I’m going to Ireland in a few months and I’m concerned about the difference in power between there and the USA.
Ireland & UK use 230v 50hz 3 square pins type outlet.
USA uses 120v 60hz 2 (or 3) prongs.
What specifically info can you give me about using electricity over there?
From what I can tell if I’m using a device where the power is supply rated for 100 - 240 V, I’m OK as far as using the device; but I still need to locate the correct power cord to use. Is this correct? i.e. my laptop, or CPAP charger is two pieces. 1) the converter that plugs into the laptop, and 2) the power cord that plugs into the wall and into the converter. Will I just be able to find a replacement cord for the UK style outlet? If so, where? I’ve Googled around; but since I don’t specifically know how to specify the cord style at the converter end, I’m not able to find what I’m looking for.
What about USB style charged things like my cell phones, or my tablet, that just come with a power cord that plugs into the wall with no conversion? I know you can buy converters, but from what I have read, you shouldn’t leave something plugged in overnight for example.
Rather than buying a replacement power cord, you should be able to just buy a plug adapter. The power cord from the AC adapter plugs into the plug adapter, and the plug adaper plugs into the wall. The adapter shouldn’t cost more than a few dollars and available many places. (You can buy a kit of plug adapters for various countries if you travel a lot.)
So if I understand this correctly though; this doesn’t change the current from the wall, right? But since my power supply is rated for up to 220, I’ll be OK since the convert changes it? Does the same apply for cell phones, etc.? Now that I typed that out, I think I answered my own question… which is that I just need to look at the phone charger part that plugs into the wall and see what voltage it’s rated for.
Of course now that I’ve posted this, I’m also finding out a lot more information.
I don’t think I fully appreciated the distinction between a converter and an adapter.
Correct me if I’m wrong:
A converter reduces the voltage to 120v, allowing equipment to operate at the voltage for which it was designed. However I’ve read that converters don’t alter the frequency of the electricity so they should only be used 1-2 hours at a time.
An adapter doesn’t change the power, it just simply allows my american plug to fit into a UK/Ireland plug. This, of course, can only be used with devices that are rated for voltage in the 110/220 range.
Yes, as you already found out, your cell phone/laptop chargers have 99% chances of working fine on 240V. Just check them, it will be written on them (you are looking for something like Input: 110-240VAC).
Electric toothbrush or hair dryer will frequently be 110V only so double check is you have any device like that.
Rather than getting a UK adapter, just get one of those (or that one). It will work everywhere that I can think of and it provides 2 USB ports for charging your phone/tablet (very convenient in my experience).
Things with motors will care somewhat about the frequency, and so using them at the wrong frequency might cause them to run a little slower. This might be bad for them, and might mean they don’t work as well.
Many clocks will care a lot about the frequency, and will run slow by the same factor as the frequencies (thus, for instance, an American clock plugged into Irish power will advance only 50 minutes in an hour). So don’t even bother bringing a plug-in clock, as getting it to work right will be far more hassle than it’s worth.
Pretty much anything else at all, though, won’t care about the frequency at all.
The above posters are correct. You need to get an adapter with Irish (UK?) prongs and a socket for North American devices. One of those breakout three-to-one plugs is also useful. We’ve charged everything - iPhones and iPads, cameras and their batteries, AA’s, even used a laptop. All work fine on 240V with the plug adapter - Egypt, England, Australia, China, France, Italy - just needed a different shaped adapter for different areas of the world.
I have only blown up two things with 240V. On was a AA battery charger, I didn’t read the fine print on the back, it was only rated for 120V (more than 10 years ago). the other was a hair dryer, we didn’t push the switch all the way over to the 240V setting. SO just read the fine print on the devices and be sure it says up to 240V.
Another warning - if you have iPhones or iPads; there are two types of chargers from Apple. There’s the small ones, about an inch cube with flat ends, and the rounded ones, about 2 inches by 1.5 by 1 inch, with the flip-closed power prongs. The small one is erratic at 240V - half the time it does not work. I had to keep unplugging it and plugging it back in until it registered as charging.
Very few people use synchronous motor clocks these days. However, some digital clocks will use the AC power sine wave as their time base, and some will use a crystal oscillator as their time base. The ones that use the AC sine wave as their time base will not keep accurate time in places that have a different AC line frequency. The ones that use their own oscillator generally don’t care about the line frequency and aren’t affected by it.
If you are using a mini-USB plug into your device, it doesn’t matter what the wall-output voltage is. The only thing you need to know is what the plug configuration is in the country you are plugging into.
Ireland uses a type that is not compatible with a plug that is used in USA or Europe. Here is a chart of all countries’ configurations: