Middle_Seat

Looking at my collection of adapters, I see 3 different pin diameters.

The "earthed" (grounded) adapter has a round body and fits down into a matching receptacle (often seen in toilet rooms and other places around water). It has the largest pins (4.8mm ?).

A flat pin to blade adapter has pins which are slightly smaller (4.0mm ?). In the past I've tried to plug it into a grounded receptacle and no power would flow.

A small plugin USB power supply has still smaller diameter pins, which are half metal and half white plastic.

I concur with others who have stated that almost any electronic device you use will be marked 105-240 Volts, meaning you can use it anywhere. The last thing I had that only worked on American voltage was a Palm Pilot.

And, to chime in with others, please please don't stick some metal into the outlet to make it work...that's a recipe for disaster for you, your family, and future room occupants.

Marathon Man

Then when we get to the plane or hotel and we find an old outlet that has loose holes, where no thickness of mm and earthed and unearthed and plastic metal square round adapter charger ext chord powersrtip ductape holds, what should we do? Will maintenance come up for us on our visit or will it just aid the next guy?


I have found that when on business trips, for example, we should have backup plans for things, but often times we rely upon the fact that any given hotel claims to have wifi. And when you get there and the wifi is shite or non existent, you have to drive around town looking for a signal or go to some Starbucks like entity to get work done.

Well that's one thing and maybe there are ways to eventually solve the problem and get the work done you need to do. But when your plugs don't work, what do you do then? I suppose trying to switch rooms could work, but it's not always doable or practical. Too bad these things are on the bottom of the list for things to do as far as keeping up the room quality goes. The Hilton Nordica Reykjavik was relatively new and updated, but again, their wall outlets were loose no matter how ya sliced it. We got it to work but it wasn't pretty. In that trip it wasn't business and it's not like having one's electronics fully charging is a matter of life or death, but still, we paid for the room to be a working room of a certain quality. If I wanted bad outlets and poor plug sockets I could have gotten a motel at South of the Border.

So what do you suggest we do with bad outlets?

ChangingNappies

This, or the one below that comes with universal 6x outlets https://www.110220volts.com/6-strip.html

Marathon Man

while I said it wasnt so much the money, as if the items I buy actually do the trick, I find I have spent over $130 since reading these threads and I have yet to see if it will work and fix the problem. Sure it may make my kludge into a prettier set up that is like what other people here use, but if them holes are use, then they wont work no matter what.

So I am going with the tin foil thing... that is, unless someone here can think of a way to make it so my molten solder will stick to plug prongs... so I cam make my own "earthed" versions. If I am able to successfully dip a layer of lead solder around plug points, I wont be leaving anything behind as might be the case with tin.

So if anyone knows how to make it happen, now's the time.

Thanks

freecia

Grounded adapters fit recessed Schuko sockets a lot better than the ungrounded ones.
https://www.110220volts.com/univ-9shucko.html
https://www.110220volts.com/univ-9shucko-2in1.html

In general, I've found grounded adapters hold up better in loose sockets because there are more points of contact. European recessed sockets also fit a bit snugger when they cradle the bottom of the shape in there. Combine that with a multi-port USB charger with a cord, so the bulk of the charger weight rests on a flat surface instead of hanging from the socket and it usually stays in looser sockets. The 5 port USB charger you've already purchased probably has a C7 figure 8 cord and you can also get various C7 plug configurations to do away with an adapter. There are some C7 to earthed/grounded plug cords.

US grounded adapters usually fit a bit snugger for me than ungrounded, but if the socket is too loose, slightly bending the prongs inward (close together) on a cheap multi tap can help it stay in.

As for planes - sometimes the socket isn't just loose, it is broken. A US grounded adapter helps if it is loose
https://www.110220volts.com/univ-5.html
but I usually travel with an external USB battery for backup power when outlets are broken or unavailable.

I'd be reluctant to DIY fatten cords. If you fatten them and they become difficult to pull out due to the irregular nature, you might inadvertently touch the exposed metal while battling it when packing in a hurry. Electric shock isn't usually considered fun and something I'd definitely be wary of with children around.

