Thailand: Electricity Adaptors
 

Travelling from North America to Thailand. Do we need any specific adaptor / convertor to operate our electonic equipment.

You'll need an adaptor. Hotels always have them to lend or you can buy one. Whether you'll need a convertor depends on what the item is. Battery chargers, laptops, cell phone chargers, etc, have their own convertor, and just need an adaptor. Some electronics you buy are dual voltage. Check the items you plan to take with you.

I have yet to buy a piece of electronic equipment in about the last 15 years that was NOT dual voltage. Most people never check this because they don't need it, but I have lived outside the US for the last 17 years and it's one of the first things I check when buying any electronics. Just read the original instructions, OR the back of the plug socket (if you can read letters that small), OR on something like a laptop is is usually on the large square plug pack. If anything there says that the model you have is 120/240VAC voltage, then the item is dual voltage and you can use it in Thailand.

Your laptop and iPod or other MP3 player is almost certainly dual voltage, same with a portaable DVD player or CD player. However, as the plugs you have for these only have two flat pins, so you will need to bring a plug adaptor to fit over those pins and "adapt" the plug to the Thai wall socket. You can buy adaptor plugs in the US, in stores in Thailand, or often your hotel will lend them or sell them to you. A useful website for seeing what you might need for is at voltagevalet.com. Another helpful site is http://www.escapeartist.com/global/W...wer_Guide.html. Even within Thailand I have found that older buildings have different wall sockets than newer or refurbished building, so I often bring more than one type of adaptor.

If you don't have a dual voltage hairdryer, first check whether the hotels you are sstaying at have in-room hairdyers. (Of course, let's not get started on a discussion of some of the horrible hairdryers in hotels,i.e., those hose ones attached to the bathroom wall…) If not, you might want to consider buying a dual voltage one before you leave. Conair and Remington make dual voltage dryers. Linens n' Things sells dual-voltage hairdryers and you can also buy them on-line, check out drugstore.com., or run a search on your browser for "dual voltage hair dryer". You could also buy one in Thialand, but why waste vacation time looking for it, plus instructions and warranty may not be in English and the warranty may not cover the US.

Unless you have a dual band or tri band cell phone, it will not work in Thailand so don't bother to bring it.

not sure where in N.America you are, but I was able to purchase a converter\adapter package at Target (around $10-$15) that has suited me for all my travels in Europe and Africa. It came with one converter, suitable for phones, cameras, Nintendo, etc. And various plug adapters.
I've always been told NOT to convert voltage for a hairdryer- just buy a cheap one there or get one that's dual voltage, switch it and use one of the 5 or so adapters that usually come in the pack. Also- if you're staying in a hotel- there will probably be one in the room.
I have also been told of an all-in-one device from Sharper Image- but it was in the $35 range.

If stopping at the Peninsula in Bangkok you wont need any adaptors they have these wonderful multi adapting plug sockets!