Traveling to London from US, power convertors?

[khanriazaoif]

Hello, traveling to the UK in two weeks, need to get a power converter or inverter I guess for my iPad, MBPro and my digital and video camera etc. I have no clue what to really look for. Went on amazon and tried typing those keywords in and just don't know what to buy.

When I was in the Marine Corp in 03 we went to Iraq and I was given a box unit that went into the wall plug (in tents we would have an electric outlet on a beam that would get power from generators outside), and from there I could hook up a power extension and hook up multiple devices. The issue I experienced there was that to many things on the strip would blow a fuse in the device which at the time was very hard to replace.

Anyway if anyone knows or could give me some guidance, my wife is from England so this will be a yearly trip likely so I am not looking for necessarily bottom end priced stuff. Im looking for something good at a good price.

Thanks to anyone that does reply, and if I posted in the wrong section IT WAS NOT INTENTIONAL.

 

[spinstorm]

All you need is a compatible plug end with 3 prongs for here in the UK.

Apple's power supplies can handle European power and indeed international power you just need the correct plug!

Just in case you doubt my information - I have a US imported iPad and all I did was swap the US plug for the UK plug which slides on and off the Apple plugs.

I imagine you video and digital camera don't have the easy swappable plugs so you will need an adaptor but they too should have power supplies able to handle international voltage.

 

[poloponies]

For the iPad and MBP you just need a plug adapter, they work on 220V as well as 110V. For your video camera, check the manual.

 

[khanriazaoif]

So you guys are saying for my Apple products I dont need to worry about the voltage difference? Just about plugging it into an adapter to plug it into the wall?

Then for my non apple products check out the manual, and if they cannot handle then I need to find a voltage adapter? If thats the case what is that type of device called?
And is one device enough so I can then plug in the US power strip or would I need one for each device?

 

[Chiisu]

bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=15849193

I might recommend the Kensington travel adapter, but BB&B (as well as other brick & mortar stores probably) has other options.

 

[jzuena]

Something like this would work for any devices that don't have the option to swap in a UK power plug. Be sure you read the reviews where they mention that these adapters don't convert the 240V down to 120V and be sure whatever you plug into them can handle that. I have a couple of similar older design ones from Radio Shack that we've used in Ireland, the UK, France and Italy that work just fine. One is for high draw items like hair driers and curling irons and the other is for items like electronics. I'm usually tripping over them all the time, but because of this thread they are nowhere to be found! I wanted to see if either of them would act as a voltage adapter as well. They only cost around $10 each back in 2003, so probably not.

As far as using a power strip, we always just went with one device at a time plugged into this kind of converter.