Hopefully someone who's gone geocaching overseas can answer this question....

I'm going to where the AC line voltage is 220 volts in place of the 110v - 120v we have here in the US.

My laptop's charger says it can handle input voltage from 110 to 220 volts, as does my cell phone charger and my electric razor.

However my Palm Pilot (TungstenE) has a little transformer/charger that says "INPUT 120VAC 60Hz Output 5.5VDC 500mA". I asked someone who lives where I'm going and he said Palm Pilots were never imported into his country and he doesn't know anyone who has a charger.

So, any ideas on whether it'll work with 220 volts or if trying will let all the smoke out of my PDA and make it not work anymore?

Thanks,

~erik~

I haven't been overseas but people I know who have get Foreign Voltage Converters, which not only step the voltage down from 220 to 110, but also have different plugs so that can plug into different outlets. The different plugs could be a problem for your laptop, cell phone charger and razor. I have no idea which is best but Froogle shows a bunch http://www.google.com/products?q=foreign+voltage+conver...btnG=Search+Products

quote:

Originally posted by ~erik~:


My laptop's charger says it can handle input voltage from 110 to 220 volts, as does my cell phone charger and my electric razor.

RAZOR????????????

I would stear clear of that voltage unless you have a reliable converter. I'm not sure if they are available for your palm, but my iQue/palm OS has a battery powered charger/power source that is alright in a pinch.

My brother in Singapore uses a converter often as he travels all over the Pacific Rim and Middle East countries. He has told me that you get what you pay for with them, and that power surges and spikes are very common.
I don't think you could plug the Palm charger into the different socket configurations over there, but if you could, it probably would fry!

We ran into that problem while traveling in Europe. With the laptop, an IBM, we just took a plug adaptor and the laptop ran on local 220V just fine. The Palm (mine is a Tungsten E as well) was a different problem. Normally, it is plugged into a USB port when its not in my pocket so it trickle charges most of the time and never needs the charger. The solution for our trip was to get a small electronic 12 VDC to 120 VAC inverter which supplies enough power to run the laptop when we were driving and provided a 120V AC outlet that we could run the Palm charger on when required.

Cigarette lighter outlets seem to be the universal power source for elecronic devices these days.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'd done some googling and came up with a couple of other alternatives, like this one or this one.

The cigarette lighter adapter sounds like a good one as a back up.

~erik~

I've had my Tungsten E for a couple of years now and have yet to use the a.c. charger. The power from the USB port charges it quite nicely.

Are you going to take one of those shake-em-up flashlights with you for night caching?

quote:

Are you going to take one of those shake-em-up flashlights with you for night caching?

No, as I'd have to shake it twice as fast in the land of 220V.

I ended up buying a $7.95 voltage converter at Fry's Electronics. It's kind of ugly to see the Palm transformer plugged into that thing, which in turn is plugged into a socket adapter before it can be plugged into the outlet. I'll probably need to cable-tie the whole mess together.

I left my Palm plugged into the USB data connector overnight last night, and it was still showing the same half discharged state on the screen this morning, so I didn't think that worked. I'll try it again though... Are some USB ports more "powerful" than others?

~erik~

As I understand it, all USB ports directly on the computer and the ports on powered hub can supply power to devices connected to them. However if you have a non-powered hub, then it doesn't normally supply power.

quote:

Originally posted by ~erik~:
Are some USB ports more "powerful" than others?

Yes. If you have an older laptop with USB1.1, it won't adequately power your PDA. USB2, no problem.

I haven't tried with my laptop yet, but my Dell PC has two USB ports in the front. One doesn't seem to work too dependably in recognizing my GPS or Palm when I try to use it. The other works fine, but wouldn't charge the Palm. Last night I tried the undependable port and it charged the Palm Pilot quite nicely. Go figure...

~erik~