The Best Voltage Converters for Your French Vacation
Ah, April in Paris! While you're packing your lightweight cardigan sweater for those spring evenings and the umbrella for the April showers, be sure to tuck in a travel voltage converter so you'll be able to use your personal appliances and consumer electronics while you're overseas. If you forget, you may find yourself resorting to drying your hair over the washroom hand-blower or rummaging around a Paris shop trying to find a second-hand razor or a replacement cell phone.
Electricity in France
In Europe, electrical outlets deliver electricity at 230 to 240V, about twice the voltage that you'll find in the United States. This is important because electrical equipment such as your hair dryer or coffee maker, and consumer electronics, including your cell phone charger and your PDA, are designed to use electricity within a particular voltage range. If the voltage is too low, they won't work at all. If it's too high, the electrical current can burn out the circuits in your machine and ruin your equipment. Unless your electric shaver or hairdryer is designed for use with a system that delivers current up to 240V, all you'll get when you plug it into the wall in your hotel room is a puff of smoke and fzzzt sound.
Voltage Transformers
The trick to using your own consumer electronics and hair dryers and shavers is a voltage converter or voltage transformer. The small, usually plastic device, throttles the current between the wall outlet and your appliance. There are many different kinds of converters available, so be sure that you get one that converts the 220V from the wall outlet to 110V your consumer electronics can use. You'll want a step-down converter, which will take the higher voltage supplied by the outlet and transform it to the lower voltage that your PDA, hair dryer, coffee maker or other electronic item can use.
Check the label on your computer and cell phone charger cord as well, to be sure that they'll accept voltages of 110 volts to 220 volts. Consumer electronics, such as laptop computers, digital cameras and cell phones, often have a charger with a built-in transformer. If yours doesn't accept current up to 220V or 240V, you'll need an external transformer in order to charge it overseas.
Differences in Plugs
Besides the difference in voltage, you'll also have to contend with differences in plug configuration. In the U.S., most electrical plugs have either two flat prongs, or two flat prongs and one cylindrical prong for grounding. You won't be able to plug these into French wall outlets, which are designed to accept plugs with two cylindrical prongs.
The solution to that problem is an adapter. You can buy an adapter specifically meant for plugging a U.S. electrical plug into a French two-prong outlet, but it may make more sense to buy a kit that comes with multiple adapters so that you can use your electronics in other countries as well.
Keep in mind that an adapter is not a converter. It will allow you to plug your shaver or hair dryer into the wall, but it won't do anything to reduce the voltage, which means your hair dryer or other electrical appliance is liable to just burn out. You'll need both an adapter and a converter to use your electrical appliances and electronics overseas.
In many cases, you can buy both a voltage converter and a multi-country adapter set together as a kit, at very reasonable prices. Even the best travel converters for electronics run less than $50, which is a small price to pay for the convenience of using your own appliances and electronics throughout your trip.
Electricity in France
In Europe, electrical outlets deliver electricity at 230 to 240V, about twice the voltage that you'll find in the United States. This is important because electrical equipment such as your hair dryer or coffee maker, and consumer electronics, including your cell phone charger and your PDA, are designed to use electricity within a particular voltage range. If the voltage is too low, they won't work at all. If it's too high, the electrical current can burn out the circuits in your machine and ruin your equipment. Unless your electric shaver or hairdryer is designed for use with a system that delivers current up to 240V, all you'll get when you plug it into the wall in your hotel room is a puff of smoke and fzzzt sound.
Voltage Transformers
The trick to using your own consumer electronics and hair dryers and shavers is a voltage converter or voltage transformer. The small, usually plastic device, throttles the current between the wall outlet and your appliance. There are many different kinds of converters available, so be sure that you get one that converts the 220V from the wall outlet to 110V your consumer electronics can use. You'll want a step-down converter, which will take the higher voltage supplied by the outlet and transform it to the lower voltage that your PDA, hair dryer, coffee maker or other electronic item can use.
Check the label on your computer and cell phone charger cord as well, to be sure that they'll accept voltages of 110 volts to 220 volts. Consumer electronics, such as laptop computers, digital cameras and cell phones, often have a charger with a built-in transformer. If yours doesn't accept current up to 220V or 240V, you'll need an external transformer in order to charge it overseas.
Differences in Plugs
Besides the difference in voltage, you'll also have to contend with differences in plug configuration. In the U.S., most electrical plugs have either two flat prongs, or two flat prongs and one cylindrical prong for grounding. You won't be able to plug these into French wall outlets, which are designed to accept plugs with two cylindrical prongs.
The solution to that problem is an adapter. You can buy an adapter specifically meant for plugging a U.S. electrical plug into a French two-prong outlet, but it may make more sense to buy a kit that comes with multiple adapters so that you can use your electronics in other countries as well.
Keep in mind that an adapter is not a converter. It will allow you to plug your shaver or hair dryer into the wall, but it won't do anything to reduce the voltage, which means your hair dryer or other electrical appliance is liable to just burn out. You'll need both an adapter and a converter to use your electrical appliances and electronics overseas.
In many cases, you can buy both a voltage converter and a multi-country adapter set together as a kit, at very reasonable prices. Even the best travel converters for electronics run less than $50, which is a small price to pay for the convenience of using your own appliances and electronics throughout your trip.
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