Charging devices abroad...causing damage?

ellas9602

I'm not sure if this is the best place but last time I charged my Ipod and htc mobile abroad, the Ipod packed in and the phone had to be restored. I was away again recently and used the charger I had taken for the first time again last night and my phone has gone funny again - think I'll need to wipe and restore it again.

I use a white travel plug thing with my htc charger which adapts to fit ipod charger.

Am I imagaining this or is there something in it? I'm away again next month and dont want to ruin my new Ipod touch.

Appreciate your thoughts

Notmyrealname

You're imagining it.

visidigi

try a different travel adapter.

ellas9602

Thanks. A colleague said cheap travel adapters seemed to be ruining his devices too so he swapped and it was ok. I'll buy a new one today

Buzby

You certainly cannot plug any charger abroad into an adaptor and expect it to work. Whilst it is true many phone chargers are now wide-ranging (100-250v 50/60Hz) there are tmes when replacement chargers are supplied that are only used in the country of supply. This can result in under-voltage for a UK charger optimised for 240/250v, when plugged into a 220 supply - or worse if 110v in the US. Read the label first on the charger to see what it copes with.

Further, there are odd countries (and ships at sea) that provide variably voltage and frequencies that cause electronic charges to crater, usually taking the phone with it.

If in doubt, check - don't simply plug it in because the adaptor fits. That's a recipe for disaster, and there will be nobody to blame but yourself.

Richard_T_

Buzby wrote: »

You certainly cannot plug any charger abroad into an adaptor and expect it to work. Whilst it is true many phone chargers are now wide-ranging (100-250v 50/60Hz) there are tmes when replacement chargers are supplied that are only used in the country of supply. This can result in under-voltage for a UK charger optimised for 240/250v, when plugged into a 220 supply - or worse if 110v in the US. Read the label first on the charger to see what it copes with.

Further, there are odd countries (and ships at sea) that provide variably voltage and frequencies that cause electronic charges to crater, usually taking the phone with it.

If in doubt, check - don't simply plug it in because the adaptor fits. That's a recipe for disaster, and there will be nobody to blame but yourself.

???
The UK mains voltage is 230V ac at 50Hz, ( within a certain specific limit, ie +/- 10v) and and this is the same across almost all of Europe, and further afeild as well, my local voltage (in the UK) is currently delivering 231V AC to my sockets.

Im not quite sure what you mean by an electronic crater (??) but the issue of power surges can occur anywhere, even at your own home, and it is these over voltage spikes that can cause damage, most Switch mode PSUs will be able to cope with some fluctuation but not all.
Most modern switch mode chargers will sit quite happily at any voltage between 80V to 260V Ac anywhere beteen 50 cycles per second and 60 cycles per second.

As for travel adaptors, in most cases they are nothing but bits of copper ( or maybe brass, or cheaper still steel) that just convert one size socket to another.
the only way to be sure is to get a surge protected adaptor, although if your that concerned about power surges your running all your home elcetronics through surge protectors arent you?

alhermette

Any device that is labelled 100-250v 50/60Hz will have been designed for the range of voltages / frequencies specified and should be happy pretty much anywhere. This is the case for most modern chargers as the manufacturers realise that people travel.

If you need to find a decent travel adaptor try here http://www.travel-adaptor.com I tend to prefer the universal adaptors now as they offer more flexibility and good quality ones are easy to find.

If your equipment isn't labelled up as multiple voltage / frequency than certainly I would expect problems. Some people assume that you can run UK equipment on 110V and that it will be perfectly OK other than running a little cooler / slower / less efficientlt. This is cstegorically not the case. As you decrease the voltage the appliance will draw more current which will cause it to run hotter. This in turn can increase the resistance, which will cause it to draw more current and so on until something nasty happens.

The supply frequency can also ruin some equipment (though others are unaffected) in ways that are beyond me but are quite well covered here http://sound.westhost.com/articles/50-60hz.htm#s40

I also seem to remember reading somewhere that using the wrong frequency on equipment with internal battery charging systems (like some cameras / camcorders) was a big no no that would lead to damage but I can't remember where that was now.