If your Blackberry is your lifeline and you’re planning a trip overseas, you’ll need to invest in a voltage converter to keep it properly charged. Choosing the right voltage converter can mean the difference between keeping in touch with the office back home and spending half of your vacation out of touch while you shop for a replacement.
The Scoop on Traveling with Electronics
The U.S., Europe, Asia and other parts of the world have different standards for delivering electricity. In the U.S., most household electricity comes through a 110 V outlet—that’s your standard wall outlet with two slots and, often, a third round hole. European outlets deliver electricity at higher voltage, averaging between 210 and 220 V, and the outlet receptacles vary from country to country. Your phone charger won’t plug into a European wall outlet, and even if it could, the high voltage would fry the delicate electronics when you plug your phone into it.
The solution is to plug your charger into a device that will reduce the voltage coming from the wall outlet to a level that your phone charger can handle. That device is variously called a voltage converter or a voltage regulator. You’ll find many types of voltage regulators on sale, many of them at very reasonable prices. Choosing the right one can be confusing, though, and if you’re not careful, you could still end up damaging your phone or other device.
Don’t Take Chances with Your Voltage Converters
When you buy a voltage converter, you have to know whether it needs to step up the voltage or step it down, and you need to know how many amps of electricity your device is rated for. If the voltage converter doesn’t deliver electricity at high enough amperage, your device won’t work. If it delivers too much, it can blow the circuits and burn out your device. If you travel with more than one device –like your coffee maker and your Blackberry—you may need two different voltage converters because the same one won’t be appropriate for powering both.
The solution is to buy a deluxe automatic voltage converter. These top of the line electrical devices are switchable—they can convert the voltage from a 110 V outlet and step it up to use with an appliance rated for 220 Vs, and vice versa. They’ll also automatically detect the appropriate amperage for the device you’re plugging into it, and deliver the amount of amperage needed to power your device without frying it. If you’re buying a voltage converter for travel, it only makes sense to by the one that can handle it all.
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