Stupid T21 UK vs. US power cable question

[lilirose]

I live in Ireland and have a T21. I'm planning a short trip to the States and want to be able to recharge my T21 while I'm there.

Am I correct in thinking that I only need to get a US-wired "mickey mouse" power cable and will then be able to plug my T21 to any wall outlet in the US? We're on 230v power over here (same as in the UK)- I know that in the States they use 110v, but the power supply will automatically handle either one, correct?

If I'm correct in thinking I only need a US power cable, does anyone know where I can grab one cheaply online? I looked on Ebay but only found one seller who seemed a bit dodgy based on feedback.

Please don't tell me to purchase one when I'm in the States as I'll be going straight from the airport to my hotel, attending a conference at the hotel, and going straight back to the airport after- I won't have transport or time to go shopping, so I need to have what I need before I leave.

Thanks in advance and sorry if this is a completely daft question!

[Sportler2k3]

have a look on ur power adapter it should tell u if its compatible with both, 110 and 230 V

it shoult tell u some like this:
Input 110-240~

if so just get an adapter/us power cable in every bigger store, or in a camping/travel store.

[lilirose]

Sportler2k3, thanks for your quick response. Obviously this is my first laptop and my first time travelling with a laptop.

It says "input" in two places on the power supply...the top one says Input 100/240v - 1.3A-0.7A- 50-60hz, then a couple of lines lower down it says Input: 100v 50-60hz 130VA. Hence my confusion.

I live in a very rural part of Ireland and I'm afraid that there aren't any large computer or camping/travel stores anywhere near me. Since petrol is so expensive these days it'd probably be cheaper to buy online than to travel 100 miles to a larger city in hopes of finding one.

[JHEM]

Dear Lili,

Flying out of Dublin?

There are several places in the airport itself where you can purchase the correct power cord, but they will be very dear.

You can also purchase them upon arrival in the US at kiosks in the airport.

You shouldn't pay more than US$5 for one.

Regards,

James

[Sportler2k3]

jhem is right. u can buy them at the airports, sorry havent thought of that before

[lilirose]

Thanks very much to you both- James, I'm actually flying out of Shannon, which isn't quite as civilised as Dublin.

Now that I know I can simply buy a plug adapter that makes things simpler...I'll still want to have one before I leave (just so I know I'm prepared) but it's extremely helpful to know that the power supply itself won't go "boom" if I plug it in to a US mains outlet!

[rkawakami]

Getting slightly off topic, but it is related to the original post and it's a good story

<snip> but it's extremely helpful to know that the power supply itself won't go "boom" if I plug it in to a US mains outlet!

In your case, plugging something designed for 220v only into a 110v outlet probably won't make any sound at all. However, in my case doing the opposite I can tell you the sound is more of a "bang" than a "boom". Just a few days ago I plugged in a mint condition Sun Ultra 5 into an outlet that was attached to a large memory tester. We were having problems with our existing Sun so I went out and found a system that was being offered locally. Checked it out before purchase and it looked brand new and worked great. The owner had even installed a fresh copy of Solaris 10 on it. Anyway, brought it back to work and swapped it with our existing system. All of the cabling (power and data) goes into a small desk that's part of the tester. It didn't really register to me that the power cord had a bright yellow tag at the end of it, nor did I think about the fact that the tester is wired for 3-phase 220v. Plugged everything in, and with the boss watching, flipped the power switch on the back of the Sun workstation. BANG! (not boom). Instantly, I knew what was wrong. The original Sun Ultra 5 had a universal power supply (i.e. just like the IBM AC adapters which take 100v to 220v as the input). The yellow tag was a caution (duh!) that said the voltage being supplied was 220v Well, the replacement Sun had a switchable power supply that was obviously still set to 110v. Needless to say, I had to find another Sun system in a hurry. The power supply was the "bang" which took out the motherboard as well. The memory, hard drive and CDROM drive survived the overvoltage intact. My pride did not . .

The moral of the story: ALWAYS read the tags at the end of any power cable before plugging it into anything

[lilirose]

That gave me a laugh, Ray...I brought a desktop PC with a switchable power supply over to the US when I was there for a longer stay five years ago, so have dealt with the power supply issue on a desktop, just never on a laptop (or should I be saying "notebook"?).

I also know a few people who have brought computers over here from the States and ended up with fried components- actually I used to run a computer shop building and repairing desktop PCs so I had to fix some of those "oops" situations. On one occasion there was actually a visible hole burned right through the motherboard.

Funny that this is my first experience with a laptop/notebook PC after being a desktop hardware fanatic for so long...we used to tell people not to buy laptops/notebooks because they were so difficult to upgrade and repair, but am pleased to be very wrong about that when it comes to the ThinkPad series.

I'm really loving this T21 despite the fact that it's got a few years on it already. I bought it cheap so I could go online when travelling but have found myself using it more than my (newer, faster) desktop machine. May have to start saving my pennies for a newer ThinkPad.