I’ll be traveling from the US to Asia where the voltage ranges from 100/200, to 220/380, all at a current of 50. Will the charger (Phonak Marvel) handle the change like modern cellphones, or should I take my backup HA with plenty of batteries? I just don’t trust converters for that range. I sure don’t want to blow 'em up!
“380”? “Current” of “50”? These numbers and terms aren’t technically accurate, in my knowledge and experience.
The residential wall-plug voltage ranges across the world range from 100V to 240V. The frequency of the AC power is 60Hz in the USA and certain other areas, but 50Hz in most of the world.
All these chargers today are made with switching power adapter circuits that handle usually 80V-250V at 50-60Hz to cover all bases. You only need to adapt the prongs.
I don’t have my Phonak charging brick with me but below is a photo someone posted of the Phonak Naida CL PowerCel charging brick. It’s rated at 100-240V at 50-60Hz which is pretty standard. You can either get a replacement snap-in prong assembly or an aftermarket prong adapter.
DO NOT use a “voltage converter”. That chops the AC waves to transform the 220 to 110 volts on the average for resistive loads only (like a light bulb). It will probably burn out your charging brick.
Just check your Phonak plug in charging brick and make sure it’s rated up to 220 or 240 volts like the one below, and get a cheap, little prong adapter for the wall socket.
Here is an example of the type of simple prong-adapters you need.
Or you could just get there and buy a native USB charging adapter. USB is a universal standard for regulated, filtered 5.0VDC (unless you get a crappy one that malfunctions!).
I travel a lot and have only had problems in places where the power is very erratic and spikes and surges. If you are heading to places like that a surge protector is good to have. Any place that has running water should be fine.
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Thank you both, and sorry for the imprecise numbers. What I got from a website showed this:
Cambodia 50 220/380
Japan 50 100/200
Thailand 50 220/380
Vietnam 50 120/208, 220/380
I was looking at the charger itself, and didn’t see any applicable numbers. On the “brick” (which is actually quite small and easy to take with me), it states 50/60Hz and 100-240V. That’s a relief. I like the idea of taking a small surge protector, since I will be in some potentially erratic power situations.
The numbers 380 and 208 are the voltages between two phases. They are not relevant when discussing small chargers as they take there power between one phase and neutral. Don’t be concerned if this doesn’t make sense to you as it doesn’t apply to small electrical equipment.
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Mo, use a simpler web site. Here is a link to the Wikipedia page that has all the residential power settings and won’t confuse you with industrial 3-phase power systems as Patgreen points out. A quick scan shows that most are 230 and below. A few are 240, the max that the power brick will take. (And don’t worry, the power bricks are rated conservatively.)
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