How to Choose Voltage Converters for Your Travel Needs
If you travel for business or pleasure, you may have been warned that you can’t use your electronics or electrical appliances overseas. Because electrical standards differ from one region to another, appliances and devices designed to operate in one region may not work if you plug them into the outlet in another region. Voltage converters and voltage transformers convert the electricity from the outlet so that your electrical item will work without being damaged.
It seems pretty straightforward until you actually start shopping for converters or transformers. Then you’ll find yourself confronted with watts, amps, volts, hertz and cycles. You’ll have to make decisions about whether you need a step up converter, a step down converter, a converter or voltage transformer, how many watts you’ll need, whether you need to worry about cycles or… it goes on and on.
Take a deep breath. It’s not as hard as it looks. Here are some simple rules and calculations that will help you choose the right electrical device for your electronics.
Step Up or Step Down?
There are two basic standards of electricity delivery in the world. North America and a few other parts of the world deliver electricity from the outlet at 110-120 volts. The rest of the world delivers electricity from the outlet at 220-240 volts. If you look at the back or bottom of your electrical device, you’ll find a label that tells you if it needs 110v or 220v current. If your device is 110v and the electrical outlet is 220v, you need a step down converter. If your device is 220v and the outlet is 110v, you need a step up converter. Or, to put it more simply, if your country uses 110v and you’re traveling, you probably need a step up converter. If your country uses 220v, you probably need a step down converter.
Voltage Converter or Voltage Transformer?
Voltage converters and voltage transformers both change the voltage of the electricity from the outlet, but they do it in different ways. Converters change the voltage by essentially chopping it in half. That works fine if you’re powering an appliance like a hair dryer or an electric fan. Consumer electronics like laptops, cell phones and other things that rely upon electrical circuit boards need the voltage to be transformed in a different way. If the device you’re powering up is powered by electrical circuit boards, a voltage converter could damage it. In that case, you need a voltage transformer.
Voltage converters only work with electrical appliances. Voltage transformers work with any electrical or electronic device. If you’re not sure which one you need, choose a voltage transformer.
The Smart Choice
These days, you can buy step up and step down voltage converter transformers – nifty all-in-one devices that do it all, often completely automatically. You just plug them into the wall and plug your devices into the voltage converter and everything works the way it’s supposed to.
A Note About Wattage
The other decision you have to make is how much wattage your voltage converter should be able to handle. In this case, more is usually better. You can never have too much wattage capacity, but you can certainly have too little.
To estimate what you need, check the labels on the backs of the devices you want to plug in at the same time. Add up the wattages listed. Add another 25% for a safety margin. That’s how many watts the voltage converters you’re considered should be able to handle.
If you travel with your electrical/electronic devices, voltage converters can make your life much easier. You’ll find some great deals on voltage converters and voltage transformers if you shop online.
Chris Robertson is an author of Majon International, one of the world’s MOST popular internet marketing companies on the web.
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