I’ll be visiting the Netherlands in a few months and want to get a power adapter for my Framework 16 that will work with EU plugs. I just need to buy the part that plugs the charger brick to the wall but I can’t see any such cord / adapter in the Framework Marketplace. Is the plug on the brick (to the wall) a standard size? Reading the brick itself, it seems like it can handle 50 Hz / 240 V so maybe I can get away with just a simple plug adapter that doesn’t convert the frequency or voltage?
What have you got at the moment? You’re in the USA?
You could do that. But you can also get a cable with one of those Mickey Mouse looking connectors. It’s called a C5.
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Or you can buy something like Bates- European Travel Plug Adapter, 6 Pack, Type E/F, European Plug Adapter, US to Europe Plug Adapter, Adapter for Europe Plug, US to EU Plug Adapter, Travel Adapter Europe, Plug Adapter Europe - Amazon.com to connect your existing cable and anything else you need, as long as the device can cope with 230V/50Hz mains.
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Written on the FW16 power adapter is the range of input voltages is can handle:
AC Volts Input: Illegibly small. Could be anything!!!
I have a UK one, and although the text is smudged so you cannot read it clearly, even under a microscope, it looks most likely to be 100 - 240V (the 100 look more like 188 but that does not make sense). 110V is US, 240V is EU.
So, the FW16 180W power brick should work in every country. So, you will just need a new cable or power adapter plug as detailed in posts above. You don’t need an adapter that converts voltage and/or frequency.
This is not necessarily true for all US devices, sometimes they only support 110V and not 240V, so you fry/damage them when going to Europe.
Word of warning. Whatever adapter you do get, make sure it connects ALL 3 PINS to the plug in the wall. You will get, how shall I put it, interesting electric sensations when typing on the keyboard otherwise.
Yes. I am in the US right now using the US adapter.
Really? Last time I visited Japan, I just used a two-pin-adapter on the EU-connector and experienced no issues while typing though…
I only have the Framework 60W adapter. I can’t see a double insulated symbol on it, but the printing is low contrast and almost microscopic. So it’s probably meant to be grounded (aka earthed). But without it grounded, I would hope there would be no more than, worst case, some tingling when touching the laptop and something else that is grounded.
Side note: Apparently outlets that include a ground connection are rare in Japan, but to a large extent they compensate by having almost everything be protected by GFCI (aka ELCB) devices.
I’ve only seen two-pin outlets there, so I didn’t see any possibility to connect the third pin anyway. Is the way I connected the Framework power adapter bad practice?
If so, please let me know how to connect it in a safer way.
I don’t know for sure, but on reflection, I strongly suspect that the adapters are basically double insulated and are 100% safe when not grounded. There is probably nothing else you can do in Japan anyway, and, as I understand it, in Japan there will almost definitely be a GFCI to make sure any shock is very unlikely to be very dangerous. I think ungrounded but GFCI protected outlets exist in the USA too, so the adapters certainly ought to be built to be 100% okay with them.
This is due to the capacitance of the adapter/cable/socket transfered a tiny bit of inducted current to the metal casing, said current/voltage is still galvanically insulated from mains power so no danger. I used a 2 pin adapter can can feel the same. For more information you can search “MacBook electric shock” using a search engine.
It was the “tingling” that I was thinking about when I mentioned “interesting electric sensations”. I did not mean to imply it was seriously unsafe. Plugging in the earth cable at the wall socket removes the tingling. It is just the symptom of something designed to expect an earth, as opposed to something designed to only need live and neutral like those common 2 pin power bricks. The use of 3 pins allows the device to perform better on EMC tests.