A small group of us will be traveling in Germany, Northern Italy, and Paris in the fall. Any recommendations on what we will need to plug in all our electronics that we carry with us today. (Ipads, Iphones, CPap machine.)
Posted by
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
4064 posts
Google plug adapters, or go to an on-line merchant such as eBay or Amazon to find which plugs suit which countries. The plug is the only challenge for most electronic gizmos these days although I know nothing (thank goodness) about CP machines and their power requirements.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
33201 posts
Check every piece of electronics for the input voltage. There will be a plate either on the machine (the pressure machine) or the charger plug (all the electronics). See what they all say.
115v 60Hz = only usable in US and North America.
100-250v 50/60Hz = already suitable and only needs to change the shape of the plugs.
115/230v 50/60Hz = suitable and needs a switch to be changed and also have to change the shape of the plugs.
Does anything use a three prong plug?
no = all you need is an inexpensive 2 round prong adapter, available on this website and many other places. The same one will work in all three countries, France, Germany, Italy.
yes = you need grounding adapters. All three countries use a different protocol. The French and German standards are often combined on one round adapter but the Italian one is unique.
So please report back once you've checked each piece you are taking.
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19159 posts
Most electronics today run and charge with an input of 5VDC which is provided by a USB voltage converter, and almost all (if not all) of the USB converters are multi-voltage, that is, they accept any voltage from 100VAC to 240VAC (and probably outside that range as well, although no country has a voltage outside the range). In addition, instead of grounded or polarized, they are usually "double-insulated" (they show a square within a square symbol), which means you can use a simple Europlug adapter, which will plug into any receptacle in Germany, Italy, or France.
Acording to this website, most travel CPAP machines have power supplies that accept 100VAC to 240VAC, so you should only need a Europlug adapter for your CPAP as well.