Recharging proprietary batteries in Europe!?

damian5000 · Sep 13, 2005

Hello...I am helping a friend to purchase the Panasonic DMC-FZ5. But, she will be returning to Europe with it (we are currently in the US). Will charging the the proprietary battery be as simple as using a 220 to 110 converter? Or is there some complication we should know about? Thanks in advance for the help...

- Damian

Meysha · Sep 14, 2005

I had no problem charging my equipment in Europe. But all my equipment is Australian 240Volts, so it's not that far from the 220V used in Europe. I dunno if you'll encounter problems with the 110 stuff.... probably not... but wait for someone who's been there, done that.

Bibos · Sep 14, 2005

Well if you plug in something into the european 230V outlet that's rated for 110V ONLY - then you will have something that's brown, smoking, stinking and melting.

BUT most of those chargers nowadays are rated for 110-240V (look at the power rating on the bottom of the charger) for exactly this travel purpose. If it's rated for 110-240V all you need would be a converter for the plug itself, which is really cheap (like $5 - 10).

mariush · Sep 14, 2005

damian5000, I've used american charger for Panasonic fz20 for half of the year in Poland - there's no problem, You only have to buy a small "transmitter" (?) in electric shop - to be able to use 110 V charger in 220 V socket. it's very cheap, but in Europe there may be problems with finding it in the shops.