Adapter Question

It's interesting to see how many things are made to use world-wide now. I just bought a Garmin Nuvi. The end of the plug for the charger was basically blunt. It came with three diffent "plugs" to slide into the unit at the end of the cord. I can recharge this anywhere and don't even need adaptors!

You're fine. As you'll see below, I copied a partial list of "Category 1" appliances for your and I doubt your laptop would come close. (It's really large household appliances).

Go Gators!!!

EEE Category 1- Large household appliances
This list is taken from the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations. The list is not exhaustive but shows examples of the type of products included in the broader category of large household appliances.

· Large cooling appliances
· Refrigerators
· Freezers
· Other large appliances used for refrigeration, conservation and storage of food
· Washing machines
· Clothes dryers
· Dish washing machines
· Cooking
· Electric stoves
· Electric hot plates
· Microwaves
· Other large appliances used for cooking and other processing of food
· Electric heating appliances
· Electric radiators
· Other large appliances for heating rooms, beds, seating furniture
· Electric fans
· Air conditioner appliances
· Other fanning, exhaust ventilation and conditioning equipment

Thanks Frank. So I guess "personal computer" is referring to desktops. I had a moment of "oh crap!" when I first saw the notice because we are also taking our iPods and a digital camera, all of which will be charging "through" the laptop - so I just wanted to make sure that it would work.

GO GATORS!

"We bought an adapter from Target"

What do you mean by an adapter?

A plug "adapter" is a simple plastic device that connects two round pins for European receptacles with two slots for the blades of an American plug. An adapter does not change the voltage.

A voltage "converter" can be a transformer to step the voltage down from the 240V used in Europe to 120V for American appliances. To keep the size and weight down, these devices are usually limited to low power, 50W.

Another type of converter, for more than 50W, uses solid state electronics to "chop" the top off of the sine waves. Although that wave form is OK for heating devices, like hair dryers, it can damage an electronic power supply.

I suspect that your converter is for the lower wattage (50W) and only says not to use it with a personal computer because their power usage can be in the hundreds of Watts.

Since your power supply/charger indicates it can accept 240V, you don't need the voltage converter.

Lee - We bought an adapter. The power cord for my laptop has a built in converter - as do most modern electronics like laptops, cell phones, iPods, etc. Since both my cell phone and laptop have their own built in converters, I only needed a plug adapter. The adapter itself had the instructions about "not for use with Category 1 appliances". Using Frank's reply as a guide, clearly my laptop does not fit that category.

Thanks.

OK. Now I understand. Although that two round pin configuration (called a Europlug) fits in sockets all over the continent, it is ungrounded (also not polarized). Grounded plugs can be completely different depending on the country and are not interchangeable. In Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Germany, they use the modified Shuko plug, which accepts a grounding pin in France and Belgium and has grounding tabs on the side for Germany and the Netherlands. But the grounding plugs are entirely different in Italy and Switzerland.

By EU electrical codes, the ungrounded Europlug can only be used for low wattage (under 250W, I believe) applications. Hence the Category I limitations.

I will try to remember that information when we go to Italy in the summer of 2009. This trip, however, we are only going to be in Britain. The adapter is also ungrounded (I believe - looking at it). But neither my laptop nor my cell phone charger have a three pronged American plug, only a two prong one, so they should be okay from what I can tell.

Basicly, category I appliances is equipment that requires grounding. Your adapter does probably not support grounding, therefore category I appliances must not be used with it.

All the "converter" that I have seen being sold in this country for use in Europe are probably technically illegal, as are most of the dual voltage hair dryers.

They draw greater than 250W but are ungrounded.
They do not have the CE "listing" stamp.

I think if the EU wanted to be picky they could confiscate these devices at customs.

This is the best single website I know of for this topic.

Thank you Lee, for the website. Now I'm able to know the "why" of all of it. Looking at my computer charger, the manufacturer calls it an "AC Adapter". It says it can take input from 110V-240V (50Hz-60Hz) and converts it to the power that the computer needs (the cell phone cord says the same thing). I'm guessing that with the "world market", manufacturers are making the AC Adapters so that the only part they need to "change" when shipping to a specific country is the end of the plug.