In most of Central and South America colors are a option in wiring.
knowinghow electricity comes into your fuse box and goes out is
important. It is not rocket science.
Paf, Having done the transformer bit in at least 4 countries I
recommend that you buy used in-country. These things are heavy and
costly to transport when you are trying to keep the load light (we
always had a weight limit). We had one in each room except for
bedrooms. Transformers come labeled for amps/watts, if memory
serves. We had 2 that would do 1500 wattseach in the kitchen and
another in my studio and ran power bars with them. We determined the
size transformer we needed by looking at the watts on the appliance
plate for the intended grouping (like stereo equipment; flexshaft,
pickle pot, etc). Most large cities have an American school, American
Club, Embassy/Consulate. These groups usually have newsletters where
those leaving advertise items for sale. We always bought transformers
used thisway from other ex-pats and sold them when we left, never had
one that didn’t work. Donna in VA (previously in South and Central
America, Europe and Africa)
100 bucks sounds far to much, I would wait till you arrive in HK,
you shouldbe able to pick them up easily for a lot less, you only
need one, except when you manage to work on 2 or 3 machines on the
same time!
When I bought last year one here in Spain for about us$ 65 made in
China