Going to Italy-electircal power convertors

Qui si parla Campagnolo said:

That's rifght, lucky enough to be going to Italy in September. I have a
electircal power convertor I used in the UK. Will it work in Italy?
Power the same?

The plug's not the same, but the power is. Do you really need a power
convertor and not just a plug converter? Many cellphone/pda
chargers/laptop power supplies/shavers etc. work just fine when fed 230
instead of 115. They'd have a marking on there somewhere like "100-240V
in", rather than just "100-120".

Plug converters to allow you to plug in US or UK plugs into Italian
sockets ought to be available in plenty of places.

Jasper

Qui si parla Campagnolo said:

That's rifght, lucky enough to be going to Italy in September. I have a
electircal power convertor I used in the UK. Will it work in Italy?
Power the same?

Most power supplies work dual voltage now (iPod, laptop, cellphone,
camera battery charger) etc but make sure -- otherwise it'll get
interesting if you plug a 110V device into a 220V outlet. In either
case, you'll need plug adapters, and Italy is different from UK.

"Qui si parla Campagnolo" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

That's rifght, lucky enough to be going to Italy in September. I have a
electircal power convertor I used in the UK. Will it work in Italy?
Power the same?

Where in Italy? Bringing a bike? I think the NG would really enjoy a trip
report and maybe some photos on your website.
--
mark

Qui si parla Campagnolo said:

That's rifght, lucky enough to be going to Italy in September. I have a
electircal power convertor I used in the UK. Will it work in Italy?
Power the same?

Power is 220-240V/50Hz. As others have reported the plug adapters for
the UK will not work in Italy. Italy uses a plug that has two or three
round prongs; a two prong fits all, the third is a ground that does not
seem to be all that common. The same adapter works in France, Spain,
etc.

As others have noted, most modern electronics have power supplies
capable of 110-120/60Hz (US) or 220-240/50Hz (much of the rest of the
world). Likely you just need the plug adapter. To add what others
have said, most of the power converters only work for high draw
applications - things like hair dryers and the like. Hooking up one to
a low draw electronic device is not advised. If you have low draw
devices that do not have power supplies capable of working with
220-240/50Hz you will need a power converter but you may need to search
to find one that will work for low current draw devices.

On the positive side, most of the places we stayed in Italy on our last
two trips (2002, 2004) had at least one outlet that was 110-120V/60Hz
with the standard two spade US socket. If there was only one it was in
the bathroom. This was in rural areas as well as in the cities.

- rick