Hi All,
I am shopping around for a voltage converter for my mom . She is travelling from California to Europe and Isreal this summer. There seem to be a lot available but all the pictures I have seen so far lseem to lack a third ground prong. She wants top run her hair dryer, curling iron, and heating pad. The hair dryer have a ground prong. What should I do? Do they not make voltage converters with a ground prong? If so , why? Anything else I should watch out for?
Thanks in advance,
Michael
They are available with a ground prong, eg:
However, these auto-transformer based units are either very heavy or limited to 100W or so. That may be enough for the curling iron and heating pad, but not for the hair drier.
There are rectifier based units that can handle kW. They are very light, do have ground prongs and work well with things like irons and heaters. However, I wouldn't use it with anything with a motor.
I would suggest buying the hair drier on arrival. They are widely available for not a lot. Leave it for the hotel cleaning staff when returning..
However, if she is determined to use her own, there are these:
Leave them behind and buy 230V versions in the first country.
If she's staying in hotels, chances are they'll have a hair dryer, either in the room or at the front desk.
Otherwise, as the other posters have suggested, she should just buy one when she gets there, or go to a travel type store and buy dual-voltage appliances, preferably compact styles.
Good transformers can easily cost more than the appliances they're supposed to run, and it's all added weight and bulk that won't be much fun to lug around.
CS
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