Plug adapter for China
 

I've had a heck of a time trying to figure out what kind of plug adapter I need for an upcoming trip to Western China and Tibet. So far, I've been given serially conflicting advice. Is it the angled prong, the smaller version of the US plug, or the boxy contraption with 2 prongs and an extra strut? Or maybe something else altogether???
At this point, if I get 2 answers the same, it wins!

I'd say angled prong but just 2 prongs Japan style should work too.

A website called ADAPTELEC claims that the Chinese plug is the same as the Australian one...

Upper prongs are angled at 30 degrees.. lower is straight and the same size...

EDIT: As Kitsura says, the ungrounded two angled prong adaptor would probably be fine too...

It's Hong Kong and Thailand that had me scratching my head...:D Funny looking adaptor that one!

there are a couple of types of plug used in china. There is the angled prong as you say - three thin bits to it. There is also te two prong (both thin).

Many modern hotel and apartments will have BOTH of these options available and you can use either.

there are also many power board available here which plug straight into the wall (three prong) and then you canhave three or four other devices plug into that power board (they are if you like multi adaptor positions).

i bought a cheap international adaptor in bangkok at a 7/11 (USD4) and it works just fine here.

the major problem is that the three angled prong here is quite thin. So my nokia phone charger - from australia - doesn't go all the way in - there is a little plastic coating right at the base of the prongs on the nokia adaptor and it can't push all the way in. but the problem is solved by the international adaptor, or by using a power board. (but otherwise 'yes' the three prong is similar to australia - but you can easily insert a two prong as well - that is, the three prong version missing the third grounding prong if you know what i mean!)

you can. once you get to china, just shop around at a local store and ask for an adaptor. They are really cheap (maybe 1 or 2 us dollars).

Or just buy an international adaptor before yoou leave - much more expensive but it will give you peace of mind.

The plugs here DO NOT take the boxy contraption type with big square prongs a third sturt - like they have in the UK.

If you have time, you can buy this stuff from dealextreme.com, dirt cheap with free shipping (from HKG).

You can get the ones that take any plug (universal input) and convert it to Australia style and/or whatever you need for Tibet, if it's different than that.

-David

Thanks to everyone
 

Thanks for taking the time to help me out. I'll take what I have (minus the boxy thing). If they don't work, I'll try to find one there. My electronic needs are few, but I'd be lost without a charged camera battery. How will I know I've been on a trip without my pictures??

Try this link:http://www.kropla.com/electric2.htm

It's either two prong similar to what's used in North America, 3 prong similar to what's used in North America but different and the third type is the British style with the big chunky prongs. Also note that current is 220 volt 50 Hz. as opposed to 115 volt 60 Hz used in North America.

Any plug these days that's worth its salt will be fully 110-240v compatible. It looks like china is moving to the NA physical design, makes me really happy, china's my #1 intl destination. Maybe soon, they'll adopt ASTC and NA's LTE 4G technology rather than their own crappy contraption.

Edit: Argh!! I described the thing backwards! The straight holes are on top, not the bottom!


In general I see a 5-pin outlet here.

The top two holes are as others have mentioned like a US plug but slanted. There's a center ground hole and then slots below that take US type plugs. (I've got a couple of chargers plugged in right now with no adapter whatsoever.)

It's quite possible to have two things plugged into such an outlet if you have appropriate plugs. Heavy devices always seem to use the bottom 3 holes. I would think a grounded plug using the top 3 could exist but I've never seen it.

The one gotcha I have run into is a safety version. I'm not completely sure how it worked but I found the top holes had a piece of plastic blocking at least the top three holes (I didn't investigate the bottom ones--it was very low to the ground and I couldn't make use of the bottom ones anyway.) that appeared to operate based on a longer pin going into the ground hole (this piece of plastic could be nudged with a carefully-held plug but I couldn't press it far enough to confirm what would happen.) and that causing the others to retract. I didn't have anything suitable to use this with and so I'm not 100% certain.

Check out these guys: http://www.europlugs.com/Design_Revi...ntry_Chart.htm

Thanks again
 

It's time to start packing. I'm taking a couple of the adapters that I have and figure that at least one of them will work. If not, then I'll spend more time exploring and less time recharging batteries. I am very grateful that this is my biggest travel worry! :)

Simply put, they use pretty much everything. Best to just invest a dollar or so at any electrics shop in China and buy an adaptor that takes everything, or a small strip for a few dollars that takes everything in multiples. I would add that the Australia permutation is the one that I have een least of in China over the years.