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I don't know if this is a question for this site, but here I go:

You know how the US and Europe have different plug in points for the electrical appliances/chargers etc. So if I want to use a phone charger (bought in the USA) in Europe, I will need a converter/adapter. Can this adapter also be used to support a surge protector with 4-6 outlets in Europe?

I normally use surge protectors for all my devices at home, and if I travel, I want to be able to use it on travel also. Hence, my question is, can I use a surge protector with an adapter? Or should I just buy one in Europe?

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If the adapter passive, it probably can handle use anywhere.

Cheap surge suppressors typically just put MOVs (metal oxide varistors) across the inputs, so any voltage over the nominal is shorted through the varistor and the voltage your electronics see never exceeds that voltage.

That said, a suppressor made for US markets will be built with varistors that clamp voltage somewhere over a bit over 120 Vac. In much of the world, wall voltage is 220+ Vac, so its possible that a US market suppressor will immediately fail in, say, 220 V Europe.

Conversely, using a suppressor designed for 220 Vac regions will not give you much protection in the US, since a spike up to, say, 200 Vac in the US (which would fry many devices) would not be caught by a Euro suppressor.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Thanks for the reply. I m fine with not using such a surge protector in USA. I searched and found one here : tripplite.com/… I will be traveling to parts of Asia and I believe this would work there. Could you have a look and see if I’m right? \$\endgroup\$
    – Silencer310
    Commented Mar 28, 2018 at 17:42

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