside of spec or could work but not as expected like light is dimmer, device does not get hot enough, motor turn slower. The other thing is frequency, Japan is 50 or 60Hz depending on the region.