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How to use my electronic equipment in the United States? In Brazil uses an electric standard 220 Volts/110 Volts, 50/60 Hz and several different plugs.

Picture with type of plugs in Brazil (approximately 6 different patterns (sockets serve to more than one standard)):

enter image description here

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  • Are the plantains part of the normal electrical wiring, too? Dec 5, 2015 at 23:41
  • @MichaelHampton no! :-) I saw the bananas now
    – Ricardo
    Dec 5, 2015 at 23:43
  • OMG you have 4 different voltage/frequency standards and 6 types of plugs?
    – phuclv
    Dec 6, 2015 at 0:55
  • @LưuVĩnhPhúc now have 2 new standart of plugs (in right side of picture) but most of electronic have the old standard
    – Ricardo
    Dec 6, 2015 at 1:03
  • This may help: travel.stackexchange.com/questions/49113/… (your question is not a duplicate since you want to know about the whole country; you should expect to get the same ones you'd get in Rio or Sao Paulo, for the rest of the country)
    – Roberto
    Dec 6, 2015 at 21:15

2 Answers 2

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There are two things to mind, the shape of the plug and the voltage. Frequency sometimes matters for clocks and analog devices but less so with modern ones.

The standard US plus is two flat prongs and optionally a rounded one for ground. This looks like the one shown top-left on your photo.

Carefully read the specification on your device, those which support voltages from 100-240V only need a plug adapter which are very cheap to get ($1 - $10). We normally refer to these as voltage-switching devices. Sometimes you need to look up the manual or just read an inscription on the charger. Almost all laptops, phones and tablet chargers fall into this category.

For devices which use a fixed voltage, you will need a power converter. Those usually also correct for the plug shape too. Usually irons and blow-dryers fall into this category. A power converter could cost around $10-$25 depending on how much current it supports.

Modern gadgets that charge via USB are the easiest to use with since you can buy a voltage-switching USB power-adapter. Mine is a combined universal plug adapter with 2 USB ports. It looks like this one from Amazon (the one I use appears not to be available anymore).

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  • For those devices that you would need your converter please check the wattage they need. Often they do need so much power that it is not worth buying a converter, it will be cheaper to buy a new blow dryer and such than a converter that will be able to handle the wattage.
    – Willeke
    Dec 5, 2015 at 22:44
  • My experience with very-high-wattage devices (e.g. hair dryer) and power transformers has not been happy. I suggest leaving it at home and buying the cheapest one you can find on arrival. It will cost less than the converter of sufficient quality to handle that load. Dec 6, 2015 at 18:21
  • Yes, I know people who had bad experiences with hair-dryers but mostly going the other way, using a 110V device on a 220V plug. Those are relatively cheap and can be borrowed too.
    – Itai
    Dec 6, 2015 at 18:49
  • Using a 220V air drier in a 110V is equally bad. Your converter will have to pull so much more amperage just to step up the voltage that it generates a huge amount of heat. Anything over 1000 W are usually giant metallic boxes with heat sinks and are really heavy, and costs quite a bit.
    – Nelson
    Dec 7, 2015 at 7:17
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Your top left plug looks like a normal US plug. Note that the US has 110v/60hz power--check your devices to see if they will accept that.

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