A large capacity USB battery would cover most of my use cases (if battery pack has a port which outputs more than 2A) except for a laptop. If all the plugs in the room were bad, I'd feel no guilt about handing over an external battery pack to the front desk and ask them to charge it + send maintenance/electrician or they'll be seeing that battery pack each day. If you'll really be in remote places with irregular power supply, there are solar charged external battery packs. There's also a few external battery packs for laptops but I'd probably decamp to a cafe or hotel lobby to charge up instead, as those external batteries would be a lot heavier for a "just in case" scenario.

fwoomp

I've never run into a socket in a hotel room that was loose enough to cause problems for me, but if I ever do, this thread has given me the solution. I figure all I'll have to do is show it to the hotel staff and say, "So, I would never do such a thing, but there are people out there who are crazy enough to wrap tinfoil around plugs and stick them in loose electrical sockets. Although I'm not such a person, the next guy might be, and as a thank you for telling you about this problem, you'll send someone right up to fix it, right?"

Admittedly, this still doesn't solve the plane problems.

Marathon Man

Ok Thanks

of course I just ordered from them so now I would have to pay a new shipping charge but yeah, I see the grounded units. Of course I always thought "grounded" meant it had a third prong like how some US industrial ext chords are. These items do not have a third prong but I guess grounded means something else internal?

Also, what is c7? You mention it but I am not sure what that means.

As for the plane, yeah I thought it was broken too... but both seats? I was in the middle seat (Once seated it wasn't so easy to try to bend down to see the unit either). These outlets were below our seats so I had one on either side and the lady next to me did not mind me using hers too. Neither worked.

I mentioned bending prongs could work but what is good to bend them with? Not easy to carry needle nose pliers with you in flight this century. Breaking it would stink.

But I guess bending and thus constantly breaking and corrupting my own hundreds of dollars of bulky electrical equipment and adapters that I must constantly chase around for the next one suggested online is far less crazy than coming up with a DYI solution of tin or solder...

I have had the loose socket thing happen to me at least 5 times in recent memory. US and EU. I/We travel a lot. Sometimes I am just plugging in one item like a US plug or ext chord, sometimes the single item Eu iphone adapter shown in my pic in the earlier post, sometimes more. Either way the problem does in fact exist and I tend to think ppl are lucky who have NOT yet had it happen. We can tell hotels and hopefully they respond promptly, and we can even write to airports and planes (fortunately many US airports have charge ports for plugs and USB but many international ones still do not) but the problem falls on us to just be lucky.

Stay lucky my friends.

ChangingNappies

Unlike in the US, the earthed plug has in France an additional hole and the socket has a prong. In Germany tgere is no prong in the socket, but two side contacts at the top and bottom of the socket. The plug is the same for germany and France. Unlike in the US you can use an earthed plug in unearthed sockets in France and Germany without any adapter.

Tin foil, as said previpusly, is a bad, and potentialy dangerous solution. In Europe, most fairly recent sockets have kid protection shutter that block the holes in the socket. They unlock when you plug in the plug as both prongs apply similar force on the shutters at the same time. This shutter will most probably rip the tin foil from the prongs. It can be dangerous if there is some tin foil that remain inside the socket, and even worse if it partialy sticls out.
in foil is a dangerous.
In my experience, I only had the following issues in Europe:
- the whole socket was loose (partialy hanging from the wall)
- US camera charger without cord was a hanging a bit loose from the EU-US adapter (the adapter was fitting well in the socket).

And as for bending prongs, its easyli done with unearthed ones (partialy on plastic), but good luck with the 4.8mm earthed ones!

ioto1902

If the socket is loose, slightly bend one of the plug bits inward.

Universal adapters are bulky and heavy, and sometimes you don't have space to plug them in the wall. Instead, favor a one to one adapter. You'll have many of them at home, but, at least, you'll travel light.

Don't overload a socket with too many devices. They'll need more time to charge as they'll share more amperes.

Buy as much as you can extra batteries, or XL batteries to avoid having to charge at the airport, on board, or anywhere else.

And spend more time visiting rather than having your noses on your screens !

