Foreign Electrical Adapter Plugs
(273-1405)                 Hints and Tips             Faxback Doc. # 17799

Electrical appliances built for use in the United States and Canada are
designed to operate on 110 volts AC.  Most other countries operate on
220 volts AC.  Your customers who want to use a favorite appliance while
traveling overseas need to convert 220 volts to 110 volts AC.  Otherwise,
their appliance could be seriously damaged or even destroyed.

We sell four products for just this purpose:  our 50-Watt Foreign Travel
AC Converter/Transformer (Cat. No. 273-1401, $16.99), our 1600-Watt Foreign
Travel AC Converter (Cat. No. 273-1404, $19.99), our 1000-Watt Foreign
Travel AC Converter (Cat. No. 273-1402, $17.99) and our Dual-Power Foreign
Travel AC Converter (Cat. No. 273-1410, $34.99).

These voltage converters are designed to be used for short periods while
traveling with personal appliances.  They shouldn't be used with any large
appliances, power tools, or any permanently installed equipment.  In those
cases, you should recommend a step down transformer (CMC has them see the
article "Overseas Voltage Converters" in the August 1994 Merchandising
Newsletter).

(Remind your customers that American appliances operate at 60 cycles, 
while most foreign electricity operates at 50 cycles.  While this might 
cause appliances, such as clocks, to run slightly slower than normal, even
with a voltage converter, it won't harm them in any way.)

Two Types:  Which Do You Need?

Transformer -type voltage converters (such as the 273-1401) reproduce a
true sine wave output that's identical to normal household electricity,
and can be used with any small electrical appliance.   Solid state voltage
converters (such as the 273-1404) don't produce a sine wave output;  they
can only be used with heating appliances .

273-1401    Designed for use with 110 volt appliances rated 50 watts or
            less.  It uses a step-down transformer to reduce 220 volts to
            110 volts.  Use it to power low wattage appliances such as
            battery chargers, calculators, camcorders, contact lens
            disinfectors, curling irons, oral hygiene devices, notebook
            computers, portable cassette/CD players, radios, shavers and
            trimmers.

            (Note that the 273-1401 has a  maximum  rating of 50 watts, and
            always check the appliance's identification label for its
            wattage rating before using any voltage converter.)

273-1404    A solid state voltage converter.  It's designed for use with
            110 volt heating appliances rated up to 1600 watts, such as
            coffee makers, food/bottle warmers, hairdryers, hair roller
            sets, heating pads/blankets, hot plates, irons, lamps,
            steamers, and toasters.

            Don't  use the 273-1404 with auto start/shutoff coffee makers
            and irons, or electronically-controlled blankets or toasters. 

All of these items contain electronic components and  must  have a
transformer-type voltage converter.  Because these appliances usually have
high wattage ratings, the transformers they need weigh several pounds and
might not be practical for overseas travel.

273-1402    Same function as 273-1404, but rated 1000 watts maximum.

273-1410    Combines the features of the 273-1401 and 273-1404.  Its
            selector switch allows your customer to use the 273-1410 with
            low wattage appliances rated up to 50 watts, or high wattage
            heating appliances rated up to 1600 watts.

Portable CD Player Power Adapters 

In the December 1994  Merchandising Newsletter , we told you that the
Owner's Manuals for our Optimus CD-3420 (Cat. No. 42-5039) and Optimus CD-
3450 (Cat. No. 42-5042) portable CD players list incorrect catalog numbers
for the units' DC power adapters.  Don't lose a sale because a customer
can't find the right adapter for his or her CD player.

The correct DC power adapter for the CD-3420 is Cat. No. 270-1566 or 
Express Order No. 10436814 ($29.99), available through CMC.  The Owner's 
Manual lists the correct AC power adapter (Cat. No. 273-1659 or Express
Order No. 10449106, $17.99), also available through CMC.

The CD-3450's manual lists the correct AC power adapter (Cat. No. 16-2018, 
$19.99), available in all stores.  The correct DC power adapter for the 
CD-3450 is available through CMC (Cat. No. 16-2019 or Express Order No. 
10279800, $19.99).  This item is on backorder and will be moving from CMC 
to store stock in the near future. Both adapters will be receiving new 
catalog numbers in the 270 or 273 series.  Watch POS and the  Merchandising
Newsletter  for further details.

Until more stock of the 16-2019 adapter is available, you can substitute
our universal high-current DC adapter (Cat. No. 270-1562, $16.99) from
store stock, plus a Sony 1.7 ID adaptaplug (Cat. No. 270-1575 or 10274066,
$2.49), available through CMC. 

The POS add-on display has been updated to show the correct adapters.  In
the future, we hope to have only one AC adapter and only one DC adapter
that fit all of our portable CD models.