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Getting Charged Internationally


Guest WPalank

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A great little international travel device I was gifted over the Holidays:

 

Travel Tip: International Connections | A Leica and a Dab of DEET...

 

Ok, you can all now get back to your "Which bag?" and "Which single lens to use within the Paris sewer system?" threads.

 

Bill: Thank you! I've been looking for something like this. But I went to the Tumi site and there is no such thing listed (in US), just the adapter w/o the usb charger part. Do you happen to have a model number?

 

By the way, the Paris sewer system lens is a trick question, isn't it?

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Thanks William, I'll check it out. Looks very useful! The variety of different plugs and sockets is truly amazing. Also baffling and utterly pointless. And why some cell phone chargers work with some cell phones and not others, and why every camera battery needs a separate charger, is beyond comprehension. More on electrickery here: Electricity around the world: everything about plugs, sockets, voltages, converters, etc.

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The UK has been standardised since the 1920s, converting from round to square pins in the 1960s. That's a hotel trick. Many older ones still have round-pin sockets for table lamps and the like to stop people plugging in and using their electricity. ;)

 

By the same logic, British Rail used to have a 3-pin bayonet fitting for their bulbs in carriages to dissuade theft.

 

Regards,

 

Bill

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The UK has been standardised since the 1920s, converting from round to square pins in the 1960s.

 

That's not the case.

 

When I was a nipper in the 60s my grandparent's house had non-standard plugs. The plugs were round with what I assumed was a neutral pin in the middle and the pos/neg pins to the left and right of that.

 

I've found a photograph here - look for "Wylex" plug...

 

AC power plugs and sockets - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

You can see that there were other non-standard plugs available until fairly recently.

 

Probably time to take off my anorak and hang it up.

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Steve, that's genuinely interesting. My Grandfather was Chief Maintenance Electrician at Vickers in Weybridge during the War, working later for Airscrew Howden and Peto Scotts. Our house in the 1960s was late Victorian and was equipped throughout with standard British "round pin" plugs and sockets, which he had put in. He had some other plugs and sockets in his shed (an Aladdin's Cave for a small boy). I am aware of "regional variations" and specific plug and socket combinations in industry that existed beyond the 1950s and before the application of BS but I was unaware of the "wylex" until now.

 

Regards,

 

Bill

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Steve & Bill, you both must have lived in luxury. In the early 60's, we didn't even have any wall sockets. Anything electrical, such as the iron or the radiogram, had to be plugged in to an adaptor that went between the bulb and the fixture for the ceiling light. :( It was only in 1967 that we moved into a flat that had wall sockets. :)

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I think it was the benefit of my Grandfather's skills as much as anything. I recall the house still having a "scullery" with a marble shelf in the larder on which to put things to keep them cool, and I recall the man coming to read the meter, emptying it out onto the kitchen table and piling up the shillings in shiny towers as he counted it. My Grandmother always gave him a glass of sherry as he worked.

 

I still have his 1922 Bush radio, btw, in full working order :cool:

 

Regards,

 

Bill

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Hands up everyone who remembers the days when every time you bought a lamp or electrical appliance you had to remember to buy the correct plug as well. Then when you got it home you had to find a screwdriver and pliers and wire up the plug before you could use whatever it was you'd bought.

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Hands up everyone who remembers the days when every time you bought a lamp or electrical appliance you had to remember to buy the correct plug as well. Then when you got it home you had to find a screwdriver and pliers and wire up the plug before you could use whatever it was you'd bought.

 

Not so very long ago. Well double that to account for memory loss!

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The UK has been standardised since the 1920s, converting from round to square pins in the 1960s. That's a hotel trick. Many older ones still have round-pin sockets for table lamps and the like to stop people plugging in and using their electricity. ;)

 

This was a hotel built in 1990; I think it was just an accommodation to the differently plugged.

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This was a hotel built in 1990; I think it was just an accommodation to the differently plugged.

 

Watt!? Shocking! That they should ampere their guests in such a way?! I hope you led a re-volt and had them reduce the charge for the room...

 

Regards,

 

Bill

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Watt!? Shocking! That they should ampere their guests in such a way?! I hope you led a re-volt and had them reduce the charge for the room...

 

Regards,

 

Bill

 

Is this situation still current? I try to stay nuetral, and live quietly on this Earth, but I'm positive that this could be a negative attraction at that hotel. I would re-fuse to pay, or at least resist to my full capacity. :D

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Watt!? Shocking! That they should ampere their guests in such a way?

 

Especially since most guests thought of it as an ohm from ohm.

 

I believe it was rather popular with the younger generation. That's why they referred to it as a coulomb.

 

The prices were high though, many people found them shocking.

 

Although some people said they wouldn't stay there, they generally found that resistance was futile.

 

Guests loved watching cable TV. The Wire was very popular.

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