adapters
Jul 3rd, 2006, 06:25 AM
#2
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If your device has a multi-voltage power supply (for example, 110-240VAC input), then all you need is a continental plug adapter to get it into European outlets. (There are different ones for the UK and some less-traveled countries.¹)
In addition to a plug adapter, single-voltage electronics require a transformer to step down the European voltage from 220V to 110V.
Single-voltage, high-power devices (e.g., curling irons, blow dryers) need a converter.
¹ See http://www.franzus.com/Merchant2/mer...OS&Screen=VOLT
In addition to a plug adapter, single-voltage electronics require a transformer to step down the European voltage from 220V to 110V.
Single-voltage, high-power devices (e.g., curling irons, blow dryers) need a converter.
¹ See http://www.franzus.com/Merchant2/mer...OS&Screen=VOLT
Jul 3rd, 2006, 06:33 AM
#3
As with most questions it all depends.
Check you charger or each item. Are they made for 117 (120) volts or 120/220.
The battery charger for my camera is 120/200. I only needed an adapter but not a converter (much heavier).
There are two different parts to this; adapter and converter.
An adapter merely allows one plug to be used with another.
A converter changes electricity from one voltage (in this case 220) to another (120).
Read your documentation (or look carefully at the item) for each item.
Check you charger or each item. Are they made for 117 (120) volts or 120/220.
The battery charger for my camera is 120/200. I only needed an adapter but not a converter (much heavier).
There are two different parts to this; adapter and converter.
An adapter merely allows one plug to be used with another.
A converter changes electricity from one voltage (in this case 220) to another (120).
Read your documentation (or look carefully at the item) for each item.
Jul 3rd, 2006, 06:35 AM
#4
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I do believe all of western Europe (on the continent) uses the 2 round prong plug:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=2104181
http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=2104181
Jul 3rd, 2006, 07:06 AM
#5
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I don't carry anything anymore if it can't be recharged directly on 220 volts, without needing a 220-110 stepdown transformer. When I bought a new electric razor a while back, I rejected any razor that could only be recharged on 110 volts.
I still have to carry the recharging "bricks" that drop the wall voltage down to the DC recharging levels each device needs (for our two cameras, cell phone, and PDA). But it's possible that these could all be replaced by a "Universal Synch Charger", although I have no experience with it yet. See:
http://www.mpowerproducts.com/
Although it's not obvious from the web page, their "Travel Adapter" (click on "Car / Travel Adapters" at the left) can be plugged in to 110 or 220 Volts, 50-60 Hz.
- Larry
I still have to carry the recharging "bricks" that drop the wall voltage down to the DC recharging levels each device needs (for our two cameras, cell phone, and PDA). But it's possible that these could all be replaced by a "Universal Synch Charger", although I have no experience with it yet. See:
http://www.mpowerproducts.com/
Although it's not obvious from the web page, their "Travel Adapter" (click on "Car / Travel Adapters" at the left) can be plugged in to 110 or 220 Volts, 50-60 Hz.
- Larry
Jul 22nd, 2006, 03:39 PM
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I think that Robespierre has answered my question but after "an incident" in Spain a few years back... I'm a bit more nervous about not having the right thing with me in Italy.
I have a brand spanking new Pentax Optio T10 and the manual says...
"The battery charger supplied with the camera is designed to switch automatically to the voltage (100 - 240V) and fequency (50HZ, 60HZ) of the electricity supply in the country where used. Take an appropriately shaped adapter plug with you." I think that the "Universal Grounded Adapter for Continental Europe Model: GUB | Catalog #: 273-1452" from Radio Shack will do the trick. Can someone help me confirm that this is all I need? http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...1&tab=features
I have a brand spanking new Pentax Optio T10 and the manual says...
