You may or may not have heard that if you go to Europe and bring some electronics with you, they will not work. Now, if you are planning on going to a European country such as Denmark, England, Poland, or Italy, you must be sure to look further into this. But it may seem confusing. Fortunately, it is actually quite simple to make sense of. The United States and most of Central America and South America uses 110V. Europe uses 220V. This is why if you go to Europe and try to plug in an electric appliance, it may become damaged and you may even start a fire. So it is vital that you either bring dual-volt appliances with you, which you can use in Europe without buying anything extra, or buy a voltage converter or transformer for your single-volt items.
First you have to figure out which of your appliances are dual-volt and which are single-volt. Look for the voltage rating. It will read 110V-220V if it is dual-volt. Many rechargeable items, such as laptop computers and digital cameras are dual-volt. You do not need a converter for these items. But if it only reads 110V, then you must purchase a voltage converter in order to use it while in Europe.
After you have determined which appliances need a converter, you need to find out the wattage of these. You can do this by multiplying the voltage by the amp, or it may be listed on the appliance itself. Once you have the wattage rating, buy a voltage converter that has a wattage rating that is 25% more than the appliance’s. This way, your converter will last through many uses.
Even if you are only bringing dual-volt items on your trip to Europe, you must make sure to bring plug adapters, because even your dual-volt devices will not work in Europe if it will not fit in the differently-shaped outlet.