I just bought my 220 to 110 adaptor and note two things. One is that it takes only two prong plugs, and second, that the ground is plastic, mening there is no ground. Now if I want to to use this with a power strip, is it OK to simply cut off the ground prong of the plug on the power strip so it will plug in? Does European standard not use a ground? I will be using this with a laptop and Ipod.
I would get a two-prong-to-three-prong adaptor, that way if you want to use the power strip again, it will have the safety ground feature intact. It shou;d be safe, if the voltage adaptor is the sort with a step-down transformer in it, which it better be for use on electronic devices. The other type of step-down adaptor uses a device called an MOV to basically slice the top of the AC waveform off creating a pretty good approximation of a square wave with an RMS voltage of around 120 VAC. The latter type is BAD for electronics, particularly those with linear power supplies.
I also notice that this is rated at 50 amps and is designed to shut down when it overheats, and they give the time you can use it before it shuts off. Since this will happen without warning, perhaps there is a better, more long lasting adaptor than the one I just bought from Radio Shack. Anyone have any recommendations?
Did you mean 50 amps or 50 watts? Radio Shack doesn’t sell a 50-amp unit (which would be 6000 watts.) The good news is the 50-watt unit IS of the step-down transformer type, so you need not worry about your laptop, though 50 watts may be pushing it to try to run both the laptop and the iPod at once.
I don’t know the answer to the question about the ground. Presumably, no ground plug would be no worse than a plastic “plug”, but then I’m puzzled by why they would put the plastic plug on to begin with. And if your laptop has a grounded plug (it probably does), then it’s there for a reason, and you want it to be grounded.
But I can give you a word of warning: Make sure that your adaptor will work with a battery charger. Before our trip to Ireland last summer, my mom spent thirty bucks on an adaptor to use with the camcorder, only to find (after we were already in Ireland and far from any electronics stores) that it was good for ohmic loads only. Which basically means light bulbs and hair curlers, and precious little else.
I would be very surprised if the power supply for the laptop will not take 220V directly. What laptop is it and what power supply? Unless it is truly ancient it should have a switching power supply which will take botth 110 and 220 V.
As Chronos points out, you have to be very careful with the switching voltage adapters. Because of the way they work they can mess up electronics and other loads which are not purely resistive in nature.
Yes, I did indeed mean 50 watts. I will check the power supply for the laptop, but even if it is switchable will I be able to find an adaptor that will fit the wall plug that I find in Europe? And yes, it will be really pushing it since I also have powered speakers for the ipod that intend to use as my stereo while I am there. Perhaps a second adaptor is called for. Now that I think about it though, I can just use the battery power for the laptop and recharge it. I’m used to just plugging it in when I use it as a stationary computer. When the converter craps out from overheating will it be ok to put in the freezer to cool it off, or is that asking for trouble due to condensation?
European mains do use a protective ground BTW. The only devices connected without a ground lead are low-power devices whose protective measure is insulation, i.e. they must have an all-plastics case.
The best 230 to 115 V adapters are those with a built-in transformer but they are fairly heavy (I looked at a German commercial electronics supplier - the 250 VA rated type weighs 7 pounds, and the 1000 VA type 22 pounds) and expensive (114 and 234 euros + VAT, respectively - same source)).
If you’ll take only a few devices on your Europe trip it might be more economical to take devices with a wide-range power supply (that accepts both voltages, either automatically, or with a switch) or that have external power supplies that you can buy in the 230 V version.
That’ll teach me to think about two different things at once. It’s the surge suppressors that have MOVs in them. The voltage adaptors use a circuit with a triac, similar to a lamp dimmer. :smack:
Rather than just buying things you do not know are what you need you really need to understand some basic concepts before you do anything. Electric power characteristics are unrelated to mechanical characteristics of the plugs. Take your stuff to Radio Shack and tell them you want to take it to what countries in europe and they should be able to help you. World Electric Guide
As far as I know all Mac equipment comes with dual-voltage power supply as standard, especially if it’s portable equipment. I have an ancient power Mac that originated from the states, and it plugs straight into the 220V supply no problems, as does its monitor. Somewhere on the power supply is a little plaque with all the technical parameters on it - if it says: input 100-240V or similar, then all you need is a simple plug adapter (with no electronics in it) just to convert the pins that actually go into the plug socket.
On this page, scroll down to F20 plug adapter for continental Europe, or F21 plug adapter for the United Kingdom.
See also Steve Kropla’s World Electric Guide.