"The battery charger supplied with the camera is designed to switch automatically to the voltage (100 - 240V) and fequency (50HZ, 60HZ) of the electricity supply in the country where used. Take an appropriately shaped adapter plug with you." I think that the "Universal Grounded Adapter for Continental Europe Model: GUB | Catalog #: 273-1452" from Radio Shack will do the trick. Can someone help me confirm that this is all I need? http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...1&tab=features
Jul 22nd, 2006, 05:13 PM
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You could use that one, but you need even LESS than that. Assuming everything you need to plug in has only two prongs (usually the case), you don't need a grounded adapter like the one you specified. A simple two-prong, UN-grounded adapter will do. You can get these in Radio Shack, but also in various travel stores that sell luggage and other travel supplies.
I also bring an ordinary US three-way splitter. I plug in the adapter, and then plug the splitter into that. This gives me three US-style outlets from which to charge several things at once, if need be. I charge a razor, my camera, Margie's camera, PDA, and cell phone, but I don't have to do ALL of them each night.
- Larry
I also bring an ordinary US three-way splitter. I plug in the adapter, and then plug the splitter into that. This gives me three US-style outlets from which to charge several things at once, if need be. I charge a razor, my camera, Margie's camera, PDA, and cell phone, but I don't have to do ALL of them each night.
- Larry
Jul 25th, 2006, 03:03 PM
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I'd like to ask about the outlets themselves (in European hotel rooms, esp. France/Netherlands)
Bathroom - shaver outlets:
Are these strictly for 'low wattage' devices?
If the device doesn't generate heat, it is probably a low-wattage item? (cell phone charger, IPAQ charger...)
Room wall outlets:
Are these strictly for 'high wattage' devices?
I have a Zelco travel coffeepot - dual-voltage (don't know the wattage, not at home right now). Is it likely to require a regular wall outlet, not the bathroom/shaver outlet? If is should be more than 50 watts, that makes it a 'high wattage' device, yes?
thanks.
Bathroom - shaver outlets:
Are these strictly for 'low wattage' devices?
If the device doesn't generate heat, it is probably a low-wattage item? (cell phone charger, IPAQ charger...)
Room wall outlets:
Are these strictly for 'high wattage' devices?
I have a Zelco travel coffeepot - dual-voltage (don't know the wattage, not at home right now). Is it likely to require a regular wall outlet, not the bathroom/shaver outlet? If is should be more than 50 watts, that makes it a 'high wattage' device, yes?
thanks.
Jul 27th, 2006, 06:42 PM
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Travelnut, I see nobody has answered your last posting, so I'll take a crack at it (although you really seem to have it figured out pretty well).
I'm an electrical engineer, but not really an expert on outlets in Europe. All outlets everywhere have a circuit-breaker (or, in older circuits, a fuse) to protect them from overload. A typical group of outlets in a room in the US will be limited to 20 amps of current, after which the circuit breaker will open. That means that all the outlets together will supply 110 volts times 20 amps = 2200 watts of power. At 220 volts, you only need to draw 10 amps to get 2200 watts. A typical hair dryer is in the 1200 - 1800 watt range. In contrast, my electric razor charger draws about 7 watts, and my cell phone charger about half a watt.
You're correct in saying that you can judge the power of a device by how much heat it generates. All the power taken from the wall eventually ends up as heat. The Zelco coffee pot, designed to boil water in a reasonable amount of time, clearly must be a high-power device.
I have seen low-wattage bathroom outlets in both the US and Europe. These are evidently fused at a lower current than typical outlets, so that plugging a hair dryer into one will open the breaker. I'm not sure why this is done - it doesn't really make them any less of a shock hazard. I've always assumed it's to keep electricity costs down by preventing people from using hair dryers, but then some of those same hotel rooms provide their own built-in hair dryers. Perhaps they consider guest-provided hair dryers used near the sink to be a shock hazard. In any event, the only reason I know they are low-wattage is because there is a label that says "For use for razors only", or some such thing.
Modern US bathrooms are required to provide Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters, as well. These usually have TEST and RESET buttons on them. They are like circuit breakers, but they also monitor the circuit to be sure that all the current that goes out one wire is coming back on the other. If any of the current is shunted off to somewhere else (for example, through someone's body to a grounded faucet), the disparity is detected, and the circuit is cut off rapidly, before the person can be electrocuted.
