...uh, and those of any other nationality that may be able to help!!!!! In the UK, we use this sort of lead for most game consoles - Xbox, PSX, PS2, Saturn....... in fact, they are standard on most radios, hi-fis, VCRs, DVD players... any low current (3A ish) mains appliance, really. In the US, I know that some consoles (e.g. Playstation, Saturn) have a similar lead... BUT it has one flat side: Can anyone tell me whether the UK style lead is available in the US, with a US plug on it? Before anyone says it, I know that the mains voltages are different, but that doesn't matter. The reason I am asking is because I bought a digital camera here in the UK for my friend in the US, but I am unable to find a US-style lead for the charger. It will operate on both voltage ranges, so is suitable to plug into the US mains. If these are available, could anyone tell me where my friend could get one? Either a high street store, or a website... although the store would be preferable. Any idea of cost? Thanks in advance for any help!
We have both kinds of ends here in the US. The rounded and the squared. Also, there's nothing to prevent you from using one type in a machine that wants the other. I did that with my Saturn for years since I didn't want to buy a new AC plug for it, my Saturn had a slot for a rounded flug, but I only had a squared off plug, so I just shaved off a bit of the plastic on the rounded side and stuck it in. The style with one side squared off is only like that to prevent a reversed circuit (negative to positive and positive to negative), but that doesn't really matter with modern electronics. I'm not sure if you're asking about wjhere to buy them in the US or UK. I don't think we have "High Street Stores" in the US, but that sort of cable should be easily obtainable just about anywhere from Radio Shack to Longs Drugs to a neighborhood thrift store. It'd probably be about $8 - 10 for a brand new one or like 99cents for a used one at a thrift store. eBay is probably also loaded with them. ...word is bondage...
Cool, I shall get looking - thanks! Yeah I meant in the US - the camera is now in my friend's hands, who needs a cable as the battery is dead! Yeah, never understood that... I thought it would be a polarity issue, if not for two points.... a) US plugs can be plugged into the mains either way round, surely? b) Mains current is AC anyway - alternating current, so both pins carry the positive at some stage! If you put a (small!) AC voltage across a multimeter set to DC, you should see it waver from + to -.. e.g. if it is 5V AC, using an analogue multimeter, your needle would bounce from -5V to 5V. Metronome on a budget haha Ooh, and I'd count Radio Shack as a high street store, if it is a big chain that you'll find in most towns British terminology I guess - just means chain store, as in a shop you'll find on most high streets.
Actually, one of the two prongs on US-style plugs is wider as is one of the slots on our wall outlets, so that you should only be able to plug them in one way. However, some AC plugs don't have the one prong wider and some older houses have outlets without one slot wider, so it's all pretty pointless, I think. Yeah, this is my understanding, too, but I have to assume that there is some theoretical possibility of problems or else they wouldn't do this stuff...would they? Yeah, I guess they probably would actually. Ah, okay, I was never exactly sure what "high street store" meant even though I've seen people from the UK refer to it countless times. We don't really have High Streets in the US, either, though. Actually, the town where I went to college had a High St., but it didn't have any shops on it at all. In the US, you'd probably say like Main Street shops or something. ...word is bondage...
Retro! Were the all where you?! i made a thread to find you, you know? completly off-topic, i know, i just couldn't resist.
Uh... as long as we are on the topic of being off-topic...Sweater Fish, why don't you put "...word is bondage..." in your sig instead of just writing it every time. It seems a 'lil easier.
Not doing it at all would be even easier, so obviously the easiest solution is not what I seek. ...word is bondage...
that? all consoles have a square and round one, the only one that i know of that has 2 round ones is the xbox.
Just becareful, you don't want to experience 220VAC at, god knows, how many amperes (thats what can kill you, not volts) if you screw up somewhere.
It's not too bad. And current depends on resistance (remember V=IR lads...) so just don't touch it with sweaty hands. Virtual alan: The charger I expect is double earthed (i.e. plastic casing) so the earth pin is most likely redundant on the UK cable. So you're friend could simply cut the UK cable and put a US plug on the end (I'm not sure if this is so common to do in the US, but here people regularly put different plugs on the end of a cable, because it is easy to do since it is how you change a fuse.)
Thanks for the replies, some handy hints there. Let's see.... Well, the device in question IS an external adapter. You can't get this camera in the US... not under this model anyway, so getting the charger there would prove difficult! In fact, Olympus market it as a worldwide charger - it is rated (for safety standards) in the US, too. Just it only comes with Euro and UK leads The voltage thing is a puzzle to me - in the UK those plugs are insertable either way round - our plugs are fused on the positive so it obviously doesn't matter! Oh, its a 230V device in the US, so it wouldn't be the wrong way round were it not dual range. It would have NOT ENOUGH power... but yes, US things (e.g. PS2s) do go bang here! My friend told me her XBox (US) has a rounded both sides plug, so I was confused when I saw Radio Shack selling replacement leads for Xbox, PS2 and Dreamcast.... they're different shapes!!! Cool cahaz, I'll track down the thread and reply in a bit!! Nice to be missed, hehe!
I used US-style plugs when I lived in Saudi, and at least over there you were able to just buy plugs that you can wire up yourself like the_steadster was talking about - and I can buy them in my local Maplin - so I can only assume you can buy replacement plugs in the US too.
Indeed what I was wondering - whether you can buy the plugs in a hardware store just like you can 3 pin plugs in the UK. Do they do them in the States? Much like here, products always seem to be sold with moulded plugs... but sometimes you might need to replace them, for whatever reason!!
