German power plugs

One of the little hassles when travelling is figuring out how to use your electronic devices abroad. This is particularly true today, because it has become so much easier to bring digital cameras, netbooks and cellphones on the road. I’ve taken a few pictures of German power plugs for you, so you know what to expect when you travel to Germany.

German power plugs: socket and the two types of plugs

This is first of all what a regular wall socket looks like:

a regular wall socket for German electric plugs

And these are the two different types of German power plugs that exist:

 

The difference between these two is simply that one is grounded/earthed (the left one), while the other (the right one) is not. They obviously both fit in the socket above, although there are smaller sockets that only allow the smaller, ungrounded, plug. Those sockets are very rare, however.

Adapters to German power plug sockets

In order to use or charge your electric equipment you will need some kind of adapter that allows you to fit your electric plug into the German sockets. Below is an example of what one of those adapters looks like. This one is to fit a US plug into a German power plug socket.

a US to German adapter this side fits the US plug this side allows you to plug into the German socket

These kinds of adapters come in various shapes and sizes. There are also universal ones that you can use in different countries. What you are looking for is ideally a so called Europlug (plug type CEE 7/16), because that one can be used throughout most of Europe and in many other countries.

Here are a few adapters available on Amazon that will work for you:

You can also find a great variety of German power plugs by simply doing an Amazon search for “power plug adapter germany”. Most of these nowadays also come with a handy USB port, so you can simply use your regular USB cable to charge your phone while abroad.

German power plugs and voltage

It is important to remember that these kinds of adapters do not convert or change the voltage itself! The voltage in Germany is 230V, so be sure to check if your electronic devices support this kind of AC input. If they don’t, you might cause them some damage.