Is This the Right Electrical Adaptor?
Bestek voltage convertor comes with multiple adaptor plugs. I believe this is the right one for Australia/New Zealand--Type I. Can anyone confirm?
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Bestek voltage convertor comes with multiple adaptor plugs. I believe this is the right one for Australia/New Zealand--Type I. Can anyone confirm?
Comments
Australia and New Zealand use the Type I adapter. That looks like it.
Here's one web site that gives the plug type for different countries - https://www.power-plugs-sockets.com/
There are some "universal" adapters but they tend to be on the large side. Search for "universal travel adapter" on Amazon.
Yup: https://forums.tauck.com/discussion/comment/82353/#Comment_82353
Are you planning to take a "voltage converter"? Why? Just about all cell phones, tablets, and other small electronic devices (e.g. camera battery chargers, etc.) have dual voltage (120v/240v) power modules so will work with either voltage, so all you need is a plug "adapter."
Don't even consider using something like the small Bestek voltage converter with a hair dryer, curling iron, CPAP, etc.- if you do you will be in danger of "letting the smoke out"
and starting a fire. The small voltage converters are not designed for high wattage devices!
Even a high wattage converter won't work with hair dryers and many other devices with motors. At 50 Hz, the motor spins too slowly and can lead to overheating.
@bkmd - There are some motor equations known as the Affinity Laws. Basically, what they state is that (1) the volume of air moved by a fan is directly related to the motor speed, and (2) the power necessary to move that air is related to the third power of the motor speed.
So, to take a simple example, suppose you took a fan and ran it at half speed. The volume of air moved will be half what it was while running at full speed. But the power required to drive the fan at half speed will be one-eighth the power required to drive it at full speed. Ignoring any other effects, the reduction in current (and the I^2 R heat) is likely to be greater than the reduced cooling from the reduction in the volume of air moved.
There are other complications, specifically the V/Hz ratio, which I won't go into now, that could cause excess current. To be absolutely safe, when you run a 60Hz motor on 50Hz, you should reduce the voltage to 50/60.
This isn't the best discussion of the Affinity Laws but Wikipedia has an article on it - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affinity_laws
Things like hair dryers often use shaded pole induction motors (not universal motors) so the RPMs are directly related the line frequency.
[Added note: Using round numbers, a 60Hz motor run on 50Hz will be about 20% slower (80% of speed). The cube of .8 is about ,5 so the motor will only require about half the current to turn the fan at the reduced RPMs. The volume of air moved will be 80% of the operation at 60Hz.
What might be of more concern are the resistance elements in front of the fan. With the reduced air flow, they will get hotter and will have a reduce life span.]
Thanks for the explanation, Mike. I wonder if the flaggers will appear
And here's one back at ya: There aren't too many things related to the fourth power. Poiseuille's law is one. And less well-known - Road wear is proportional to the fourth power of axle load of a vehicle. But I suspect you knew that.
@bkmd - no, never heard of those. I'm strictly electrical and mostly electronics. I'm also a woodworker and on the woodworking forum I participate in we've had a lot of discussions relating to people who purchased European equipment with a 50Hz motor and need to run it in the US at 60Hz. If it hadn't been for that, I'd have never heard of the Affinity Laws.
I'll add another comment about motors. It doesn't matter what technique you use to slow the motor down - it's doesn't have to be a change in the Hz. There are devices called "router speed control" primarily intended for use with routers that use universal motors. The speed control works by cutting off a part of the sine wave. The router runs slower and has less HP, but it doesn't overheat, due to the Affinity Laws.
Actually, most routers today come with speed control built in.
A side comment about the plugs for Australia and New Zealand. I think they did an excellent job in designing that plug. The US type B plug for 120Volts is very good - it's a reasonable size and works well up to 20 amps. Australia and New Zealand couldn't use the type B plug because their voltage is 220Volts so they twisted the prongs of the Type B plug. They got the advantages of the Type B while making sure that a Type B can't be plugged into one of their outlets.
