From: filippo 
Newsgroups: soc.culture.italian soc.culture.europe alt.politics.italy soc.culture.spain soc.culture.german uk.misc uk.finance
Subject: Re: Electrical plugs in the EU
Date: Wed, 03 Mar 2004 10:11:20 +0000

*apologies for X-posting

David Bloom wrote:

> 
> 
> arachedeux wrote:
> 
>> "David Bloom"  wrote i

>> > When traveling through the EU how many electrical plugs is one
>> > likely to run into, and is the electric current stable in the EU.
>> > So that a laptop computer adapter wont go bonkers, and clocks
>> > keep various times.
>>
>> In my experience the wiring in DE, NE, BE, LUX, & SUI is the best in
>> Europe, you'll find locals using their laptops while they're in the bath
>> becuase of the inbuilt earthing system.
>> cheers,
> 
> 220 volts AC in the bath tub, are they nuts (!) ? 110 volts may
> tickle a bit, but I would not want to test what 220 volts would do.
> The real question is, are most plugs the two round holed 220
> volt 50 cycles plugs?


If your concern is electrocution in the bath, then stay assured that
110 volts is plenty to get killed, if you happen to provide a good bridge
from the live wire to earth (not to say if you touch the neutral too...).
You are right anyway: 220V is way too high for most purposes.
Actually, tension is more likely to be found in the 240V range (in Europe),
as triphase is more likely to be set at 400V rather than 380V. 
No matter what the exact figures are, however, _nominal_ electrical tension
is one and the same across EU. 
Ah yes, frequency is 50 Hz, not 60.
German type electrical plugs are probably the easiest to find
outside of their own country, and are a very common
standard, even because lots of domestic appliances (whose brand
is German) are fitted with them by default, although I find the British
ones safer: being asymmetrical, they keep you from randomly swapping live
and neutral; from, even deliberately, shunting the earth with your fingers,
unlike the German  external earth cage; and, mostly important, they are
fused.
As far as stability is concerned, I can quote the specifications
ENEL (the Italian provider) gives for its power delivery: plus or
minus 10%, which is a huge ripple for most "sensitive" appliances.
The power adapter of your laptop should act as buffer, though.