Turkey uses 220V and Canada uses 11V. All my local stores tell me that I do not need a converter as they are only needed if one has an hair dryer or something like that. I need to recharge my digital camera and should only need an adapter for the plug in. However the travel book says I need a converter or the 220V would"fry any 11V appliance". Can someone help me with this problem?
1
kayakoyuwalker
Yes, plugging an 11v appliance into a 220v system would certainly "fry" it.
But, doesn't Canada have a 110v system ?
2
nyleve
You only need a converter for devices that operate only on one current. Quite a few electrical devices are able to use dual current or can work with a very wide range of currents that would go all the way from Canadian current (110) to European (220). You have to look at your appliance and see which it is. Most will have a sticker on the back somewhere that tells you which current it can use. For instance, I have a phone charger that is usable from 110 to 220 V. My hair dryer has a switch on it that allows you to change from 110 to 220. My battery charger (for rechargeable batteries for my camera) is dual voltage.
Yes, if you plug in a 110-only appliance to a 220 outlet it will fry your device. I once brought the wrong phone charger with me to Europe and murdered my charger. I should have brought my travel one but forgot. If you can't tell whether it's dual or not, just take it into a camera store or anyplace that deals with electrical appliances and they'll be able to tell you for sure.
For most gadgets, I wouldn't bother getting a voltage adaptor. I'd just get a dual voltage gadget and save it for travel.
You WILL definitely need a plug adapter, however. Europe (including Turkey) uses a 2-round-pin plug. This is easy to find in any shop that carries travel gadgets. If your device is dual voltage, that's all you'll need.
3
hello_bamboo
click here for s simple visual explanation most likley you do not need an converter, only a plug adaptor, which is small and cheap.
4
everbrite
The local stores may be right. Take a look at your camera battery charger. Most such devices are 100-240 v. as the manufacturers know that you will use it while traveling and they make it to be used universally.
A plug adapter should cost you less than 5 USD. A Converter will cost you several times that.
Ruth
5
jman98
Most mobile phones and digital cameras sold in the USA (surely it must be the same in Canada) will work on anything from 100-240 v. As everbrite says, you can look on your power cords for these devices to see the current range they support. Sony sells some neat little cords used for powering very small electronic devices like portable CD players, and these work from 100-240 v. BestBuy used to sell them here in the USA and may still do so.
As far as hair dryers go, yes it is possible to find hair dryers that work from 100-240 v. This is not common, but you can find them. Places like WalMart have a few of these "travel dryers" available. The downside is that when you switch to the 240 v setting, they run at real low intensity and it will take a long time to dry your hair. Put your normal hair dryer on the lowest setting possible in Canada and you have a good idea of what it will be like running at 240 v in Europe. You might do what I did. I was going to Europe all the time for various reasons, so I just bought a 220-240 v hair dryer in the Vienna airport. It has a European plug and it's a normal European hair dryer that runs normally in European electricity, so it puts out a lot more hot air than the dual voltage ones do. I just take it with me when I travel. Having never been to Turkey, I don't know what the airport in Istanbul is like, but if it has a large shopping area, you might be able to find a hair dryer there. Or you could find one in a city in Turkey and buy it. If you think you will go to Europe a lot, it's probably better to just do this than to fool with the dual voltage ones.
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Lonely Planet
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