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Mr_2Tone

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Hello to all,

If any of you could help me out I would appreciate it.

I will be going to Rome in the next few weeks and would need recommendations on what I should use as an adapter for my battery recharger since I am from Canada. I would not like to fry the battery while I am over there and be left without the capacity to take pictures!!The Camera in question is the E-300 and standard battery that came with it (BM1, I think).

Thank you in advance for your help.

Mr_2Tone
 
Thank you for your reply but now you have me completely mixed up.

I have the battery and the battery is inserted into the adapter and the power cord into the adapter and wall. Now I would assume the adapter is calibated for 110V and not 220V. So would getting another power cord not send too much voltage to the adapter subsenquently burning the battery??

Please I do not mean to be difficult, just trying to understand so I do not do anything wrong.

Thanks you,

Mr_2Tone
 
Ok, Thank you for the help.

I read your reply, ran down to the basement and pulled out the adpater. You are correct that is exactly what is written on the adapter.

Here's another one for you, I have an old converter kit with various plugs. I think I actually have one that can fit on the end of the power cord with the required prongs for the euro country on the other end. Do you think that would work or would I still be better off trying to find a power cord to fit the adapter? I am thinking current coursing through the power cord rated for 100V.

Thank you,

Mr_2Tone
 
cgbier said:
When you turn around the charger, you'll read followin line: (Some
Chinese letters): AC100V-24V 50-60Hz.
The charger will run at any place that gives you this power.
Click to expand...
100-240V. Assuming your charger IS 100-240V (check it!), you'll need a plug adapter (no voltage conversion). Common across most of Europe is a plug with two round pins. You can wait and buy it at the Rome airport when you land for ~$10 (and get one which is quite large), or you can search online or in shops for smaller cheaper plug convertors probably for $2 (plus shipping if applicable); or you can buy one of those kits with 5-6 styles of plug adapters. Sometimes you can borrow an adapter from a hotel desks too at no charge (but I haven't been to Rome, so don't know the practice there).

You MIGHT also get lucky and have a plug or two in the room with multi-pin configuration, but typically these are only in the bathroom and say they are only for shavers (they won't supply much amperage); I have charged a cell phone from these, but don't know if they would supply enough amperage to charge a BLM-1; doubt it frankly.

To be safe, bring a plug adapter.
 
If the cord can power appliences at standard US/Canada voltage (110V), it won't have any problems powering your charger at 220V. I think the home electric curcuits in Europe are rated up to 5Amp, but your charger won't pull anywhere near that amperage.
Mr_2Tone said:
Ok, Thank you for the help.

I read your reply, ran down to the basement and pulled out the
adpater. You are correct that is exactly what is written on the
adapter.

Here's another one for you, I have an old converter kit with
various plugs. I think I actually have one that can fit on the end
of the power cord with the required prongs for the euro country on
the other end. Do you think that would work or would I still be
better off trying to find a power cord to fit the adapter? I am
thinking current coursing through the power cord rated for 100V.

Thank you,

Mr_2Tone
Click to expand...
 
Yes, it will.

The Voltage is less important than the Amperes that go through a cord. That means a power cord is rated to Ampere, not volt. With 220V you only need about half the Amps to get the same Wattage you'd get with 100V. Therefore, you'll be secure.

when you look at the second line on the back of the charger it says: "23VA(100V), 33VA(240V" ... VA=Watt.

That means that the charger produces more electrical power from the 0.3A input at 240V than at 100V.

Google for "Ohm's Law" - it's basic highschool physics ;-)

--
http://kagman2.blogspot.com/
http://cgbier.zenfolio.com/
( Both just started, so don't expect too much)
 
Thank you very much for taking the time and providing answers. They were very helpfull and I appreciate it.

Mr_2Tone
 
Thank you for your answers, I will certainly try the airport if I cannot find one here before I leave.

Mr_2Tone
 
The standard Euro-Plug did not fit into the Italina style sockets in the house in Tuscany I went in spring, but there were plenty of adapters in the house. Seems to be a common problem and even Italians use the adapters to use Euro-plugs.
 
Mr_2Tone said:
Hello to all,

If any of you could help me out I would appreciate it.
I will be going to Rome in the next few weeks and would need
recommendations on what I should use as an adapter for my battery
recharger since I am from Canada. I would not like to fry the
battery while I am over there and be left without the capacity to
take pictures!!The Camera in question is the E-300 and standard
battery that came with it (BM1, I think).
Click to expand...
As others have said, the Olympus battery chargers can handle 110-220 volts and 50/60 cycles/second, so all you need is a plug adaptor. You want to check each of your electrical gear to make sure it can handle 220 volts. Many do, but occasionally you will find stuff that is 110 only. You can get voltage adaptors that will reduce the 220 volts down to 110 volts (dunno about cycles per second, so clocks may be problematical) if you need to. When I went to Germany and England, I found some converters at my local Staples store in the USA. The plug converter was something like $20 and the voltage converter was somewhat more expensive ($30?).

I did have one problem -- I carry a lot of electrical gear that needs charging, so I carried an extension cord to provide 5 sockets or so. All of my gear could handle 110 or 220 volts without voltage conversion, but running 220 volts through the extension cord fried it out.
 
Mr_2Tone said:
Thank you for your answers, I will certainly try the airport if I
cannot find one here before I leave.
Click to expand...
I would imagine the prices at the airport would be typically higher than you can get it elsewhere, but sometimes the convenience is worth the extra change. I've seen plug converters in places like Walmart, Staples, Radio Shack, etc,
 
Doehns said:
The standard Euro-Plug did not fit into the Italina style sockets
in the house in Tuscany I went in spring,
Click to expand...
I had my E-300 with me in Padova/Padua September 2005 and the plug went into the hotel wall socket quite fine. I've got a cord with what you'd call Europlug, at least according to what Tim the Grey posted. It worked fine in Germany too.

So, if the OP goes to a hotel, I think he won't have problems. And yes, buying at airports is not advisable. The hotel will probably know a proper store to buy a cord.
 
I would try to buy the adapters here before leaving, unless you're an experienced traveler that can speak italian and have lots of time to spend at the airport.

Our first hotel in Rome had several kinds of outlets. The bathroom one took the US plug while the bedrom oytlet was the two round hole type. No adapters from hotel, but I brought my own.
 
Michael Meissner said:
but running 220 volts through the extension
cord fried it out.
Click to expand...
Be careful of any power boards or extension cords that have "noise suppression" or whatever. If normally used on 110V they will be built with devices that will self destruct if fed something over maybe 125V so they are not suitable to adapt to 220v - 240v countries where the suppressors in their versions self destruct at maybe 275v.

If a device (like the BLM-1 charger) is rated at 100-240V then all is OK just about anywhere on the planet, except the very odd place that may use DC mains current.

To find pin layouts have a look at any country here...

http://www.korjo.com/cpa/htm/fs_secondary.asp?load=htm_adapter_guide.asp&page_id=6
or Google for power adapters.

Regards........... Guy
 
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