Which type of converter to use?
 

I will be going to the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Croatia and Slovenia in September 2006. I have a digital camera that does not use the "plain ol'" AA batteries, but a special battery that I recharge with a battery charger.

Last year for 2 weeks in Ireland I just brought 3 batteries with me and I was able to fully charge them before I went and the 3 batteries lasted me the full 2 weeks (came back with 2 fully used and 1 still had about half it's "juice" left).

Since I will be spending 4 weeks traveling in September I didn't want to purchase any more camera batteries (about $35 a pop) but I would like to bring my battery charger to recharge the 3 batteries I have.

My question is, which type of electricity converter do I need, I have the plug adapters and a converter I use for my hairdryer, but I am a bit confused when it comes to the correct converter to purchase for use with a battery charger. I don't want to "fry" my battery charger and be stuck without a camera, especially since I will be spending the last 10 days on the Dalmation Coast of Croatia and I don't want to miss any great photo ops!

Thanks for any advice you can give! :)

If the camera's charger reads "110/220V" or the like, you're good to go.

If it doesn't, your safest strategy is to buy one that does. Whether a particular converter will <u>work</u> with a particular charger or <u>kill</u> it is a very iffy proposition.

I'm thinking that there is only one 'converter' (other than 'brands').
There are many adaptor plugs, however.

This past May we were in PO/HU/CZ and recharged with ease, versus a previous trip. Lesson learned. We have rechargeable batteries, so our setup calls for a recharger hooked up to a voltage converter hooked up to a converting wall plug. The first trip, the converter wouldn't recharge because its output was in a range, for example, of 0.5W to 10W, while the recharger had a maximum draw of, say, 0.3W. When the batteries ran down, we couldn't recharge them (bought store batteries). 2nd trip, new charger, no max draw, no problem.
I may be wrong, but as long as your converter converts 220V to 110V, you can't fry the batteries; I think 50 cycle current is just &quot;slower&quot; than our 60 cycle current, not &quot;hotter&quot;.

Visit www.voltagevalet.com. It contains detailed information and may speak exactly to the questions you raise.

If the voltage converter in question is a &quot;step-down transformer,&quot; it will probably work.

If it's a &quot;switching&quot; type (also called &quot;solid state&quot;), it will either work, not work, or blow up your charger. And there's no way to tell in advance.

No one else's experience applies to your situation unless you know <u>exactly</u> what combination of converter and charger they used. Anything else is high-stakes guesswork.

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