January 2008

Will my old TV work in France?

There is often confusion about whether a televison set bought & used in the UK will work once in France.

Historically the answer was a big fat non! Before the age of digital TV broadcasts all transmissions used an analogue signal but the video format of the broadcast could be different. You may have heard strings of letters bandied about - NTSC, SECAM, PAL.
The UK (& most of Europe apart from France) plumped for the Phase Alternating Line (PAL) format for colour TV broadcasts back in the early 1960s. France went for Sequential Couleur Avec Memoire (SECAM). Both formats use the same number of lines per frame (625), unlike the National Television System Committee (NTSC) standard which uses 525 lines, & is used on the American continent & many Asian countries.

So, a set made for PAL wouldn't "understand" a SECAM signal, & vice versa. However, many modern sets are built to work on both standards, as it saves the manufacturers the bother of making two types. Don't get rid of your UK set until you've checked the documentation that you have with the telly, or Google the "model + make + manual".

07/06/2009: By way of an update on this subject, it's worth noting that all analogue TV transmitters in France will be swtiched off by/on November 30th 20011 as digital TV has been introduced. There is a phased shut-down starting this year. In other words, worrying about the stuff above is getting a bit uneccessary, & you need to read what's below......

Moving onto digital broadcasts: In broad terms the UK Freeview service & the French TNT (Télévision Numérique Terrestre) are broadcast using the same standards (DVB-T with MPEG-2 compression) BUT the UK uses a 2k COFDM (Coded Orthogonal Frequncy-Division Multiplexing), whereas the French use an 8k one. If you have an older UK Freeview box that is only set up for COFDM 2k it won't work in France, but a newer one should have the ability to use 2k & 8k & will work on the French TNT system. The UK should be going over to the more robust 8k standard once the analogue broadcasts are stopped, hence why new boxes should be dual standard. French TNT boxes generally are, so they would work in the UK......

There's an in-depth explanation about COFDM on the DTG site here.  Thanks are due to Ben Davies for that one.

Once you have received a digital terrestrial signal the native format of the TV set is irrelevant (SECAM or PAL).

TVs that are new enough to have a built in Freeview tuner are probably capable of handling both analogue transmission formats anyway, as pointed out above (& be 2k/8k COFDM capable). The TNT service offers more channels than you can get on analogue but, obviously, they are the French ones. As with the UK, not all corners of France have TNT coverage yet, but it's easy to check. There's a TNT coverage map here. 

If you are after British TV then you will have to go for a satellite set-up &, again the TV type won't matter.

If you need assistance with setting up a TV system of any type please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Why is there so little power in my house?

Unlike domestic supplies in the UK those in France are restricted in overall power according to what you need/want. This is what the "disjoncteur d'abonne" or "disjoncteur de branchement" does. This is a large switch/trip probably located close to your meter & somewhere it will have a window with the amperage setting showing. This can mean different things depending on whether you have a single-phase (monophasé) or three-phase (triphasé) supply. They look similar to the picture shown here.

EDF (Électricité de France) charge a different standing charge ("abonnement") depending on what amount of power you require. If you don't have a large enough supply, or have too much, you can ask to have it changed, but there is a minimum time allowed before you can change it again. In some locations it might not be possible to have a bigger supply without expensive works to the local distribution network. The maximum power available under "tarif bleu" (the standard domestic/small user tariff) is 36kVa, single or three-phase.
Apart from the very smallest supply available (15 amps, or 3kVa) the basic unit charge (kWh - kilowatt hour) for electricity is the same for all sizes of supply - it's just the standing charge that increases. You can also have a cheaper off-peak rate for 8 hours overnight; this is known as "heures creuse" (literally, empty hours) & is similar to the Economy 7 system in the UK. Many people use the overnight rate to run their dish washer & washing machine. Also French electric water heaters are sized according to being able to heat up in the 8 hours overnight & should be set up to only switch on during the cheap times.

The current cost of these two variations can be seen here: EDF tarifs - basic & off-peak

There is another system of metering in France, known as Tempo. I'll make this the subject of another posting on this site very soon.

A quick tip about phone wiring & internet connections

If you are thinking about using a long telephone extension for internet access (dial-up or broadband) you may find the minuscule cable size used in the ready made cheapo cables will slow things down. If you are already on the end of a long run from your telephone exchange, an extension cable may even prevent broadband/ADSL from working at all - I know because I've seen it happen.

To make sure you get the best possible speed & quality out of your internet connection it's a good move to install a properly wired phone outlet where you intend to plug in your dial-up or ADSL modem/router. The correct cable is available at all brico stores, as are sockets to fit standard wiring boxes.

Alternatively, you might want to get in touch with Badger Électricité - we can sort out all the cabling for your 'phones, TV/satellite & network needs.

More about fuseboxes - where?

In France your incoming mains supply & its distribution are formed of two parts :

1. EDF's main cutout fuses, their meter, plus their "disjoncteur de branchement" (the device that both protects & limits your supply).
2. The property owners distribution board/fusebox/tableau de repartition.

EDF's responsibility for an installation ends at the customer side of the disjoncteur de branchement . They will not place their meter & associated stuff in places they don't approve of. Kitchens & bathrooms come into this category. There is an obvious bias to outside walls due to wanting to limit their cable run as well as the convenience of installing a "telereporteur" - a device that allows a meter reader to log your reading without entering the property.

Beyond the EDF side of things is your main fusebox/tableau de repartition. This is commonly next to the meter & so on, but there is no obligation for it to be so. You can have a run of appropriately sized cable to feed it in whatever location is best for you that also complies with wiring regulations (NF C 15-100).

