As some of you know, I'm moving to the US on my own next month, but I need to know the standard voltage for a laptop, as I really want to take mine with me. I hear it's around 300 watts, is that right? I'd be grateful if anyone could shed some light on this [img]smile.gif[/img]

I believe the standard voltage over here is 110 volts , but i could be wrong. If you go buy a voltage converter though , you shouldnt have any problems.

[ 07-14-2002, 12:14 PM: Message edited by: The Hunter of Jahanna ]

US uses 120V or so I recall - in any case youll find that you need to order a new adapter for it. Expect to be ripped off. MIght be cheaper to find a decrepit laptop form the same manuafacurer and buy it for the adapter.

Perhaps I'm mistaken, but being a laptop it boils down to the power cord does it not? I haven't played with a laptop in a few years, but the ones I did the converter came with the cord. Just call up the manufacturer and see if they have a 120V power cord.

<font color="#55ccff">Volts and cycles are what you are worried about, Watts are irrelevant to anything but battery life in this case.

US Standard is 110v at 60Hz. The voltage may vary a bit on the line but that is why there are these things called voltage regulators in the powersupplies we use for computers and stuff.</font>

Strange why do the use 110 volt in some contryes and 220 like they do here in Norway why can`t that be the same all over the world?

<font color="#55ccff">Infrastructure and transmission distance has a lot to do with it. 220 will do better over a longer distance, but is much more dangerous than 110. Why no standard? It is really because of about money [img]smile.gif[/img] everyone competes for contracts and the winner is the standard [img]smile.gif[/img] Even Televisions are deifferent..NTSC vs PAL, cell phones are different..GSM vs TSM vs CDMA Europe, Aisa and the USA all seem to want to use a "standard" that is desigend and built in their countryies.It is a mess. :( </font>

Er, yeah, that's what I meant *blushes for lack of electricity-savvyness* :D

Thank you MagiK and others, it's been a great help [img]smile.gif[/img]

The wiring on a house works like this. There ARE actually a total potential of 240 volts coming from the line. You have three wires. Two hot wires, and one neutral(ground). When you use one hot wire and one neutral, you get a total swing of 120 volts. When you use both hot wires, you get a total swing of 240 volts. Some appliances use 240 volts (ie. clothes dryer). Why do the voltages work like this? Because the two hot wires are two halves of a 240 volt AC circuit. As you know, the "hot" wire changes 60 times per second(60 hz.). This means that each side of an AC circuit power source produces half of the total voltage. When you wire one side of an AC circuit to a neutral ground, you only get half of the AC cycle, therefore only half of the total voltage in the circuit. Basically, during the cycle, when one hot wire is swinging up towards 120 volts, the other is at 0 volts. The more I talk about this, the more I realize how complex/confusing it must seem to someone not familiar with electricity basics.

[ 07-15-2002, 12:08 PM: Message edited by: Sir Kenyth ]

If you wait until Yorick reappears, you might like to ask him. I have it on good authority that he is an expert in matters electrical ;)