Outlets in Hungary

Grundlestiltskin

So my girlfriend is going to Budapest today, she's trying to figure out how usable her appliances will be over there; specifically her iron and her hair dryer. She says the iron says it's "dual voltage" but the hair dryer doesn't say anything like that. If she picks up some kind of a converter at the airport, will she be able to use everything over there? What have peoples' experiences been with power outlets in Europe, generally speaking?

TrippyDK

If she buys one from the airport, make sure its a voltage converter, and not just a plug converter. Thats the mistake I made going to Europe this year.

Everywhereasign

First take a look at the appliances in question. Everything that plugs in has the Input and Output power details written on it, it's the law. If they have a "brick" that plugs in it's on that. It's on the handle of some hair dryers.

You're interested in the Input.

It should say something along the lines of "100v - 240v AC 50/60Hz" then tell you what kind of amperage it's pulling depending on the volts.

As long as the electronic in question lists at least 230v as the maximum voltage all you are going to need is the plug adapter, not the voltage converter. This is good because they tend to be much cheaper smaller and lighter. You can get a universal one that has all the plugs in the world for under 30 dollars, it'll be your best friend when traveling in the future.

If it only lists 110 as the input voltage (like a DS charger) you will need a voltage converter. This gets a little trickier. You need to make sure that the converter you buy is beefy enough for the amperage the device is pulling. The hairdryer, for one, jumps out as an energy hog. The converter will list what it's capable of doing, the info about voltage/amperage that's on the device will help you. Some converters are helpful by only listing the maximum watts the converter can handle so you might have to do some math (Watts=Amps x Volts) remember that in Hungary although it will be pulling in 230 volts from the wall, the converter will bring it down to 110, make sure you use that for your math.

Both the items you listed pull a metric shit tonne of current. My iron will only work off of 110v and pulls 1200 watts. (Most of the cheap voltage converters are only for 50 - 100 watts) My hairdryer (okay, it's my girlfriend's) will accept 250volts.

Generally speaking, as long as you do your homework and know what your appliances/electronics are capable of, you can get away with just the plug adapters. If you don't do your homework and plug a 110v appliance into 230 volts it will have a spectacularly brilliant but short life.

CrystalMethodist

bizarre question: is she going on BSM?

I lived in Budapest for a semester, so if you have any questions about ANYTHING, definitely PM me. It seems like Everywhereasign covered the power issue, though.