Which Adapter Do I Use in Russia?

[Ro_Laren]

I have a dual voltage laptop, which I am about to bring to Russia. The thing is, I'm not quite sure which adapter to use. I went to the travel store today & I saw two adapters that were almost identical. The employees didn't know the difference between the two, so I bought both. The first is a "grounded adapter plug" & the second is an "adapter plug":

They're both for a three pronged plug, which I need for my three-pronged laptop plug. Besides that, I can only find four differences between the two:

1. The first pic has the word "grounded" in the title. What does that mean, lol?
2. The first pic has metallic sections to the top and bottom of the part that plugs into the wall.
3. The section of the adapter in the first pic that plugs into the wall is rounded. This can be important as I know from past experience that Russian outlets are sometimes in an indented hole.
4. You can't tell from the pic, but it appears that the two prongs on the adapter in the first pic are slightly bigger than the one on the right.

So which adapter should I use? It has been 8 years since I have been to Russia, so I don't remember what adapters I've used in the past. The back of the packaging says that the adapters are for "most outlets in Asia and Europe."

 

[RoJoHen]

In Soviet Russia, plug adapts you!

Or something...

 

[smiki]

Seriously? Never heard of that before? Oh, well... linky: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=ground&l=1 <--(I'm just friendly teasing)

You can use anyone you want (if I'm not mistaken). They'll both work. Grounded just means it's grounded (to me: d'oh...) so if there's a short, or a lightning strikes, the electricity will go in the ground and not fry your delicate silicon brained friend.

Good thing though you bought one with the right voltage cause if I'm not mistaken it's not the same in America (from where I assume you are) as in Eurasia.

Answer: Use the grounded, can't go wrong with that.

 

[nevermore]

Just take them both, and use the one that matches the plug.

 

[smiki]

Also, have a nice trip.

 

[Gul Re'jal]

Sometimes outlets have a protruding grounding bold and plugs without void/hole/whatever wouldn't fit. I can't see the plug itself, but in the picture there's a hole in it--that's for this bolt.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...socket.jpg/250px-French_powerstrip_socket.jpg

I'd take only the grounded one, if you can't take both, but I guess the best would be to take both. The grounded plug should fit everywhere (not sure about bigger prongs, though).

 

[FPAlpha]

Your Google Fu.. weak it is unfortunately

http://users.telenet.be/worldstandards/electricity.htm (that was the first link i got when searchinhg for Russia electrical plug)

 

[arch101]

In Soviet Russia, plug adapts you!

Or something...

That's great!

Actually, I was going to say the adapter labeled "adapterski" would be the correct one.

-Helpful Arch101

 

[PKTrekGirl]

Answer: Use the grounded, can't go wrong with that.

^ This.

Both of those plugs will work in Russia (those are the correct prong sets), but given the unreliability of the infrastructure, I'd go with the grounded one, hands down.

 

[Holdfast]

Just take them both, and use the one that matches the plug.

One of the most cost-effective purchases I ever made was a universal plug adapter. Basically it can be switched to different configurations to cope with any different plug format across the world. Doesn't have a transformer tho' so you need that too if there's a voltage difference, but lots of electronics seems to come with transformers that can cope with different voltages anyway, so the universal adapter really cuts down on thinking about what to pack. Was pretty cheap too, only fractionally more than a single adapters.

 

[smiki]

...but given the unreliability of the infrastructure, I'd go with the grounded one, hands down.

Are you implying that the infrastructure in Russia is unreliable!? You... you... arrogant American thug!

 

[PKTrekGirl]

...but given the unreliability of the infrastructure, I'd go with the grounded one, hands down.

Are you implying that the infrastructure in Russia is unreliable!? You... you... arrogant American thug!

Well, okay....admittedly, things have likely improved since I lived in Moscow for all of 1995.

But put it this way - the flat I lived in still had a party line for telephone. And the standard calculation equipment in the accounting department of one of the largest truck & auto manufacturers in Russia at the time (the client where I worked) was...wait for it.......the ABACUS! Although adding machines with arm cranks were quickly gaining favor. There was ONE IBM XP computer which operated completely off of floppy disks w/no internal hard drive. This huge innovation had launched that accounting department all the way into what? 1979 or something?

So arrogant tho' I be...I'll go with a big fat YES - I am implying that the infrastructure in Russia is perhaps a smidge 'unreliable'.

And to the OP - I'd really take both adapters in any case - I found that I could never have too many adapters, when there for a while with all of my American plugs.

 

[BloodCrow]

Answer: Use the grounded, can't go wrong with that.

^ This.

Both of those plugs will work in Russia (those are the correct prong sets), but given the unreliability of the infrastructure, I'd go with the grounded one, hands down.

That's not always true.

I'm not sure about Russia, but here in Belgium we use the same plugs and you can sometimes find plugs like this:

http://www.amsterdamshop.nl/static/images/products/vivanco%20/27369.jpg

The middle plug is the grounded one in which your grounded adapter will fit, but the other 2 are the ungrounded version for which you'll need one of these:

http://www.ecommercemaniac.com/images/adapter5.jpg?osCsid=c64f26039a7fbe8598bf8ee17cfbd03f

 

[PKTrekGirl]

^ Can't see you first photo so I can't respond to your comment.

 

[Naira]

Those seem to be the same ones you'd use in Greece. So, I'd recommend taking both: The grounded one should be fine but, at least where I live, some older buildings have sockets that the bigger adapter cannot fit because the two holes are too small.