The site recommended above by Robespierre is a good one for general information. These days, most low-power devices will accept either 110V, 60Hz (US) or 220V, 50Hz (Europe), without having to be switched. This is due to advances in low-cost, high-voltage semiconductors. This includes cell phones, cameras, razors, computers, PDAs, and so on. But read the specs before you buy, to be sure. When I last bought an electric razor in the US, I did find a few that would work only on 110 volts. I rejected those, regardless of any other merits they might have had. I fail to see any reason any more to carry a converter for low-powered devices.
On the high-power side, most devices don't switch automatically, but you have to throw a switch on those that are dual voltage. Be careful to have the switch in the right position, or you could burn it out. High-powered converters are expensive and heavy, so I don't see any reason to carry those either. It's cheaper and easier to just carry a dual-voltage hair dryer (or coffee pot, or iron).
By making sure everything you bring is dual-voltage, one way or another (automatic or switchable), there's no need for a converter.
- Larry
I'm an electrical engineer, but not really an expert on outlets in Europe. All outlets everywhere have a circuit-breaker (or, in older circuits, a fuse) to protect them from overload. A typical group of outlets in a room in the US will be limited to 20 amps of current, after which the circuit breaker will open. That means that all the outlets together will supply 110 volts times 20 amps = 2200 watts of power. At 220 volts, you only need to draw 10 amps to get 2200 watts. A typical hair dryer is in the 1200 - 1800 watt range. In contrast, my electric razor charger draws about 7 watts, and my cell phone charger about half a watt.
You're correct in saying that you can judge the power of a device by how much heat it generates. All the power taken from the wall eventually ends up as heat. The Zelco coffee pot, designed to boil water in a reasonable amount of time, clearly must be a high-power device.
I have seen low-wattage bathroom outlets in both the US and Europe. These are evidently fused at a lower current than typical outlets, so that plugging a hair dryer into one will open the breaker. I'm not sure why this is done - it doesn't really make them any less of a shock hazard. I've always assumed it's to keep electricity costs down by preventing people from using hair dryers, but then some of those same hotel rooms provide their own built-in hair dryers. Perhaps they consider guest-provided hair dryers used near the sink to be a shock hazard. In any event, the only reason I know they are low-wattage is because there is a label that says "For use for razors only", or some such thing.
Modern US bathrooms are required to provide Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters, as well. These usually have TEST and RESET buttons on them. They are like circuit breakers, but they also monitor the circuit to be sure that all the current that goes out one wire is coming back on the other. If any of the current is shunted off to somewhere else (for example, through someone's body to a grounded faucet), the disparity is detected, and the circuit is cut off rapidly, before the person can be electrocuted.
The site recommended above by Robespierre is a good one for general information. These days, most low-power devices will accept either 110V, 60Hz (US) or 220V, 50Hz (Europe), without having to be switched. This is due to advances in low-cost, high-voltage semiconductors. This includes cell phones, cameras, razors, computers, PDAs, and so on. But read the specs before you buy, to be sure. When I last bought an electric razor in the US, I did find a few that would work only on 110 volts. I rejected those, regardless of any other merits they might have had. I fail to see any reason any more to carry a converter for low-powered devices.
On the high-power side, most devices don't switch automatically, but you have to throw a switch on those that are dual voltage. Be careful to have the switch in the right position, or you could burn it out. High-powered converters are expensive and heavy, so I don't see any reason to carry those either. It's cheaper and easier to just carry a dual-voltage hair dryer (or coffee pot, or iron).
By making sure everything you bring is dual-voltage, one way or another (automatic or switchable), there's no need for a converter.
- Larry
Jul 28th, 2006, 04:32 AM
#13
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Aha! Thanks, AlanRow, for that explanation. Now it makes sense. So it is indeed done for safety reasons, for outlets near water and a lot of grounds (that is, the plumbing).
So using a transformer is an alternate (and low-tech) approach to the perhaps more expensive GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter). A transformer is also capable of acting as a converter at the same time, so that from a 220V source, both a 220V outlet and a 110V outlet can be provided.