The absolute worse plugs (in my opinion) are the UK plugs. They look like they're designed for very high current, but with their voltage of 220Volts regular household equipment just won't draw much current. And the physical size of the plug is quite large.
Mike - here's one you'll get a kick out of. I was at an international event in an eastern European country and this is what was used as the connector for headphones:
Yeah, electrical codes aren't much enforced in those countries. At least if you plugged an appliance into that connector nothing would happen
In Cuba they use Type B receptacles for 220 Volts. Sometimes they put a note on it saying "220 Volts" - but not on all of them.
Thankfully, I’ve never been in a Tauck hotel that didn’t supply a hairdryer. Of course most of the countries that have 220 are former British colonies. On our recent trip to Indonesia, I was surprised that they were like Britain and did not have outlets in the bathroom for hair dryers.
When we moved to the US, I wanted to bring things like my sewing machine. The moving company supplied us with several ‘converters’. They had to give us ones that would have converted a whole house because they couldn’t find the appropriate ones. They weighed a ton, took two hands to lift them, they must have cost a fortune! Ah, happy memories!
@British - I think it would be more correct to say that most of the former British colonies use 220 volts, rather than that most of the countries who use 220 volts were former British colonies. The majority of the countries in the world, perhaps 80%, use 220-230 volts, and almost all of them operate at 50Hz. Here's a link - https://www.school-for-champions.com/science/ac_world_volt_freq_list.htm#.YznJ33bMK38
Here's another link - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mains_electricity_by_country
There are advantages and disadvantages to the 120 volts system and the 220 volt system. The advantage of the 120 Volt system is that it is not as dangerous as the 220 Volt system. But for an equivalent load, the 120 Volt system requires twice the current and bigger wire (more expensive) to carry that current.
I think perhaps the US system was an attempt to get the best of both worlds. Most loads can operate on 120 Volts and 240 Volts can be provided for larger loads, such as an electric stove, air conditioning, or a water heater.
What could have been done for your UK 220 Volt equipment when you moved to the US was to provide a 240 Volt circuit to operate the equipment. It's fairly safe to operate a 50Hz motor at 60Hz and a slightly higher voltage. If the motor is an induction motor, it will run about 20% faster.
You just can't use plug-in analog clocks or dish or clothes washers and dryers that have synchronous motor-driven timers!
If you still have a turntable for vinyl with your stereo, your music may sound a bit up-tempo. Speaking of electrical stuff, time to replace a bad GFCI.
You're absolutely correct. But just think - you'd get your washing done 20% faster
I have had a few shocks from 220 as A kid, not pleasant!
My US electric tea kettle takes for ever to boil on 120
Yes, that's one of the disadvantages of 120 Volts. The ones in Europe that operate on 220 Volts are much quicker.
Ever been shocked by 120VDC? That will really get your attention!!!
How do I know this? 
Early in the development of commercial electricity there was a belief that DC systems were safer than AC systems. There were several public demonstrations of dogs surviving 1,000 Volts of DC to be killed by 300 Volts of AC. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_currents
Although not really associated with the War of the Currents, in 1903 there was an electrocution of an elephant by AC that passed into folklore as an attempt to prove AC was more dangerous than DC.
[The story of the elephant is a bit gruesome but if you're interested, search Wikipedia for Topsy (elephant).]
Mike. I now have 2 men on the forum who blow my mind, so much fun. Alan where are you?😀😀
@British - Thank you, but I'm very limited. I spent my career as an electrical engineer so I know a bit about electricity. Alan has a much wider span of knowledge. I'm always amazed at his posts.
Edison was the proponent of DC. Tesla was the one who pushed for AC, and rightly so.
I always thought it was George Westinghouse who was the main pusher for AC.
Tesla was the brain behind it. Westinghouse was more the entrepreneur/businessman. In your quoted article, it mentions that Westinhouse bought Tesla's patent for the AC induction motor.
Try a Unidapt adapter! It goes with many countries and the "US/Australia" plug just requires you turn the plug to an angle. I have charged FOUR USB ports AND a US plug simultaneously in many places including Tanzania, Germany, the US, etc. Truly a wonderful device.