ALL CHARGED UP...

...and ready to go. - Electricity

As someone who is not very knowledgeable concerning electricity and its ways, I had to read up on different aspects of electricity, adapters, chargers, socket types, power supply voltage and frequencies. I wanted to share this with anyone planning to go on a trip. It might save some time :).

So first of all I needed to find out what kind of sockets, socket types and net frequencies were being used in each country I will be staying in:

Mexico:

Socket Type: A

Power Supply Voltage: 127 Volt

Frequency: 60Hz

Belize:

Socket Type: B and G

Power Supply Voltage: 110 Volt and 220 Volt

Frequency: 60Hz

Guatemala:

Socket Type: A, B, G and I

Power Supply Voltage: 120 Volt

Frequency: 60Hz

Honduras:

Socket Type: A and B

Power Supply Voltage: 110 Volt

Frequency: 60Hz

Nicaragua:

Socket Type: A

Power Supply Voltage: 120 Volt

Frequency: 60Hz

Costa Rica:

Socket Type: A and B

Power Supply Voltage: 120 Volt

Frequency: 60Hz

Panama:

Socket Type: A and B

Power Supply Voltage: 110 Volt and 220 Volt

Frequency: 60Hz

Ecuador:

Socket Type: A and B

Power Supply Voltage: 120 Volt and 127 Volt

Frequency: 60Hz

Peru:

Socket Type: A and B

Power Supply Voltage: 220 Volt

Frequency: 60Hz

Socket Types:

Lets start with the socket types. As you can see below there are different socket types that can be used in the countries I am travelling to. Courtesy of the German website "reiseadapter-reisestecker" I could find this information easily.

There is a number of different websites explaining what is needed for the individual trips and another German website "marco polo" also helped in showing the actual plugs that were needed, as can be seen above in the colourful overview. (As we all know if we have travelled to France, the difference between sockets and plugs can be deceiving :) when you suddenly realise that there is a little plastic device coming out of the socket and no, you cannot just plug in your German plug...)

Adapters:

For such an extensive trip I chose to use my World adaptor from the company SKROSS.

I checked again and all countries I will visit can be adapted to. (Helps if you look on the actual suppliers webpage where you can see a full list in a dropdown menu as to which countries the device can be used in.) At each location I will just have to figure out which levers to push and pull to get the right plugs for my purpose.

Power Supply Voltage:

Now to the more complicated part, the power supply voltage. As you can see in the list above, this changes throughout the different countries. The European power supply voltage lies at 220 volts. This is - coming from Germany / Europe - what all plugs from chargers will carry. For countries where this voltage is the same as in Europe, there is no problem with just using the adapter and then applying the device that needs charging. When the power supply voltage is different however it can be problematic.

There are two possibilities.

1. the device usually operates with 220v and now has to operate with only 120v or 127v.

2. the device usually operates with 120v or 127v and now has to operate with 220v.

Possibility 1, means that what had been an electrical input of 220v now is working in a fourth of the potential electricity input.

Possibility 2 means that what had been working on 120v now has to receive a much higher input thatn before.

In my case, option 1, less problematic, as the jump from 220v to 120v or 127v is easier for devices than the jump for for example American devices from 120v to 220v, as here the coils in the transformers of the electrical devices might burn up and ruin the electrical device.

If you are travelling the other way round, think about purchasing a special transformer to help with the changing power supply voltage.

Most technical devices are set up to cope with a range of voltage from 100 V to 230 V. (This includes, mobile phones, laptops, ipads etc.) This can be directly checked on the chargers themselves, here the information should be clearly stated.

In my case, if the device is set up for coping with 220v and now only "receives" 110v, the device will not be damaged, but charging might take longer, as the device is now only receiving a fourth of the electricity output.

I hope this has helped a little, and might even help people on future journeys not necessarily heading to Central and South America.