Charging My Dexter in Europe

I’m excited to say I will be taking a trip to Spain and the South of France in September! I have used conversion electrical plugs in the past for hair dryers and flat irons; I’ve also killed them!

This will be my first trip abroad with Dex and I don’t want to fry/kill him. Any suggestions?

Peace,
Lisa Ann

I just looked at my Dexcom charger and the label on it says "Input 100-240v", which sounds
like it is already set up to handle European voltages, which are 220-240 Volts. You might be ok with just a converter plug. But it's probably a good idea to call the customer service line and make sure.

P.S. The manual for the SEVEN-PLUS, page 131, says the same thing.

All you need for the Dex is an adapter from US to European outlets. The converter (big brick that you plug into the wall) is rated for European voltage/current.

As for frying your hair tools, the American versions of hair dryers and such require a much higher current than European outlets can provide. I've decided that I will only use electrical devices that have adapters on them - hair dryers don't. Supposedly you can buy a converter that will handle it, but at average-1800 watts, I don't think it will work well. Best to either buy a cheap one over there, or cross your fingers that your hotel room has one that actually blows out more than a puff of air.

All these posts are correct. Most electronics today (phones, tablets, omputers, pump) charge just fine without a converter. And you do need an adapter for the electrical outlet. So much easier.

By the way, did you know that the hairdryers, etc. only work at 50% efficiency on European currents? So your hairdryer will only dry at a low cool speed. Brookstones used to sell a really good dual duty that was designed to work correctly in both currents.

Have a great trip.

I spent the summer in England and was super paranoid about charging my Dex that I just brought along the step-down transformer or whatever it is. Then again, it's pretty clunky. It was worth it for me to bring along because I was going to be there for six weeks, but it made me feel more secure.