Thinkpads Forum

A quick question about power supplies from someone in Canada who's never travelled to the UK.

I've got a 600X and I think the recommended approach is to buy the appropriate UK cord to use on one side of my power supply. However, I've got a simple tiny adapter that will change my North American two-prong plug-end into a UK-compatible two-prong plug-end. Do I really need the actual UK power cord?

Phil.

That'll work just fine. Your 600X should still have a universal (100-240V) power supply -- as long as that's the case, the adapter will be all you need.

I've used plug adapters like that (Australia to US) and depending upon the design (strength of metal tabs that accept the US plug and how close the dimensions are of the plug that is for the country you are traveling to is to specification), you may have a "loose" connection. That said, the UK adapter that I got in the adapter kit I got several years ago seems to hold onto the US plug quite well. It is similar to this one:

Radio Shack UK AC adapter

Phil,
just for fun you should travel to Germany, France and Switzerland as well. They all have different power plugs.
So much for the European "Union".

Germany and France are usually handled by a single plug that does both types of grounding. And if you have a two-prong plug (like my X31), you can also do Switzerland with that same plug.

But the UK plug ... if you have multiple UK power cords and adapters to carry, forget about carry-on luggage!

The two prongs from both Germany and France do not fit in a Swiss outlet. But if you take the middle-prong (ground) from the Swiss plug out, you can use it anywhere in Europe, even in the UK and Ireland.
It then becomes the universal type C plug.
You just stick a biro or a small key or whatever in the (UK-version) single upper outlet hole (ground) to release the cover for the other Life/Neutral pins.

To find out about the plug-confusion, see Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_co ... requencies

The small non-grounded two-prong ("euro") plug -- which is what I have for my X31 -- does fit, I believe:

http://www.tuxgraphics.org/electronics/ ... g_euro.jpg

But then maybe this is what you are referring to as well?

That's exactly what I was referring to.

Right. Similarly, the US two-prong plugs work in Japan as well, but finding suitable three-prong outlets can be a challenge.

Another point in favour of my trusty X31 (with a two-prong power supply) ...

Thanks for all the help, everyone! I've already got a travel adapter kit, so I'll just bring along the appropriate adapter now.

RealBlackStuff wrote:Phil,
just for fun you should travel to Germany, France and Switzerland as well. They all have different power plugs.

I actually spent a year in Germany with a Thinkpad 760 and I brought along a heavy brick (~5lb) step-down transformer along with a North American power bar, so I could plug my entire computer and stereo setup into the trasnformer using the standard North American plugs. I forget what all I brought, but I think I had a zip drive, an external PCMCIA CD writer, powered speakers, and a portable printer.

Phil.

just be relaxed to use your TP in england
coze Hong Kong here is using the UK standard,
and i last time traveled to USA, just use the same power adapter
with a universal plug convertor( dunt know is a convertor, a simple device changing the plug from 2 pin to 3.)
and it worked fine(i forgot US standard is 220V or 110v)
the same case in Taiwan trip , i just did the exact same thing
and this time is 110V power (In hong kong is 220v)

so i suppose u can use it in UK.