Voltage Converters?

[lou]

I will be bringing an Acer aspire one notebook and a Nokia 2730 cell phone, both of which will need the batteries recharged from time to time. Do i need to bring some sort of voltage converter gizmo or are they not necessary?

[Jollygoodfellow]

I will be bringing an Acer aspire one notebook and a Nokia 2730 cell phone, both of which will need the batteries recharged from time to time. Do i need to bring some sort of voltage converter gizmo or are they not necessary?

In my case no, as us Aussies run on 240 volt and all is needed is a plug to fit the power point,I will let some one else give you the answer as I believe your voltage is different.

[TheMason]

I will be bringing an Acer aspire one notebook and a Nokia 2730 cell phone, both of which will need the batteries recharged from time to time. Do i need to bring some sort of voltage converter gizmo or are they not necessary?

You shouldn't need one for either of those things. The notebook should have a large plastic box (I forget what they're called) on the power cord that lists the current it can handle. Most notebooks can handle 100-240 V at 50-60 Mhz. If your laptop has this range listed for its input, you will be fine.The charger for your cellphone I'm less certain about. If there is a problem, it will be with the charger, not the phone itself. It will be cheaper and easier just to get a new charger in the Philippines if you need one rather than a voltage converter.The problem with voltage converters is that they are not efficient and cost a LOT of money to run one. Depending on the type of converter you could be using twice as much power as required. They also constantly draw power so if you forget to unplug/turn it off, you're electric bill will be much higher. Converters generally only convert the voltage, not the cycles. So it will step it down to 110 V, but the cycles typically remain at 60 Mhz. This can damage some electronics.

[Mr Lee]

I will be bringing an Acer aspire one notebook and a Nokia 2730 cell phone, both of which will need the batteries recharged from time to time. Do i need to bring some sort of voltage converter gizmo or are they not necessary?

Hi Lou, as TheMason has said most phones and laptops come with power supplies that say 100-240 volts on them, so please look carefully at your plugs or supplies to see if they are marked as I say they should be. Some of the older US cell phones will only say 110 on them but almost all laptops, netbooks and notebooks are marked 100-240. Then there is the issue of the plug, most places in the Philippines that we have been, the wall plugs are exactly like a US plug, so please be careful with other items such as shavers. I now always look at the item ahead of time and make sure it is marked as I stated above and if not then I put red tape on the cord right next to the plug to prevent me making a mistake such as I made with a cordless drill a while back while working around the house and poof it was no longer able to be charged and I had to bring it back to the US because I could not find the parts to repair it while in Cebu and BTW, I had charged that drill at least 5 times before using an adapter but when I got preoccupied, I just forgot. Also converters can be bought at every hardware store but I always bring one with us when we travel just in case I end up with an item that needs one.

[lou]

I checked the plugs on the cell phone and the net book and they both accept 110-240 so I should be ok. Thanks for the help guys, you are awesome!