polarity question

Hey all,
I am waiting for my Sager notebook. I am in Germany. One of my buddies said that I have to do a polarity test on the outlet each time I want to plug in the notebook (auto switching voltage). How true is this?

 

If you have bought it off an american site, chance are the adapter is 110V, not 230. Check to see if the adapter is dual use. If it's not, you will have to replace it with the same output voltage and equal or better amperage.

Not sure what you mean by checking polarity? Of what? AC doesn't have polarity?

 

Doesn't make sense to me. In single phase, AC is AC, right? The auto switching handles the voltage differences.

 

Here is what my buddy said:
Because American plugs are polarized (one side is fatter) they can only be plugged in a certain way right? In Europe there are no fat/skinny side, so after an adapter is put on, the auto switching 110-240 AC voltage adapters can be plugged in either way. He said that it makes a difference. I am not an electrician; I just don’t want to harm my notebook the first time I plug it in.
Any of you have experience with this or hear of the polarity thing?

 

It doesn't. There is no difference between two 'sides' of an AC plug. But you wíll have to check if it can handle both 110 and 240

 

Polarized were used years ago. Nowadays it doesn't make a difference.

satgale,

What are you using to go to the American plug? Because if you plug just a normal adapter to the laptop you could fry it. You will need a voltage/amperage adapter. That is what I had to use when I was in Italy.

 

polarity does matter, it determines which side of the plug has the hot wire attached to it. I don't think it will effect the laptop adapter though. it should work the same either way with a DC adapter though. all it does is convert the ac voltage to dc through a coil, if you get the polarity wrong it will just run through the coil backwards but the outcome will be the same.
I am an electrician.

 

That is how my friend the electrian explained it to me. Old components and stuff actually was only able to put in one way right? I can't remember now.

 

For an electrician, yeah, it matters. I think electrical code requires it to be consistant in reference to the source. There may be some other logic involved also, but I an NOT an electrician, so I can't tell you that But I can't think of anything that will not work correctly with the polarity of the plug reversed.

 

The adapter is a US prong to a Europe (two pin) general adapter. The actual power to the notebook is auto switching so I don’t think there will be a problem since it will switch 110-240 automatically.

 

Then either way...you shouldn't have a problem.