Power Line 0900-27 Global Power Travel Kit

Other products by Power Line

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Power Line 0900-27B provides 120-Volt US Household power from 220-Volt to 240-Volt AC foreign outlets. If you're traveling out of United States this is the item to carry with you. It allows you to power up your hair dryer, shaver and many types of electronics while overseas. Includes hard shell travel case. Also includes five adapter plugs for use in Europe, South America, Africa, Australia, Asia, Middle East and the Caribbean.

Product Description

Global Power Travel Kit

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 4.5 x 3.4 x 5.9 inches ; 1.7 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000QE28O6
• Item model number: 0900-27
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #761 in Home Improvement (See Bestsellers in Home Improvement)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

91 of 93 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Learn the truth about "Dual Wattage" converter and don't get burned, September 25, 2008

By	NLee the Engineer (Nashua, NH) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

This item offered here (PowerLine 0900-27 Global Power Travel Kit) is actually two different converters built into one package. At LOW setting (up to 50W), it uses a small AC transformer to convert 220V sinusoidal waveform into a 110V sinusoidal waveform. This is the preferred approach which works well for any low power appliance.

To handle higher power, however, the AC transformer must be made bulkier and heavier (around 20 pounds just for 1000W). This makes it impractical as a travel voltage converter for large-wattage appliance. Therefore at HIGH setting (50-1600W), this converter simply uses a solid-state switch inside to chop off part of the input 220V sinusoidal waveform. This is exactly how an incandescent lamp dimmer works. However, its output waveform is highly distorted and is far from an 110V sinusoidal AC voltage.

A purely resistive appliance (such as travel iron or water heater) will work just fine regardless of different voltage waveform. But if you ever try to power an electronic appliance (such as TV, computer or battery charger) with this distorted 220V waveform, it will probably be fried in an instant! My advice is to stay away from this potentially destructive product - unless you are really, REALLY careful about what to plug in.

If you have to bring electronic appliances with your oversea trips, make sure they are rated for universal voltage of 100-240V AC. Power supplies for most portable electronics (laptop, camcorder, cell-phone, electric shavers, etc.) are already designed to accept universal voltage, although some of them may require you to physically flip a voltage selection switch - check the user manual or the AC input plug of your appliance to make sure. If that is the case, all you need is a set of plug adapters, which you can purchase separately without a converter.

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Terrible, March 15, 2008

By	S. L. Cashman (West Chester, PA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I would not recommend this product at all. We bought it new for a trip to New Zealand just to have an extra for my husband's laptop. The 3rd time he plugged it in, we went out for a bite to eat and came back to find our hotel room smoky and smelling like an electrical fire. The converter literally melted; we had to use the ice tongs to pick it up. Imagine if we'd stayed out with friends! I'm buying another Franz. Had mine for years and never had a problem.

26 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not a quality product, October 19, 2007

By	John A. Van Devender "Gadfly" (Millersville, MD United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

The design of this product is sadly lacking.

First - the voltage converter plugs into a module that then has the correct pin arrangement to plug into the wall. In practice the weight of the voltage converter causes it to dangle at an angle which obscures the other electrical outlets on the box & also tends to make it susceptible to inadvertent disconnection.

Secondly and most sadly - the heat dissipation features are sadly ineffective. The converter can get very hot. I used mine in Korea and the outcome was that it completely overheated (on the 50 watt setting) after a week. The external case "bubbled" from the heat and the internal circuitry failed. This was a brand new converter purchased specifically for this trip.

Thirdly - the documentation is poor. There is a strong warning that the higher (1500 watt) setting should not be used for "electronics". It is unclear in my mind if this includes top computers which have a step down ac to dc converter between the plug and the computer. I ran mine only on the low setting because I did not want to scorch my computer. The 50 watt setting is insufficient for the computer to work properly and the result in a constant cycling between the battery and the external power. the screen flickered and so I turned it off and did not use external power to operate it anymore. This may mean that I am just too stupid to understand that the 1500 watt setting will not harm a computer but I did not want to take a chance on being even more stupid. The major reason I had purchased this equipment was so that I could use my computer overseas and I did not trust it enough to do that.

spend the money on a better product.