But to keep the transformer small, the maximum current it carries has to be limited, hence it is for low-wattage devices only.
Thanks.
- Larry
So using a transformer is an alternate (and low-tech) approach to the perhaps more expensive GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter). A transformer is also capable of acting as a converter at the same time, so that from a 220V source, both a 220V outlet and a 110V outlet can be provided.
But to keep the transformer small, the maximum current it carries has to be limited, hence it is for low-wattage devices only.
Thanks.
- Larry
Jul 28th, 2006, 07:11 AM
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Robespierre,
How did you manage to display a small, superscript "1" in your post?
I've played with various HTML tags, and found that only a few of them work (bold, italic, and underline. Most others to not work, including <sup>superscript</sup>, <sub>subscript</sub>, and <center>Center</center>.
One seems to be able to insert various special symbols, like the extended ASCII codes, but I can't figure out which ones work and which don't, and I can't locate the small superscripts in Word.
How'd you do it? It improves the readability.
I've found the help file on how to add emoticons, at http://www.fodors.com/forums/smileys/. But I don't know where that is linked to from the main page (it's not in the faq, that I can find), and I can't find any similar help file on HTML tags.
- Larry
How did you manage to display a small, superscript "1" in your post?
I've played with various HTML tags, and found that only a few of them work (bold, italic, and underline. Most others to not work, including <sup>superscript</sup>, <sub>subscript</sub>, and <center>Center</center>.
One seems to be able to insert various special symbols, like the extended ASCII codes, but I can't figure out which ones work and which don't, and I can't locate the small superscripts in Word.
How'd you do it? It improves the readability.
I've found the help file on how to add emoticons, at http://www.fodors.com/forums/smileys/. But I don't know where that is linked to from the main page (it's not in the faq, that I can find), and I can't find any similar help file on HTML tags.
- Larry
Jul 28th, 2006, 07:19 AM
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Thank you for your extensive comments, 'justretired'...
The Zelco has the switch to change currency, we have the adapter plugs, and it sounds like I should find a wall outlet for it, and -not- use the bathroom outlet.
The Zelco has the switch to change currency, we have the adapter plugs, and it sounds like I should find a wall outlet for it, and -not- use the bathroom outlet.
Jul 28th, 2006, 07:27 AM
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Thanks (that was fast!)
I'll play with this some more.
I find I can change the text color with a FONT tag, but can't change the size, with a <font face="+1">, for instance.
It would be nice if there were some faq telling us what we can and can't do, instead of having to find it out experimentally.
- Larry
I'll play with this some more.
I find I can change the text color with a FONT tag, but can't change the size, with a <font face="+1">, for instance.
It would be nice if there were some faq telling us what we can and can't do, instead of having to find it out experimentally.
- Larry
Aug 1st, 2006, 05:25 PM
#19
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Robespierre, thanks for correcting my error in using <font face> instead of <font size>.
This exchange made me interested in the sort of formatting that is permitted on Fodor's, and also on the various ways of encoding special characters. Many features are available, such as italics, bold, underline, and colors. In addition, a great many special characters can be used, such as accented characters (é, ä, ñ, and so on), currency symbols (€, £, etc.), and many others.
I've put up a web page outlining many of the things that can be done. If you're interested, you can see it at:
http://lkrakauer.home.comcast.net/tags.htm
To let people know about this, I posted a thread about it with a more explanatory title than "adapters". It's at:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...2&tid=34846591
- Larry
This exchange made me interested in the sort of formatting that is permitted on Fodor's, and also on the various ways of encoding special characters. Many features are available, such as italics, bold, underline, and colors. In addition, a great many special characters can be used, such as accented characters (é, ä, ñ, and so on), currency symbols (€, £, etc.), and many others.
I've put up a web page outlining many of the things that can be done. If you're interested, you can see it at:
http://lkrakauer.home.comcast.net/tags.htm
To let people know about this, I posted a thread about it with a more explanatory title than "adapters". It's at:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...2&tid=34846591
- Larry
