Electricty - adapter and/or converter

Do we need an electrical converter and adapter in Germany? We will be using items such as cell phone charger, ipod charger, hair dryer, curling iron and laptop computer charger.

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%26gt; cell phone charger, ipod charger and laptop computer charger

See what%26#39;s written on the power converters of these devices.

E.g. on my mobile phone charger it reads

Input: AC 100-240V 50-60Hz

Germany uses 230V at 50Hz

In this case you need only plug adapter.

%26gt; hair dryer and curling iron

There are travel versions which can be switched between 110 V and 230 V. In this case you need again just a plug adapter.

Electrical converters having enough power for these devices are not the most practical travel equipment. Mostly only the voltage is converted. For a hair dryer and curling iron the different frequency plays no role. With electronic items a different frequency may cause however problems.

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abalada is correct. If your chargers indicate they can be used within the European electrical output range, all you need is a plug adapter.

Check your laptop. Some have a switch to convert them for use in Europe. If you don%26#39;t have the switch or are simply apprehensive, you can buy a dual voltage converter, which automatically converts your charger to the local electric output. Note the word %26quot;automatically%26quot;. While you don%26#39;t need an automatic option, it%26#39;s nice not having to worry about whether or not your %26quot;appliance%26quot; takes low or high voltage to charge. The converter does the guesswork for you.

Only drawback on automatic, dual voltage converters...they are fairly expensive ($50 range?) and are a little heavy. However, they work beautifully and are very convenient. In any case, you will need a plug adapter.

Check some travel accessory web sites, i.e., TravelSmith, etc. and your laptop manual for more information.

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99.9% likely you don%26#39;t need a voltage converter for your electronic chargers: cell, iPod and laptop. Just look on the chargers, it will say 100-240 VAC. Then you will only need a plug adapter.

If your hair dryer and curling iron are not a travel version switchable to 220-240 volts, I would highly recommend you pop into a discount place here and buy those items. Lighter and cheaper than carrying around a transformer.

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Thanks for the great info! It was very helpful.

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I just got back from Berlin two weeks ago, and brought a voltage converter and adapter for my flat iron..glad I did, because without the converter my hair iron would have been toast!

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Thanks for the info about needing a converter for the flat iron. I don%26#39;t want mine to fry!