First time going to England with the RS group. Can someone please help me with the difference between an adapter and converter for the outlets there? Which one would I need, especially for charging phones with a cord?
Also, someone on another post here mentioned something about a “dual voltage hair dryer.” If I bought one here in the states, would I need an adapter or converter for that?
THANKS!!
Adapter: Just lets your plugs - the physical shapes - work with their sockets. Does not do anything to the electricity. Small, cheap, available everywhere, just little bits of plastic and metal and a tiny bit of wiring. You will want to bring one.
Converter: "Converts" THEIR (more powerful) electricity down to use our devices (without making them go "poof" with a spark and a small puff of smoke, potentially starting a fire and other Very Bad Things). Heavy, bulky, somewhat expensive, but heavy heavy heavy and usually completely unnecessary for almost all consumer electronics. It would be hard for me (and most people, I think) to justify lugging a converter around the world.
Most popular small consumer electronics (or their chargers) work fine on European electricity and usually just require an adapter for the plug. The exception to this are 1) anything very old, and 2) anything that "makes heat" - like a toaster or...hair dryers. For a phone or camera charger, you probably only need an adapter plug. If you want to microwave your lunch or bake anything (including your hair), then it gets more complicated.
I don't have enough hair to have any relevant experience with hair dryers, but I've heard that so-called "dual voltage" blow dryers may not be quite as dual-voltage as one would hope. Best to ask others about that. Be careful about plugging in anything that makes heat. Charging your phone? Knock yourself out and party on.
A phone charger, or almost any electronics you bring to Europe will have dual voltage. I don't think anyone needs a voltage converter.
Either your travel adapter will have a USB type C port (or lightning for older iphones) or it will have a USB-A port and you can use a USB-A to USB-C cable, or you can plug your American charging brick into a travel adapter. Look at the power brick for your phone. It will say 100-240V meaning it's dual voltage. That's a non-issue.
A hair dryer is a unique situation simply because a hair dryer pulls a ton of electricity from the wall. Your phone charger pulls 20-50 watts from the wall. A hair dryer can pull over 2000 watts from the wall. For that reason, it's going to require some serious hardware to handle dual voltage. If you're bringing a hair dryer to Europe (necessary? won't your hotel have one?), get a dual voltage model. You will still need a way to plug in a dual voltage hair dryer into the wall so use your US to UK or EU adapter.
The RS tour hotels will have a hair dryer for you. Do not bother bringing one from home.
This is what you will need for your phone:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MZD5T3E?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_3&th=1
Enjoy the tour.
Also, someone on another post here mentioned something about a “dual
voltage hair dryer.” If I bought one here in the states, would I need
an adapter or converter for that?
Unless you buy a dual voltage hairdryer that has a UK plug on it, yes you will need an adapter (but not a converter, as you can switch the voltage to work in the UK). I have a small dual voltage hair dryer with a US plug (similar to this https://a.co/d/7dTujYc) and it works fine at home and overseas (with adapter) and the addition of a "hot sock" I use as a diffuser for my curly hair.
As soon as you get your hotel list for your tour, do a quick search to see if they might not all have hairdryers in the rooms. Many do - but note they're often these giant wall mounted monstrosities that may or may not work for your family's hair situation. If you have high maintenance hair people in your group, best to take something that works for you. On my recent trip to London and Paris in the summer I never used my hair dryer and either used the hotel's or let my hair dry in the heat. YMMV.
I'd be cautious of a "dual voltage" hairdryer that's drawing over 9 amps at 220v. I'm not an electrician, but is technology good enough these days for a dual voltage motor of that size not to be a liability? The hairdryer suddenly letting out the smoke trapped inside with a bang and tripping RCDs sounds like a possibility to me. Maybe they're well protected against that.
During our stay in the UK, none of the bathrooms had outlets for hair dryers, curling irons etc. Those tasks needed to be completed in the bedroom. My dual voltage hair accessories worked just fine there with a plug adaptor.
I'm not sure how different a hair dryer's electricity demands might be from a curling iron, but I've used a dual voltage curling iron in England and other places in Europe with no problem. I've never stayed in a place that didn't have a dryer (although not necessarily high quality), so can't address that directly. If you're stressed about it though, maybe just buy a cheap one when you get there?
