From owner-freebsd-questions Tue Feb 4 02:57:39 1997 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) id CAA09386 for questions-outgoing; Tue, 4 Feb 1997 02:57:39 -0800 (PST) Received: from gatekeeper.barcode.co.il (gatekeeper.barcode.co.il [192.116.93.17]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id CAA09371 for ; Tue, 4 Feb 1997 02:57:33 -0800 (PST) Received: (from smap@localhost) by gatekeeper.barcode.co.il (8.7.5/8.6.12) id MAA23581; Tue, 4 Feb 1997 12:55:52 +0200 (IST) X-Authentication-Warning: gatekeeper.barcode.co.il: smap set sender to using -f Received: from localhost.barcode.co.il(127.0.0.1) by gatekeeper.barcode.co.il via smap (V1.3) id sma023579; Tue Feb 4 12:55:46 1997 Message-ID: <32F715CF.2DBE@barcode.co.il> Date: Tue, 04 Feb 1997 12:56:15 +0200 From: Nadav Eiron X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.0 (X11; I; SunOS 5.5 sun4m) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Leonard Chung CC: questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: 240->120 voltage converters safe? References: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-questions@freebsd.org X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk Leonard Chung wrote: > > I realize that this is a bit off topic here, but I'm not too sure exactly > where to send this question and this list seems to have a higher "guru > factor" than any other lists that I'm aware of. With that said... > > I'm taking a laptop over to China along with a scanner and a zip drive. > The AC Adapters that came with both of them only operate at 120 volts > although I can buy an international AC adapter from each company for around > $50. For that price, I can get a pretty heavy duty 200 volt step down > converter from Radio Shack that is supposed to be acceptable for electronic > equipment. Is it ok for me to get the voltage converter, plug a good surge > protector into it and then plug the scanner and zip drive into the surge > protector, or should I shell out the $100+ for the international adapters? > > Leonard > > -- > Leonard Chung > Support the Blue Ribbon Campaign for free speech online () > http://www.eff.org/blueribbon.html /\ > "Those who will not reason perish in the act. > Those who will not act, perish for that reason." - W. H. Auden I don't know about specific moedls, but here we often use converters to test equipment that is to be exported to the U.S. It works just fine. Never used a surge protector either, but I don't know how stable electricity is in China. However, note that these converters - especially if you need a lot of power are *heavy*, so for travel it may be wiser to go for the international adapters. Disclaimer: I only talk from *my* personal experience. No gurantee that your equipment won't fry... Nadav