Marathon Man

Ok fine no foil. Ya gotta give me credit for at least trying to come up with something. Tin or solder. The idea here was to try to find some sort of solution and if one is bad, at least it's getting the brain ticking and hopefully inspiring others to do the same, other than to "just" go buy the next thing.

bending can work but again, it is not something you can do easily and carefully without a tool. I suppose trying to bend something in a door jam might work --Of course bending a flat prong of a US plug is easier than a EU one and yeah the thicker EU ones would be hard to bend without snapping off.

We mostly travel to the Netherlands to see family. I am happy to report I have never had the problem there. And did not have it in Germany last September either. I'll find out if the Le Meridien SPG in Munich has the issue later this month but I shall have my pouch of electronic joy in tow anyway.

I tend to think the northwestern EU countries such as these experience the problems a lot less than others. And of course, any new or updated hotel or facility. I should think any outlet in those countries that comes with that child protector you mention (and we have them in the US too) is new enough to not have the looseness problem either.

`Airports (hall ways with some outlets) usually have the issue
`older hotels would
`cheaper hotels would
`hotels in countries that went bankrupt would
`many planes would too, since in my opinion, they do a lot less to clean and maintain the interiors of planes than they used to or should... so they can turn them around a lot faster and make more money packing in the sardines for the next flight. A heavily used domestic US plane like a MD88 that hauls you back and forth from say BOS-JFK is gonna be so under maintained you will get lice just sitting in your seat. Forget about bad plugs, if any even exist. I wouldn't expect that route to have them but you get the point. We used what I call a domestic US Delta flight to fly JFK-KEF and then WOW from JFK-BOS. Both had that same feel to me... domestic planes, where the last thing on the minds of the maintenance crew is checking bad outlets.

Marathon Man

We know we can more easily bend a US flat shaped prong than a EU one... so the "HOW" of bending the prongs when in flight or at some EU hotel is something no one has answered yet.

Yes, overloading aint good. I have done it out of necessity but dont plan to in the future. Although in a room with things plugged in over night, they all do charge anyway.

"just buying" more batteries doesn't always cut it. You certainly cannot do that for iDevices... dont even get me started on that (or their unwillingness to allow people to add content with a USB connection)

The last one is uncalled for. I mentioned in my first thread that people have their own reasons and needs for bringing and using fully charged devices in travel. Could be work, kids, watching movies late night if you cannot sleep, or pure addiction to the internet. We are not here to judge. The FACT is, people (like me/family) want and need our devices.

the issue is that the electricity in our room or at our seat doesn't properly work. These days, in 2015, unless voluntarily camping in the desert or something, we kinda expect and require working electricity. If this were say 1915 I would adjust my thinking on that one. But it's not. If we go on a trip to places that are still stuck in that era, we will leave the tablets at home.

ChangingNappies

I do. And I also give you credit for refraining from trying that on a plane

Marathon Man

Gee lets just hope no evil Dewars are watching this thread

Mike Rivers

I've encountered the "loose outlet syndrome" in hotels. I suspect that it's due to vacuum cleaners plugged into them every day and having the cables yanked out. Oh, and the use of cheap outlets, too, since "nobody uses them."

While it's not much help on an airplane, where I usually have to get down on my knees with a flashlight to even find the outlet, at a hotel, I'll ask for a long extension cord. Most will provide one, though often they misunderstand and send up a multi-outlet strip with about a 4 foot cable. Given about 10 feet of extension cord, I can usually find an outlet that will hold a plug and get the socket to where I want to use it. I've started carrying a cheap extension cord in my computer bag just to be sure.

The USB power adapter that I carry has two outlets. On occasion when on a plane, I've offered the second usb outlet to a seat mate having trouble with an AC outlet.

gfunkdave

While this is sound advice if considering plugging in multiple hair dryers and TV sets, the 40 or so watts you'll draw from charging 4-5 electronic gizmos won't be anywhere near the 3400 or so watts the outlet is capable of delivering before you blow a fuse.

Each device will draw as much current (measured in amperes) as it needs, up to the limits of the charger you're using.