[gadget man]

I am considering taking all 50 of my electronic and electrical gadgets and appliances with me to Europe. I looked into buying adapters, but instead I was wandering what it would take to convert the whole apartment to 110V. I could then grab the breakers and plugs from here before leaving. Also 50 to 60 Hz electricity is this an issue ?

[labman]

I guess you could buy a large 220/115 transformer and install it between the incoming power and the apartment wiring. See www.mouser.com. That would still leave the issue of the outlets, the European ones being different from ours. There are adapters. You can buy outlets cheap too, and it isn't that much work to install them. I don't know if they would fit European boxes. I am not sure they provide grounding for 3 prong plugs either.

Anything that is all resistance should be happy on 50 hertz. Light bulbs, cooking appliances etc. Motors may be OK, just running 5/6 as fast. Some power supplies are made to work on 50 hertz too. Others may over heat. Some UPS's might work converting 50 hertz to DC and back to 60 hertz.

Big project, out of the mainstream. Expect headaches and lack of cooperation by the unimaginative. That could well include the landlord.