Voltage & Plug Socket Analysis by Country

Why are there differences in power supply voltages in different countries?

Because in the early days of electrification, countries developed their own power systems independently. The power supply voltage of various countries is affected by some comprehensive factors leading to different voltages, but it can be roughly divided into two types: 110V~130 and 220V~240V. The following is the voltage classification by country:

110V: Japan, the United States, Canada, Panama, Cuba, Mexico, etc.
220V: China, South Korea, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Australia, India, Singapore, Spain, etc.

Different voltages in the use of electrical appliances will have a certain impact, for example: the US gauge power supply is 120V/60HZ, which indicates that 100-120V electrical appliances can basically be used in the United States; The national standard power supply is 220V/50HZ, and appliances marked 220V-240V can generally be used directly in China.

There are two important influencing factors:

From an economic and safety point of view: Low-voltage systems, such as 110V, are safer because they carry less energy, which correspondingly reduces the risk of electric shock. While high-voltage systems (such as 220V) have higher energy, which may lead to greater safety risks, they have lower energy losses in long-distance transmission, which helps to reduce energy costs.
Considering from the influence of frequency selection on voltage standard: In the early stage of establishing power system in various countries, the frequency selected ultimately determines its corresponding voltage based on various experimental results. For example, the frequency of 60HZ is selected, and the corresponding voltage standard is 110V; The frequency of 50HZ is selected, and the corresponding voltage standard is 220V. If you need to use electrical appliances off-site, you need to use the transformer, but the transformer power must exceed the power of the electrical appliance mark to do, overload the use of the transformer in addition to may not be able to drive the normal operation of the equipment, but also may lead to overheating of the transformer.

What are the types of plugs and sockets in different countries?

There are 15 different types of sockets and plugs worldwide, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N and O. These plug and socket types vary in shape, size and pin layout to adapt to appliance standards and grid voltages in different countries and regions.

Globally, there are significant differences in the standards for sockets and plugs in different countries, which brings a lot of inconvenience to international travelers. From an intuitive point of view, this difference is most directly reflected in the inability to directly use electrical equipment, resulting in the need to use conversion plugs or transformers to ensure the normal operation of the equipment. So now many products on the market will appear universal gauge interface, our company's products if necessary to provide this specification interface, this universal gauge interface can facilitate travelers to better use portable power to charge the electrical appliances they want to use.