Question for my wise and expert friends

[glenatron]

I'm thinking about my camera and my little netbook computer and it occurs to me that their battery chargers and mains adapters are not going to be designed for American electricity, which tastes different from good old English electrics ( or something - I'm not absolutely clear on the technicalities) and may cause indigestion or not working.

Am I right? Will I need to get chargers that play nice with a 110v supply or will I be able to get by with the ones I have? How can I check?

Comments

[wldhrsjen3.livejournal.com]

Erm, I'm pretty sure you'll need new adapters, but I'll ask my husband this afternoon. He's the one that knows about this stuff - I just plug things in and cross my fingers. ;P

[littlesnowy.livejournal.com]

Read what it says on the transformer, a lot of them (some of them) say something like

230 V to ?? / 110 V to ??

Cos they've been set up to work with either, oddly enough my electric razor has this function.

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

Very wise. If you have a beard in America they arrest you for terrorist offences and rendition you extraordinarily.

[z111.livejournal.com]

Do you have a beard?

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

I wish!

I would look awesome with facial hair, but my chin is reluctant to grow more than the most pathetic of bumfluff.

Obviously, I'd have to shave before visiting the US...

[z111.livejournal.com]

No turbans either

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

Damn it! They're determined to ruin all my fun!

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

Good tip- looks like both will work from 100-240V at 50-60hz, so I'll just need different plugs/adapters rather than different chargers.

[ownedbyhorses.livejournal.com]

I would expect you need adapters - but I will check with hubby who is the computer programmer and post back to you.

He took his laptop to England the year before last and used it but I think he had an adaptor. Also, his company does a lot of overseas business and travel so I expect someone will know.

[greenwinae.livejournal.com]

I bought an adapter, but it turned out that I didn't need it; my laptop automatically adjusted itself. Definitely look on the transformer or the machine, and see if it says 110V / 220V (or whatever). Sometimes there is a little switch that you can flip to change between the two, sometimes they will automatically switch themselves.

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I think I'm OK - it looks like both adapters say "100-240V" so I'm guessing they'll cope with US mains voltages as well...

[kittyfantastico.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if your plug will even fit the sockets in North America. The American plug sockets are similar to those in Canada - and I needed an adaptor to use my laptop in the UK (as you'll remember, no doubt).

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

Certainly it will need an adapter to go from a three-pin to a two-pin plug, but I was wondering more about the change in voltage, which looks like it will be ok...

[penella22.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I am no help in this area. Glad others could straighten you out before your travels.

[z111.livejournal.com]

When I was in the UK, I only had a plug adapter. But I don'tknow if I had anything that needed transformers.