A tableau de repartition must be no lower than 1m & no higher than 1.8m from the floor (see the "Make life that bit easier - keep to the regulation height"). New builds must have a GTL (Gaine Technique de Logment - a floor to ceiling section of trunking that houses the main tableau, plus 'phone, TV & satellite distribution). This should be in an entrance hall/lobby or other relatively easily accessible location (i.e. not at the back of the smallest bedroom that is accessed via a corridor!). If the main tableau is remote from the EDF disjoncteur it must include a main switch so that the entire installation can be switched off quickly in an emergency. I'd recommend a GTL if you are rewiring any property, new or old. A cupboard can be built to hide things, but everything must remain accessible & operable.

If you need more specific advice about your installation please don't hesitate to contact Badger Électricité.

Satellite TV, part 2: what's coming down from up there?

If you are curious to know what's being broadcast from which satellites, check out the following:

Astra 28.2° East - for the majority of UK FTA (Free-To-Air) stuff & Sky.

Astra 19.2° East - lots of European broadcasts, subscription French TV (CanalSat, which gives you all the main french stations, plus loads more - the BSkyB of France....), plus some French FTA & BBC World.

Hotbird 13° East - very international & lots of it, plus BBC Prime (by subscription) & BBC World.

Atlantic Bird 5° West - Atlantic Bird at 5° West. The place for FTA French national TV stations.

Free-To-Air chanels are listed here: UK FTA  French FTA 

Also, don't forget that all satellites also broadcast a host of radio stations. If you can't cope without your daily dose of Radio 4, Virgin Radio, Classic FM or Kerrang! then using a satellite system to pick them up is an easy option. My personal top tip is that rather than having your TV on just to listen to the radio you can hook up the stereo sound output of a satellite receiver (they all have them) to your home hi-fi/stereo system, et viola! - digital quality radio on decent loudspeakers. No more struggling to get long wave or FM broadcasts from the UK.

As ever, if you aren't into all this technical stuff, then Badger Électricité can do whatever is needed to get the TV & radio stations you want.

Satellite TV, part 1: what do those cheap kits do?

Many people want to be able to view UK TV whilst in France, via satellite broadcasts. Alot of people also think that they have to have a Sky system to do so. Although Sky boxes work very well in France not everyone has a viewing card, & may not want to obtain one. However, when faced with the array of satellite kits that confronts them in the average large brico store many folk get even more confused......

What must be remembered is that although all the major UK channels are carried by Sky, they are also available Free-To-Air (FTA) & are thus readily received by any satellite dish & tuner. Most UK FTA & Sky channels are broadcast from the cluster of satellites at 28.2° East.

So, you've seen a kit with a dish, receiver & various bits & bobs, but aren't sure whether it will help you..... Well, it will. A French digital (numerique, not analogique) satellite receiver will receive all the FTA channels that are available on any satellite you point it at. If pointed at the Astra 28.2° East cluster you will therefore get all the BBC options, ITV 1,2 & 3 but NOT Channel 4 or 5 as these are still carried by Sky only & are scrambled. To view them you need a Sky box & a valid Sky card. If you aren't bothered about wall to wall Big Brother, endless police chase programs or comestic surgery you won't miss 4 or 5 (but there is Grand Designs....). The C4 & Five issue is supposed to be being resolved, but I've given up holding my breath.

Anyway, a cheap kit of receiver, LNB & dish from one of the brico sheds will cost up to 100 Euros. You usually need to get the mounting bracket for the dish & some cable as an extra. There are many web sites with info about how to set up a dish - Googling "satellite alignment" is a good start.

If you aren't into fiddling about with all this kind of stuff please note that Badger Électricité will happily sort out a satellite system for you.

No more dithering about with plugs

One of the most frequent questions I hear is "I'm need to swap the plugs on my UK appliances to French ones, but there's no indication which side of the plug is live or neutral - what do I do?". Until recently this would have opened a large can of worms as even the French couldn't seem to agree on the matter. However, I have always had a belief as to which side is correct, which has now been proven right.

Anyway, if you look at the front of a French socket (assuming it is the right way up, with the sticking out earth pin at the top), the LIVE is on the right (or clockwise from the earth if you like). Translate that to the inside of a plug, & it's the same. Put another way, it's the same as a UK 13 Amp plug. More to the point it's the same principal as the Europe-wide standard (CEE17) for industrial & weatherproof connectors that most people will have seen in the form of the blue 16 Amp plugs/sockets used for caravan hook-ups, or the yellow (110 Volt) version used for building site power tools. Although this standard also encompasses three-phase connectors & goes up to 125 Amp capacity, the live connection in a socket (viewed from the front) is always clockwise from the earth.

So, how do I know what's right? Well, in recent times Legrand & other major maunfacturers of fittings for domestic installation in France) have introduced colour coding to their ranges. Lo & behold, the live is on the right! In the absence of any more official information this move is as good as it gets.

Whilst agreeing that in terms fo physics the polarity does not matter it is really bad practice to mix things up in the same installation. What leads, adaptors etc. then do is whatever they do, but at least an installation should be correct.

New links added

As well as making this site a source of information about matters electrical I've added various links so that when you've tired of all my woffle you can surf straight off elsewhere.

Most links are aimed at helping you cope with life in France, or getting to/from here, but some are there just for fun.

Welcome to the Badger Electrical blog

Bienvenue au blog de Badger Électricité