Travel Fundamentals: Electricity
Source: Quasimondo at flickr
When I think back to European or Asian vacations past, my biggest problem has consistently been with electricity. Laptops need to be recharged, as do digital cameras, MP3 players, toothbrushes and cell phones. For the fairer sex, there are hair dryers and straightening irons that need to work. For many of us, these electrical devices have been treading on the border between need-to-have and want-to-have.
You can’t simply ignore the problem either. Being caught without a working camera, or hair dryer, is the kind of thing that can put a damper on the first few days of your trip. And you can end up spending more than you planned on new devices, or expensive electrical solutions bought in desperation.
There are two main problems you may face :
- different voltages / frequency
- different plug sizes
If your electrical device can handle the higher voltage (and devices such as laptops do generally handle 120V-220V – check the label) , then all you need is an adapter. An adapter changes the plug type from the North American A and B types, to the European C and F sizes. Or the United Kingdom G type.
To solve the voltage problem, you generally need either a transformer, or to purchase a power cable (brick) compatible with your device.
I personally have not had much success with adapters. Even if I know my device can handle the voltage, whatever adapaters I have on hand don’t seem to work. On my last trip, I had two adapters on hand, and neither allowed my device to draw power or enough power for a full charge.
Transformers are hit and miss sometimes as well. If you are not paying attention, you can find yourself purchasing a 50 watt transformer from a retail outlet. 50 watts is enough to recharge a digital camera, but not enough to run a laptop on, or sometimes more importantly, a hair dryer. If you think about it, 50 watts is not even enough to power a single standard 60 watt light bulb. I don’t know why they sell these small transformers, but they do.
The other type of transformer I’ve seen is a 2000 watt model. This is usually sufficient for most uses. On a recent vacation however, using this transformer too much caused damage to my devices. We had an electric toothbrush that refused to recharge after only a week or two. Even my laptop power-brick was damaged beyond repair – the laptop was fine however. So I don’t understand what went wrong except that the transformer is not for regular use.
What I ended up doing is purchasing a Universal Power Supply for about 30 Euros. This cable had a European-sized plug (type C) on one end, and plugged directly into my laptop. It came with dozens of plugs to fit any type of laptop. And was adjustable for Amps.
This power supply also had a USB charger built in, so I was able to charge my MP3 player (and any USB-compatible device) without a seperate power supply. After that experience, I will never go the old transformer route again.
My wife ended up having to buy a new 220V hair dryer after many frustrating experiences trying to get hers to work. 1800 watts is a lot of power to need.
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