View Single Post
  #4  
Old June 18th, 2008, 10:35 AM posted to rec.travel.asia
rak
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4
Default Plug converter and voltage - Australia to Asia

I have lived and travelled expensively in SE Asia and Australia and
Europe for many years, carrying laptops, cameras, phones, etc. and
never had a voltage problem with portable equipment such as you
mention.

The actual voltage may not be what it says anyway, and typically is
often lower, especially in countries with power shortages where they
often lower the voltage rather than cut the power. I think they are
not supposed to go more than about 10% down (or up) on voltage and
less than that on frequency but sometimes they do. I have also run
mainframe computers in some SE Asia countries and they are more fussy,
so we had power conditioning equipment, but laptops and other items
with power adaptors are generally very forgiving.

On Jun 18, 12:12 am, "Bobbie Weeks (Ms)"
wrote:
I live in Australia and will be travelling to Vietnam, Cambodia,
Thailand and Malaysia later this year. I've checked out getting a
plug converter, so I can plug my Australia appliances (like phone
charger, laptop, hairdryer, etc) in while I'm away. I've found out
the plug types that I need to get but I'm wondering if there would be
an issue with the slight (well, I assume slight) variation in voltage
(all countries have the same frequency). I've listed out below what
I've found but can anyone advise me if the different voltages will
make a difference or, worse yet, damage my things as it seems that
plug converters don't change the voltage:

Australia, Plug Type I, 240V
Cambodia, Plug Type A & E, 230V
Malaysia, Plug Type G, 240V
Thailand, Plug Type A & E, 220V
Vietnam, Plug Type A & C & G, 220V

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.