Adapters vs converters, explained by a plug

Every year, thousands of travellers buy a plug adapter, plug in their hair dryer in a London hotel, and witness a small, smelly miracle. Plugbert would like that to stop.

The adapter: a costume

A plug adapter is a costume for your plug. It changes the shape so your plug fits into a foreign wall. It does absolutely nothing to the electricity. If 230 volts comes out of the wall, 230 volts goes into your device.

That's fine for most things you travel with, because most modern electronics are dual voltage. Your phone charger, laptop brick, camera charger, e-reader, and Nintendo Switch dock all happily accept anything from 100 to 240 volts.

The converter: a translator

A voltage converter (or step-down transformer) actually changes the voltage. It takes 230 V and turns it into 120 V, or vice versa. Converters are heavy, they get hot, and the cheap ones are rated for a few minutes of use at a time.

You only need one if you're bringing a single-voltage device to a country with a different voltage. In practice, that's almost always something with a heating element:

• Hair dryers
• Curling irons and straighteners (unless they have a voltage switch)
• Kettles, coffee makers, rice cookers
• Older electric shavers

Plugbert's honest advice

Don't buy a converter. Buy a cheap dual-voltage travel hair dryer, or use the one bolted to the hotel bathroom wall. Converters for high-wattage devices are bulky, and the travel-sized ones lie about their wattage.

How to tell what you've got

Flip your charger over and find the line that starts with INPUT. If it reads 100-240V ~ 50/60Hz, you need an adapter and nothing else. If it reads 120V ~ 60Hz and you're going to Europe, leave it at home.

Not sure? Type it into the label decoder and Plugbert will read it for you.