Voltages In Italy
 

Hello Again,

I will be traveling to Italy the first of December. I would like to carry my
laptop with me. I understand that Italy uses a 220 volt electrical system.
What is the safest way I can convert the voltage to 115 volts? And is there
any danger that I could damage my laptop even with the proper converter?
THANKS in advance.

Billy
Hampton, VA

Re: Voltages In Italy
 

Billy wrote:

    > Hello Again,
    >
    > I will be traveling to Italy the first of December. I would like to carry my
    > laptop with me. I understand that Italy uses a 220 volt electrical system.
    > What is the safest way I can convert the voltage to 115 volts? And is there
    > any danger that I could damage my laptop even with the proper converter?
    > THANKS in advance.
    >
    > Billy
    > Hampton, VA
    >
    >

First check to see if your laptop is one of the vast majority of
machines which will work on voltages up to that range. If it is a
normal computer then all you need is a plug converter.

Re: Voltages In Italy
 

"Billy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:Gr77h.3704$fk2.3577@trndny02...
    > I will be traveling to Italy the first of December. I would like to carry
my
    > laptop with me. I understand that Italy uses a 220 volt electrical system.
    > What is the safest way I can convert the voltage to 115 volts? And is
there
    > any danger that I could damage my laptop even with the proper converter?
    > THANKS in advance.

Frank is right. The best thing to do is to take appliances that adapt to
multiple voltages. For every laptop I've seen in the last several years the
power supply says "90 - 240 VAC" or something like that. If yours says this,
all you need is a plug adapter to the round pin European plug.. Keep in mind
that Italy has at least two types of sockets (big & little) and you may need
more than one adapter.

--
Donald R. Newcomb
DRNewcomb (at) attglobal (dot) net

Re: Voltages In Italy
 

Your laptop is very likely 'dual voltage' and this site will be helpful
http://kropla.com Regards, Walter



..And Paradise Was Lost...like teardrops in the rain...

Re: Voltages In Italy
 

Donald Newcomb wrote:

    > Frank is right. The best thing to do is to take appliances that adapt to
    > multiple voltages. For every laptop I've seen in the last several years
    > the power supply says "90 - 240 VAC" or something like that. If yours says
    > this, all you need is a plug adapter to the round pin European plug..

Most laptops have a brick power supply with a separate mains lead
(either IEC or "cloverleaf"). You could just buy one of these when
you get there.

If you have multiple items to power up (e.g. laptop, camera, phone)
then take a 4-way power strip with you and fit a local plug to it when
you get there.

--
Something like: "ntlworld" "com" "dot" "at" "marypegg"

Re: Voltages In Italy
 

THANKS FOR ALL THE HELPFUL INFORMATION.


"Billy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:Gr77h.3704$fk2.3577@trndny02...
    > Hello Again,
    > I will be traveling to Italy the first of December. I would like to carry
    > my laptop with me. I understand that Italy uses a 220 volt electrical
    > system. What is the safest way I can convert the voltage to 115 volts? And
    > is there any danger that I could damage my laptop even with the proper
    > converter? THANKS in advance.
    > Billy
    > Hampton, VA
    >

Re: Voltages In Italy
 

Mary Pegg wrote:
    > Donald Newcomb wrote:
    >
    >
    >>Frank is right. The best thing to do is to take appliances that adapt to
    >>multiple voltages. For every laptop I've seen in the last several years
    >>the power supply says "90 - 240 VAC" or something like that. If yours says
    >>this, all you need is a plug adapter to the round pin European plug..
    >
    >
    > Most laptops have a brick power supply with a separate mains lead
    > (either IEC or "cloverleaf"). You could just buy one of these when
    > you get there.
    >
    > If you have multiple items to power up (e.g. laptop, camera, phone)
    > then take a 4-way power strip with you and fit a local plug to it when
    > you get there.
    >

If you are going to use a power strip in 220 country then I recommend
that you purchase one designed for use there. That will require a
number of converter plugs but should be safer. A 110 power strip
running 220 makes me nervous.

I had little trouble finding one in Budapest when I finally needed one.

