Travel Adaptors

They are sold right here on this website. Click the "travel Store" tab on the top of this page.

As a warning Nicki, an adapter plug can be fine, but make sure you are not trying to get a power converter to work with your hair straightener. If you need one to work with your camera battery charger then that's fine, but power converters are not recommended for use with high-wattage devices like hair straighteners and hair dryers. If you do use them, they can heat up too much and cause a fire. All power converters that I have seen come with this warning on them.

Before you do buy anything other than a plug adapter, make sure you read the device to see if you even need to get a power adapter for it. Take a look at your device and usually there is a sticker on the plug or part of the cable that will say something like "100-250v". If it says this, then it will work fine on the European outlets (again, so long as you have the proper plug for it).

You can find power converters that will handle high-wattage appliances like hair straighteners and dryers. Check the wattage on yours (maybe 1200 watts?) then look for one that will handle that wattage. Some places sell separate adapters for low and high wattage devices....some sell one that will cope with both, altho they're usually quite a bit more expensive. But as Steven notes, if your appliances already say 100-240 volts (or similar) then all you need is an adapter plug. Britain's is far different than the rest of continental Europe's.

Nicki - this link pertains to power in Italy but it will give you idea of what you may face in London, Amsterdam, and Spain... CLICK HERE

Nicki,

Youll definitely need Plug Adapters to use your North American appliances in Europe. Youll need to buy both the UK style (large rectangular pins) and the Euro style (two small round pins). I normally travel with at least two of each type. You can purchase Plug Adapters from Rick`s Travel Store, Magellans, Source stores and many travel & luggage stores.

Its possible that your Camera Charger will be designed for "world" operation, but its VERY important that you verify this! Check the "Input Voltage" - if it states "100-240 VAC", then the product will work just fine in Europe.

Your Hair Straightener is another matter. As its a high wattage appliance, youll need an appropriate Voltage Converter to operate on 220 VAC electrical systems. There are some Hair Appliances that are designed for dual-voltage operation, but it`s likely that your straightener is 115 VAC only.

You might have a look at dual-voltage hair appliances at www.magellans.com (they have a fairly good selection). Magellans also offers a dual-mode auto switching Voltage Converter which provides both Transformer conversion for electronic products as well as solid-state conversion for high wattage appliances.

Hope this helps. Happy travels!

How exepensive are hair straighteners? Could you just buy one over there that is meant to be used in Europe? You could probably sell it on e-bay when you get home.

That is probably a good idea just to buy one when I get over there, it seems to be a bit of a mission to make sure you have all the right converters, voltage etc...

My main concern though, is charging my digital camera battery, because it's a lithium and the camera does not take double A batteries.

Does anyone have any suggestions for what I should use for the camera battery?
Thanks for all of your replies, very helpful!

You can buy lithium batteries in Europe. Lithium batteries last a long time. I wouldn't bother with recharging them.

Even the kind that are all in one? It's not two separate batteries, it's one.

However you recharge your camera battery here do it the same way there. Most likely, the recharger is a universal voltage, it should say 110-240 V. If not, get a voltage convertor which can also convert the voltage for your hair straightener. Is it one of those cameras that uses the USB port to download photos and recharge at the same time?

As you should know, all of Europe uses the two round prongs, so you need an adapter as well.

Sounds like your camera uses a CR-V3 size battery? In other words, it looks a bit like two AA batteries that are fused together? If so, I've had good luck buying those in camera stores in Europe. But you probably won't find them in a grocery store there. They last quite a long time, so if you were to buy 3 or 4 of them at home and bring them to Europe, you'll probably never need to buy one there.

Nicki,

To reiterate my earlier post, you NEED to check the input voltage specifications on your Camera Charger!!! I'm assuming that your Camera uses proprietary Lithium-Ion Batteries, rather than disposable Lithium, so these will need to be recharged.

If you could post some further information on your Camera brand/model and the charger specifications, it would sure help. It's possible that you will only need an inexpensive Plug Adaptor to charge your Camera batteries when in Europe.

Cheers!

All of continental Europe uses two round pins. The UK is totally different. Also, northern Europe (NE, BE, FR, DE, AT) use a plug with two 4.8mm diam. pins. Those won't fit in Switzerland or Italy. They use 4.0mm diam pins. The 4.0mm pins also work in No. Europe.

Hello...My camera is a Panasonic Lumix, 10.1 Megapixels nand 4.1 optical zoom. Uses one sole lithium battery, which charges. As for charging specifications, not sure what exactly you are looking for? I tried looking it up in the manuel, but wasn't sure what to put. Hopefully this can give some type of info regarding to what type of adaptor, converter or whatever I need!

Thanks! :)

Nicki,

Look on the "charging cube" or the part that connects to the AC outlet. There will be some specifictions for "Input Voltage" listed on it (possibly on the bottom). If these spec's indicate "100-240 VAC, 50/60 Hz." then the Charger is designed for "world" operation, and you'll only need an inexpensive Plug Adaptor for use in Europe (NOTE that the UK and mainland Europe use different Plug Adaptors).

If the spec's state "115 VAC, 60 Hz." then the product is only designed for use on North American electrical systems. For use in Europe you'll need both a Plug Adaptor AND a Transformer-based Voltage Converter.

I'm not too familiar with Panasonic products as I use Canon exclusively. All of my Canon Chargers work fine in Europe with just a Plug Adaptor.

Check your Charger again, as the information is there somewhere.

Cheers!

Ken,
I looked on my charger..and it does indeed say that it is 110V-240V 50/60Hz 0.2A.

So if that means it's okay in other countries, I still need to get the proper plug in though to match the prongs in European outlets?

As for my hair straightener..I checked the voltage on this. It is 120V, 60Hz,45W.

Might need a little more for this, I take it? I am mostly concerned with the camera....I can live without the straightener.

Thanks for all your help!

Nicki,

As your Camera Charger is designed for "world" operation, you'll only need inexpensive Plug Adaptors to use that in Europe. As I mentioned before, there are different Plug Adaptors for the UK and for mainland Europe. I normally travel with at least two of each type as they're cheap. They were on sale in the Travel Store here recently for $1 each!

Regarding the Hair Straightener, I suppose you have three choices: buy a dual-voltage model when you arrive in Europe (or from Magellans or other travel store if you have time), bring your Hair Straightener from home along with a solid-state (high wattage) Voltage Converter or don't bother with it at all.

Good luck and happy travels!