Electric current question?

[Cipher]

I am going to Japan in may and I need to get a little info about something. I have a camcorder and a battery charger for my digital camera. Do I need to get any kind of converter or anything for the standard outlets in Japan? I will be in Tokyo mostly. Do most motels have US standard outlets? Basically I just need to know how to prepare for it. It would really suck to not be able to charge all of my batteries.

Thanks for any info.

[SanSoo Student]

Yea you do need a converter, because its a higher current in asia.
You can pick one up at a local electronics store.

[Cipher]

Thanks. Are they refered to anything specific or do they sell genreal universal converters that are good for many different places?

[halfling]

the converter things usually come in a little kit with different kinds of conversions so you can go to different countries. I went across Europe with my kit....don't go for the cheapest one..... they tend to not work that well. Good luck finding one that does. Also, luggage or travel stores sell them.

[joedoe]

A plug converter and a transformer are two different things. The plug converter will simply act as an adaptor for your plug so that you can plug into the local power supply. However, if your appliance is built to handle a lower voltage than the local voltage, you could end up frying your appliance. Most electronics such as laptops, mobiles, PDAs etc. now have a transformer built in so they should be OK but you should check.

Japan uses a pretty low voltage (most places use around 200-240V) so you should be OK for Japan.

[TigerJaw]

Check the specification of the appliance. Somewhere near the power inlet or on the seperate powere supply, if it has one, there should be a sticker telling you what voltages the appliance is rated for.

It might say Vin ~ 100 - 220 V, Vout - 9V or some such. Clearly it's the Vin bit that you're interested in.

To be honest, America uses 110V and Japan uses 100V and since those values are only good to about +/-15%, I'd be surprised if you needed a transformer, especially these days with well-regulate uiniversal transformers.

However, you might and if you do there are two options.
1) Buy a Japan-America. step-up transformer. This will accept 100V and output 110V.
2) If you have a seperate power supply, you sould replave the power supply with a japanese one that outputs whatever DC voltage your appliance accepts. ie Vout - 9/12/15V DC.

Hope that helps,
Phill

[Richie]

Maybe you wont need one. Check the voltage on your pack. You can also ask the guy at the front desk of your hotel. I didn't need one.

[prana]

most switchmode power supplies uses 90-130v, 220-250v.
Check your appliances....