Re: Voltages In Italy
 

Frank F. Matthews wrote:

    > If you are going to use a power strip in 220 country then I recommend
    > that you purchase one designed for use there. That will require a
    > number of converter plugs but should be safer. A 110 power strip
    > running 220 makes me nervous.

Seems like a valid point but these aren't exactly high voltages.
I'm sure a properly designed 110V could cope with an additional
110V. More of an issue would be current not voltage, but (a)
low-voltage kit has to carry larger currents and (b) the sort of
stuff that works off a universal PSU is only a few hundred watts
at most.

(The idea here is to avoid lots of converter plugs).

--
Something like: "ntlworld" "com" "dot" "at" "marypegg"

Re: Voltages In Italy
 

    > If you are going to use a power strip in 220 country then I recommend
    > that you purchase one designed for use there. That will require a
    > number of converter plugs but should be safer. A 110 power strip
    > running 220 makes me nervous.

The problem is the other way round - for the same power, 220V wiring
will need half the current. The insulation (where the voltage makes
a difference) will have a safety margin of orders of magnitude, the
wires won't.

You wouldn't want to use a 220V strip on a 110V system.

In practice, the fusing requirements on power strips in the UK (and
probably other 220V countries) are stringent enough to void your
insurance if anything went wrong with a foreign one.

============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk ==============
Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660 4760
<http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/> for CD-ROMs and free | fax 0870 0554 975
stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739 557

Re: Voltages In Italy
 

"Jack Campin - bogus address" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    >> If you are going to use a power strip in 220 country then I recommend
    >> that you purchase one designed for use there. That will require a
    >> number of converter plugs but should be safer. A 110 power strip
    >> running 220 makes me nervous.
    > The problem is the other way round - for the same power, 220V wiring
    > will need half the current. The insulation (where the voltage makes
    > a difference) will have a safety margin of orders of magnitude, the
    > wires won't.
    > You wouldn't want to use a 220V strip on a 110V system.
    > In practice, the fusing requirements on power strips in the UK (and
    > probably other 220V countries) are stringent enough to void your
    > insurance if anything went wrong with a foreign one.
    > ============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk
    > ==============
    > Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660
    > 4760
    > <http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/> for CD-ROMs and free | fax 0870 0554
    > 975
    > stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739
    > 557

The insulation for 220 or 110 is the same most times. Lots more dielectric
than is required. Is the design of the device. They are designed to run on
110V or 220V or dual voltage. Put 220 into a 110 device and all the
voltages double. Capacitors explode, and if a cheap power supply like on a
lot of consumer devices, they may short out and then apply 110 to the unit.
And a 5v integrated circuit does not handle 10V at gracefully. Most laptop
power supplies are designed for dual voltage, but a 110V hair dryer on high
will become a flame blower for a short time.

Re: Voltages In Italy
 

    >>> If you are going to use a power strip in 220 country then I recommend
    >>> that you purchase one designed for use there. [...] A 110 power strip
    >>> running 220 makes me nervous.
    >> The problem is the other way round - for the same power, 220V wiring
    >> will need half the current. The insulation (where the voltage makes
    >> a difference) will have a safety margin of orders of magnitude, the
    >> wires won't.
    > The insulation for 220 or 110 is the same most times. Lots more dielectric
    > than is required. Is the design of the device. They are designed to run on
    > 110V or 220V or dual voltage. Put 220 into a 110 device and all the
    > voltages double. Capacitors explode, and if a cheap power supply like on a
    > lot of consumer devices, they may short out and then apply 110 to the unit.
    > And a 5v integrated circuit does not handle 10V at gracefully.

I took "power strip" to mean a multiway power adaptor - plug at one end,
sockets at the other, nothing but wire and fuses in between. They don't
have capacitors or integrated circuits.


    > Most laptop power supplies are designed for dual voltage, but a 110V
    > hair dryer on high will become a flame blower for a short time.

I once saw a laser printer designed for US power get plugged in to the
UK mains. There was a series of loud bangs and chugs of convulsing
motors before it emitted a pillar of smoke. Laser printers have very
high startup current requirements so the fuses didn't react at all.

============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk ==============
Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660 4760
<http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/> for CD-ROMs and free | fax 0870 0554 975
stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739 557