Planning on bringing a blender from the US to the island. Does anyone know if the cycles on the island will be compatible with the US blender. I'd hate to bring it down and find out that the unit will burn out prematurely or run at a slower speed...

Thanks

Bonaire electricity is 127 volts at 50 cycles.

From an engineering viewpoint, the 110V 60 Hz machine will run in Bonaire. BUT

1. It will run hot because of the over-voltage and therefore may have a shorter life expectancy
2. If it is run at 50Hz then it will run at 5/6 of the speed but this will be more than compensated for by the higher power from the voltage !

Blenders are availble on the island and most are US voltage so I am not sure how much shorter a life you can expect. Certainly we break the glass before the motor packs up !

I have used our US bought blender on island with no problems to date and its about three years old.

Trevor - would the different voltage, etc. affect a battery charger also? I have a new Canon G-10 camera that has a battery charger. I am hoping that it will work okay, otherwise I would probably have to look at buying an extra battery & having it charged and ready to go before the trip??

If you are staying at the divi timeshares, they have a blender in the kitchen.

Gail..Check the specs on the charger. If it says 50-60hz you're good to go! Additionally make sure you use a surge protector.

Chargers are generally "universal" these days. I have the Canon 40D and the charger runs 100 - 240 V 50 - 60Hz in small writing on the back. Worth checking as normally non US electronics tends to be designed for a world market whereas the US market is large enough to sometimes only have one voltage. That said, Canon are pretty worldwide !

On the subject of SURGE protection.

A lot of people talk about "surge protection".

Bonaire electricity is pretty unstable. The lights seem to go dim every now and then (when they turn the deep fat fryer on next door) or when storms affect the voltage with SPIKES. Surges in voltage can damage some delicate equipment.

Things that are NOT damaged would be simple electric devices (electric NOT electronic) so our electric oven is not bothered and our extractor fan is not bothered and our water heater doesn't flinch but the electronic clock on the microwave hates it...

A battery charger by its internal design has some surge protection and if you are only charging the battery then I would not be concerned. Plug it in and leave it. We do. BUT. If you use the AC Adapter and plug that in to the camera to charge the battery then you have all that nice electronic circuitry exposed. The G10 has an external charger and you take the battery out and place it in the charger (I think) so you should be OK.

127 volts on 110 volt equipment is also over the spec.

So for long term residence, "transformers" are available. These are not cheap but for our massive fridge freezer with electronic display and ice maker and water dispenser and multiple chill zones internal it was a wise investment. The blender is an electric device with a simple motor so as Yucatan Pat says - they still work after three years.

Thanks, I just checked the back of the charger (and yes it is an external charger). Input is 100V-240V AC 50/60 Hz 14VA(100V)-19.2VA(240V). Output is 8.4V. WHATEVER that means! LOL I'm going to assume I'm safe. The charged battery lasts a long time so I don't expect to have to charge it all that often.

Gail,

That will work fine. The 'VA' part is a measure of the device's power consumption while charging batteries.

A second battery is always a bit of insurance that you won't lose that 'best' picture because your one battery went flat at just the wrong time. Or pictures on a dive because the battery was nearly flat just as you were checking out the housed camera for the next dive, with no time to charge it.

Even if you never use the second battery you know that you have taken advantage of the Second Corollary of Murphy's Law which states that bad things you plan for don't happen. :–)