Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Using phone chargers in other countries

This is topic Using phone chargers in other countries in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Barry Floyd (Member # 385) on 09-25-2012, 04:41 PM:

My wife is headed to Peru next week on a Mission trip and wants to take her cell phone and Kindle Fire with her. The electric power in Peru is supposedly 220 volts. Looking at the chargers for both items, the labels say they operate at 120/240volts 50/60Hz.

Does this mean she can use them there without the fear of frying them both. Now I know she'll need to pick up adapters to mate the prongs on her chargers to whatever they use down there, but will the chargers be safe? Give me your thoughts.

Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 09-25-2012, 05:02 PM:

Should be ok. My wife uses her laptop when she visits her family in Mauritius and all she needs is an adapter to make the physical plug configuration match the local receptacles.

Posted by Rick Raskin (Member # 1561) on 09-25-2012, 05:05 PM:

Done it many times in many places. Should be no problem.

Posted by Clint Koch (Member # 1179) on 09-25-2012, 05:59 PM:

Yes, they will be fine. I travel all over the world and use mine every where I go.

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 09-28-2012, 10:35 PM:

I agree with the majority but with the caveat that you should check the charger/supply to be sure that it is "universal."

Since you have already done that, I see no cause for concern.

Back when I was in tech school and universal power supplies were the latest thing, a bunch of us guys decided to put a computer through a stress test to see what it would do. We hooked the computer to a variac and a volt meter then gradually lowered the voltage until the computer crapped out.

I think we got it down to something like 84 volts before it finally died.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 10-09-2012, 08:20 AM:

+1. According to Wikipedia, Peru uses both the two common US type mains plugs (the one with a ground pin and without), plus the European (round pins) two-pin one. So it might make sense for her to take a plug adaptor in case she ends up in a part of Peru that has European-style wall sockets (that's the type of thing that you can buy for pennies on Ebay if you remember to do so before you go, but if you end up having to get one at the airport, you'll get ripped off), but she shouldn't need to worry about the voltage. I've taken several gadgets across the Atlantic over the years, and I've never had a problem with any cellphone or laptop charger in terms of the actual power supply.

The only potential problem will be with devices that use a lot of power. When my fiancee came (from California) to visit me in England a few months ago, she brought her 120v, 1.2kw hairdryer with her. We quickly discovered that we could buy four new hairdryers for the price of a voltage converter which could deliver 11 amps! But cellphone chargers are 10-12w at most, and laptop chargers 80-90w, so it isn't an issue with those.

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 10-09-2012, 08:54 AM:

quote:
We quickly discovered that we could buy four new hairdryers for the price of a voltage converter which could deliver 11 amps!

At that price difference, you could buy a new dryer, use it while you are visiting then leave it behind when you leave and still come out ahead on the balance sheet!

When my stepfather was still a general contractor, before he retired, he had the full complement of power tools and would carry them around in his truck but, on the occasional small job, a truck full of tools and supplies would be cumbersome.

You can buy cheapo power tools like a miter saw, sometimes, for under $50.00. They are small and a tabletop miter saw is a lot lighter than the full sized DeWalt, stand-up model.

For those small one-day jobs, he often bought one of those cheapos, used it until it broke then threw it away and he would still be ahead on his balance sheet.

It's kinda' weird to think like that but it is often said that we live in a throw-away society.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 10-09-2012, 11:32 AM:

A couple of years ago a friend moved with his family from Maine to California. He researched the cost, and concluded that it would be much cheaper to buy an old banger of a van at one end and get rid of it at the other, even assuming that he ended up scrapping it and not making anything on the sale, than it would to buy four plane tickets and have all his stuff shipped. Even factoring in motel stops, meals, gas (for two vehicles - him in the van and his wife in the family car driving in convoy), breakdown cover and insurance, he predicted that he'd come out about a grand ahead. In the event he was able to sell the van for only $500 less than he paid for it, and overall he reckons that he saved close to $3k doing the move that way over plane and freight. It took six days, but there again the stuff would probably have taken longer to be shipped to their new home anyway.