The circuitry protecting these high-draw dual voltage items may be at a level where it works great now. It's something that would have been difficult to do safely without a lot of compromise in the past. I don't use any hair styling tools so I can't speak from experience.
generally if you are not happy with a wall mounted dryer you can ask at the desk for a portable one.
It is illegal to provide a plug for or use anything needing more power than a shaver in a British bathroom. That's why in many British hotels you'll find the hair dryer in the closet or more often in the desk / dressing table drawer.
The easiest way to charge modern phones is to get a plug adapter with integral USB and / or USB-C ports. The USB will automatically deal with the voltage difference in the UK so all you need will be the right cable and you're good to go.
Hair dryers are more awkward due to the voltage difference. Adapters don't change the voltage so you would need a dual voltage hair dryer, Amazon has them but as other people have mentioned you should have one available in most hotel rooms. If you do take your own it's important to realize that they draw a significant amount of current. Many of the cheap adapters are rated at 3A or less so won't be good enough and could be dangerous. You will need to get one that is rated for a decent amount of current, I would go for 10A or so to be safe.
Some high power adapters with USB to give you an idea - https://www.travel-adaptor.com/countries/plug-adapters/us/United-Kingdom.php
For the same reason converters are not normally rated to cope with powerful appliances like a hair dryer so are not likely to be useful and you won't need one for your phone. They are really only useful for low power appliances (200W or less) that only work on 110V. Most travel appliances will work on anything from 100V - 240V.
In my last 3 trips to Europe, the only room that didn't have a hairdryer in it was in my friend's home. :-) This includes everything from apartment rentals to hotels to tiny B&Bs, individual travel and Rick Steves tours, in 7 different countries. I absolutely love my Revlon hair dryer brush, but I'm unwilling to give up that much luggage space to haul it to Europe. Maybe someone who has been on the tour might comment on the dryers available? The "weak" dryers I've experienced have been on the continent, not in England.
A basic hair dryer is very cheap somewhere like Argos in the UK, at a pinch. At least you know then it's 220-240v.
https://www.argos.co.uk/browse/health-and-beauty/hair-care/hair-dryers/c:29235/
I have a few comments as well.....
As the others have mentioned, you will require a UK Plug Adapter. I normally use grounded Plug Adapters as some of the products I travel with have a ground (earth) pin. I'd recommend taking more than one, as they're easy to misplace. One other point to note is that UK receptacles often have a switch so be sure to check for that - https://anglotopia.net/columns/dispatches-from-england/dispatches-england-thoughts-british-electrical-outlets/ .
If you think you might be travelling to the continent at some point in the future, you may want to buy a couple of European Plug Adapters as well. There are LOTS of them available, and they're not expensive - https://www.amazon.ca/Travel-Adapter-Europe/s?k=Travel+Adapter+for+Europe .
I wouldn't recommend a Voltage Converter as they can be bulky and heavy, and probably not needed. There are two methods used for voltage conversion, and the transformer method produces the cleanest sine wave. However the higher wattage models especially are VERY heavy! If you buy a dual-voltage Hair Dryer, you won't need one - https://www.amazon.ca/s?k=dual+voltage+hair+dryer . It's likely these will be provided with a North /American plug.
Most phones and other small electronic products these days are designed for multi-voltage operation from 100-240VAC, 50/60 Hz. It's prudent to verify that by checking the nameplate data which will be listed somewhere on each charger. What type of phones are you using?
I typically pack a couple of plug adapters in my carry-on, and others in my checked luggage.
It will say 100-240V meaning it's dual voltage.
No. As mentioned above, 100-240V is multi-voltage, meaning it accepts any voltage from 100V (Japan) to 240V (UK formerly, a few others). Dual voltage devices (eg, 115-230 V) have pairs heating elements designed for 115V (US). They have a means (usually a mechanical switch) to put them in parallel for 115V or series for 230V input. Be sure to move the switch to 230V before using it in Europe.
One thing to beware of with UK adapters. UK receptacles have shutters over the current-carrying contacts for safety reasons. These shutters only open when a grounding prong is inserted (why it sticks out farther than the current-carrying prongs). Some UK adapters have a plastic prong instead of a grounding metal prong. Those adapters, on the US side, should only have two slots (no opening for a round grounding pin, because it is not grounded). You should not be able to use an American "three prong" plug in it.
BTW, USB power supplies ARE voltage converters (100-240 VAC in, 5 VDC out).
