Comments on: Lazyweb: best American plug to UK receptacle adapter?

By: Kevin Bowling

Kevin Bowling — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 00:55:15 +0000

Roland, perhaps this is why you didn’t consider radioshack: http://www.theonion.com/content/news/even_ceo_cant_figure_out_how :->

In reality I bought a plug adapter kit there for no more than $10. It had both 2 and 3 prong UK style adapters, and worked fine with my thinkpad.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 11:47:30 +0000

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?TabID=1&ModuleNo=29828&doy=7m8 will work for devices that auto-sense 240v, http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?ModuleNo=31899&doy=7m8 is necessary for 120v appliances.

By: roland

roland — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 01:17:08 +0000

Thanks… I should have mentioned that the laptop charger is labeled as accepting 240V, so I just need a plug adapter. I’m just hoping to avoid an adapter that falls out of the wall if someone sneezes, or is too tight to plug into, or breaks in my bag, etc.

Radio Shack is a good suggestion, though. For some reason, shopping there would never occur to me, but it is the obvious place to go for this sort of thing.

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 00:44:51 +0000

A laptop should detect that it’s connected to 240V automatically, so all you need is a simple UK to US adapter. You can find one in your local RadioShack for $5-10, maybe something like model 273-1453. I have used RadioShack model 273-1452 for traveling to continental Europe, no complaints.

Now, if you will be plugging in non-voltage-sensing devices, you will need to get a 240V to 120V AC converter, and those do get large, heavy, unreliable and expensive.