Most things you travel with will work on the voltage available in any country.  Most of the world uses 230 or 240 volts but America, Canada & Mexico and quite a few other countries use 110 or 120Volts.

Every appliance should have the voltage that it will work on printed on it, most often in annoyingly small writing.  Two pairs of glasses can often help, or a magnifying glass.

Here’s an example of a USB charger.  The input voltage can be anywhere between 100 volts and 240volts which means that it will work everywhere, if only you can plug it into something.  This is true for virtually all low power devices including computers.  Some devices have switches to select the voltage. 

Check to make sure.  If it’s not the right voltage you may destroy your appliance or just let the smoke out.

If you have a small appliance has just one voltage and it’s not the local voltage, then you need a transformer with a power rating that’s bigger than the load of your appliance.

You can buy small 50 watt transformers like this one:

Hair dryers,  straighteners, irons etc

These are different because they use much more power than low power devices that typically use less than 50 watts, they use hundreds of watts.  If you have to travel with one of these try to get one that has a voltage switch to select the local voltage.  Then you just need to plug it into something.

If you have a 120 volt hair thing, but the local voltage is 230 volts, you can use a converter, a small and lightweight device that works like a dimmer and cuts down the average voltage.  You don’t want to use a transformer as they are big and weigh a lot.  A transformer would be the only way to power a 230 volt device from 120 volts, so don’t even try.

 

Plugging into something

There are so many different plugs around the world as you can see at https://www.worldstandards.eu/electricity/plugs-and-sockets/

This one is from China, and can accommodate at least three plug types, and is 230 volts.

 

Thankfully there are lots of options for plugging into the variety of sockets.

You could buy an adapter that plugs into the local socket and gives you a socket to plug in your device.  These are widely available, some that have built-in USB outlets, some can plug into several types of sockets, but they often only give you one socket, and you may have more things to plug in.

 

We travel with a device that has two sockets that are used in our country and four USB sockets for charging phones etc.  It came with four different plugs to power it that cover most of the world’s plugs and it works on any voltage.  It doesn’t convert the voltage to the outlets on it, but we can plug in our computer power supply, etc without having to get an adapter, and we don’t have to bring USB power supplies.

     

The Device                Type I                    Type B                     Type G                     Type E/F

 

I had to buy one more single adapter that had smaller diameter pins for outlets in Italy, or was it France?  I think that it may also work for many of the odd sockets from around the world, like Types J, L & N but if not, then an adapter may have to be bought locally that you can plug into.

 

Type B is used in American type sockets but often without the round earth pin, so I broke it off on my plug, which is fine as long as you are not using anything that needs earthing.

 

Earthing or Grounding

Devices like toasters have lots of metal and if there is a fault inside, the metal could become live, so the metal is earthed, or grounded, so that if there is a fault it causes the fuse or circuit breaker to trip and have you be safe.  Most devices you travel with are heavily insulated so they don’t need a third pin on the plug for the earth.

Plugging into something

There are so many different plugs around the world as you can see at https://www.worldstandards.eu/electricity/plugs-and-sockets/

This one is from China, and can accommodate at least three plug types, and is 230 volts.

 

Thankfully there are lots of options for plugging into the variety of sockets.

You could buy an adapter that plugs into the local socket and gives you a socket to plug in your device.  These are widely available, some that have built-in USB outlets, some can plug into several types of sockets, but they often only give you one socket, and you may have more things to plug in.

 

We travel with a device that has two sockets that are used in our country and four USB sockets for charging phones etc.  It came with four different plugs to power it that cover most of the world’s plugs and it works on any voltage.  It doesn’t convert the voltage to the outlets on it, but we can plug in our computer power supply, etc without having to get an adapter, and we don’t have to bring USB power supplies.

     

The Device                Type I                    Type B                     Type G                     Type E/F

 

I had to buy one more single adapter that had smaller diameter pins for outlets in Italy, or was it France?  I think that it may also work for many of the odd sockets from around the world, like Types J, L & N but if not, then an adapter may have to be bought locally that you can plug into.

 

Type B is used in American type sockets but often without the round earth pin, so I broke it off on my plug, which is fine as long as you are not using anything that needs earthing.

 

Earthing or Grounding

Devices like toasters have lots of metal and if there is a fault inside, the metal could become live, so the metal is earthed, or grounded, so that if there is a fault it causes the fuse or circuit breaker to trip and have you be safe.  Most devices you travel with are heavily insulated so they don’t need a third pin on the plug for the earth.