Ease of Travel

Live in America and plan on traveling abroad? Live elsewhere and plan on traveling here? Chances are you know that you’ll need to get some sort of electric outlet converter (voltage converter) so that your hair dryer or alarm clock (or whatever) doesn’t get burned up in the voltage differences. Most non-US countries are on the 220-240V system whereas in America, we want to be different, we use the 110-120V. Without a converter, American appliances would probably work ridiculously well for a ridiculously short amount of time and then burn up. That’s why you need a converter like the Proctor-Silex 10082 Foreign Travel Voltage Converter and Adaptor Set (it’s only $12.99 anyway).

Even if you want to use your appliances abroad, typically the plugs are shaped and sized differently so you won’t make the mistake of plugging in your appliance into their supercharged (or undercharged) sockets. I invite you to look at Proctor-Silex’s 10082 Foreign Travel Voltage Manual, which details what the sockets look like on page 4.

I don’t want this to sound like a product endorsement - I don’t own the Proctor-Silex converter, but their manual happens to have great illustrations of what the sockets in other countries looks like. Also, make sure you know if you’re plugging into an AC (Alternating Current) or a DC (Direct Current) outlet because appliances are usually designed for AC and not DC (as found on ships, planes, etc). AC appliances will die if you plug them into DC outlets.

I hope this helps demystify the whole “strange electric outlets in other countries” problem you may be having - get a converter and your hair dryer be fine.