Charging USB devices

There should be a small label or imprint on it that says something along the lines of "110-240v". I have an adapter that sounds similar to yours and it should work fine over there. USB chargers convert the voltage to 5v anyhow, so you are only at risk of blowing up the adapter, not the devices themselves. You will have to bring a plug adapter for the countries you are visiting though (UK or continental format).

Take note however that not all devices that use USB to charge work with those adapters. My phone works fine with mine, but my iPod does not (it won't even charge). Make sure to test charge everything before you go. Check to make sure the devices signal they are receiving a charge, otherwise you might end up with a dead iPod in Europe and no way to charge it!

I had no idea that some USB devices might not charge properly with my plug adaptor. I'll test them out at home before I go overseas -- thank you!

Laura,

Could you provide a bit of further information on the Plug Adapter you bought. I've never seen one with a USB Port, so it's difficult to offer any advice on whether this will work in England.

Most Plug Adapters are simple mechanical devices, which allow North American electrical devices to be connected to U.K. (or European) power points. The U.K. version has three large rectangular pins, while the European version has two (or three) smaller round pins.

You might want to look at These Chargers as they MAY be suitable for your purposes. You didn't provide any details on your Cell Phone or Digital Camera, so difficult to know whether these will fit with this Charger. Note that the IPod Shuffle "connects without the cable".

Regarding your Cell Phone, have you determined that it will function on GSM networks in Europe. If you're presently with Verizon or Sprint (which use CDMA technology), most will NOT work in the U.K. or Europe. If you're with AT&T or T-Mobile, your phone may work if it contains the necessary 900/1800 frequency bands.

Hope this helps.

Happy travels!

The plug adapter that I bought is for U.S. to either UK or EU. It also has a USB port built in.

Right now I have the US prongs of my adapter plugged into the wall here in California and I have my iPod Shuffle charging via the adapter's built-in USB port. It seems to be working just fine.

To answer your question, my phone is a Blackberry Pearl (T-Mobile) and my camera is a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX30 (what a fancy name for such a tiny point-and-shoot!)

Here's another question for you: When I'm searching for the mark that says "110-240v" do I look on the device itself or on its charger?

I'm so grateful to Rick Steves and to everyone who visits his site. This is my first trip out of North America and I'm very excited!

This one might be a little more in depth in regards to these technologies, so bear with me...

Pretty much all devices that have a wall charger (like a cellphone, iPod, etc) don't really care what the voltage is of the country you are charging them in. The charger however works as a transformer that converts the 110 or 240v to around 5-15v to charge the battery on the device. Pretty much anything with a USB charger on it will charge in the range of 4-6v.

So just make sure your charger is OK to work with both 110 and 240v and you will be fine around the world.

Like I said, just make sure you have the actual plug adapter and that you have tested your devices with your new charger. Our iPod and our GPS device wouldn't charge with the generic charger we bought so we had to go buy specific wall chargers for them. Even though they said they were 5v, they didn't seem to want to work with non-device specific wall chargers (i.e., we had to buy an iPod wall charger for the iPod). It was kind of disappointing that we had to buy all these chargers, but I have yet to find a 'magic bullet' to take care of all my devices' charging needs.

You camera, unless it uses USB to charge (which I have not seen in a long while) likely has it's own external charger. It SHOULD bet compliant with both voltages, but just check on the back of it to make sure it is both 110-240v so you don't kill it.

Blackberry should be fine, the charge off USB or their wall charger so that means they are definitely down stepping the voltage to around 5v . Once again, just verify the wall charger or try testing the generic charger you bought.

During our trip this summer, I tried using a generic USB-to-wall adaptor on my two iPods. The iPod Touch recharged just fine, but my new iPod Nano didn't recharge at all. So to recharge the Nano, I had to connect the iPod to a PC in the hotel lobby (using the standard USB-to-iPod cable). Then I just had to sit in the lobby for 30+ minutes to make sure that no one stole it while it was recharging.

Laura,

Thanks for the additional information. Could you provide more detail on the USB/Plug Adapter that you're using (a brand name, model no.?).

AFAIK, the T-M Blackberry Pearl should operate just fine in Europe. Be sure to check the roaming rates for both voice and data, so that you don't get any "nasty surprises" when you return home (the roaming data rates can be especially steep!). Also, be sure to contact T-M to tell them you'll be roaming. When you land, you may have to do a network search as the phone will default to the home frequencies it was using at the time you turned it "off".

The DMC-FX30 is indeed a small Camera! I'm not too familiar with that model, but if you don't already have one, an extra battery would be a good idea (and of course LOTS of memory).

When checking for the voltage specifications of a device, these will usually be listed on the Charger, rather than the device (the camera or whatever will indicate the power it's designed to get FROM the Charger, for example 5 VDC). On the Charger (cube or whatever), look for the term Input Voltage. If it says "100-240 VAC, 50/60 Hz", this is designed for travel operation.

Your reference to "handling the English voltage" was correct. The Voltage is the electrical parameter that we're concerned with in deciding whether products designed for use here can also be used in Europe. As you probably know, North America uses 120 VAC, while the U.K., Europe and other places in the world use 220 VAC.

One thing to mention - in the U.K. the power points (outlets) are controlled by a small switch right beside the outlet. If you connect your Charger and nothing happens, try the Switch. There's also a small Fuse there as well.

You may want to check the Charger for your Blackberry and Camera, as they may be designed for world op.

Your first trip outside North America - how exciting! Which parts of England will you be visiting on this particular trip?

I checked the chargers for my Blackberry and my camera and both say "110-240v" so that's good. The iPod Shuffle, however, uses a dinky little USB docking station that has nothing printed on it whatsoever. Apple says I'd need a voltage converter for the Shuffle.

And thanks for the tip about the switch next to the outlets in England. Didn't know about that and might have been a bit frustrated!

I found this online, I think it's exactly the adapter I have: Universal Plug Adapter.

(Thank you, Lee, for telling me how to make a proper link on this site!)

The format for a link is
<a href="http://www.brookstone.com/sl/product/4310-usb-charger-adapter.html">Click here</a>.

Make sure the URL is enclosed in quotation marks and includes http://.

Laura,

Thanks for the additional information on the USB Charger & Plug Adapter that you provided. I hadn't seen that product before (not sure that we have any Brookstone stores up here?). It looks like that will fit the bill for charging your IPod Shuffle.

Since the Chargers for both your Camera and Blackberry are designed for "world" operation, you might want to purchase an additional UK Plug Adapter (they only cost about $5). That way you would be able to charge both devices at the same time, and it would be a good "backup" in case of a "problem" with the Brookstone unit (such as forgetting it in the Hotel).

Cheers!