I used to live in the US but moved out to the Philippines. In the states the voltage out put is 110 but here in manila its 220. Because of this, all of my american electronics need transformers so they dont burn up or explode. Which one should I use on my TV. A Voltage Regulator (AVR) or a transformer? What in the heck is the difference anyway?
A voltage regulator usually refers to a DC device. You need a 110V/220V transformer although you should check the manuals and the labels on your equipment as some (such as laptop adapters) will work 100V-230V without a transformer.
now i know .what i need to refrigirator,,a transformer right?
You need a transformer. An a.v.r. is an automatic voltage regulator. They correct for large variations in supply voltage, are large and expensive and probably not required in your case anyway. A surge protector, or whatever fancy name they carry, is a different thing altogether. You may or may not find one of some use. It depends on how nasty your mains supply is.
You need a transformer. The AVRs you're seeing do not do anything like a 2:1 voltage reduction. What they do is to take your AC power and make minor adjustments to get rid of surges and sags. They do this with an autotransformer with multiple taps. This usually is limited to about plus or minus 20% of the nominal line voltage. By the way - if you look very closely at the data plates on some of your equipment, especially computers, you'll probably find that at least some of them will run on your local line voltage with no transformer. The notation you're looking for is something like: 100-240V, 50-60 Hz. Oh, speaking of that a few devices might not work well on the 50 Hz even with a transformer. The transformer corrects the voltage, but there is no economical way to convert the frequency; you'll just have to buy new stuff.
