I was planning to write a much longer post having just arrived in Romanel-Sur-Lausanne a few hours ago. I've run into a problem. My laptop battery was running low so i plugged it in using the brand new adaptor I bought from Dell...doesnt work!!! I tried other stuff, didnt work either so must be the adaptor. I also didnt realise that plugs over here are a funny 3 prong, not like in England. I did plug the adaptor into a 3 prong adaptor which are all over the flat. Can somebody tell me the best place to buy an adaptor, in Lausanne. I'm using my backup battery which is going to run out very soon.
Thanks

hello!

there's a really good electronics store (they have transformers, adaptors, plugs, etc) in zurich. it's name is 'pusterla' and it's located in zurich west, near langstrasse. the address is 'kernstrasse 55'. they have a website 'pusterla.ch'.

hope it helps! good luck!

Cut a wire and plugin by hand in to the electric plug.Will work for sure.

Hello,

Sometimes the most complex transformers are no match for a simple plug converter. I, too, am running a Dell and ran into a similar problem on my last sejour to Japan. After having Japanese dudes in black suits looking very concerned for over 3 days, I finally just used the converter I had in my suitcase rather than the expensive one I had specially brought with me. The battery pack was prepared to run everything from 100 to 240...it just needed to be able to draw juice. It seems the complex transformer that was trying to run everything down to 100 only confused the beast. So...be simple.

Somewhere on your intake plug should be an indicator of input. If it says "Input: 100-240V~1.5A 50/60Hz" you should be OK. There are roughly 8 million people on this forum smarter than I am though, so if you get better advice than 'be a cave-man', use it.

Good luck.

R

Hi, there is a Migros in Romanel and they have an electronic cum computer section from where I am sure you will find the required plugs. There is also a Fust on the other side. Quite sure that they stock the same.

no thank-you...we'd only been here a few hours and i managed to blow the electricity in the flat...only the light from my laptop helped me find the electrical box...

I went to a coop today. Looked at all the multi-converters but realised all I needed was one simple plug and thankfully everthing is working fine. Thank-you all for the advice and replies

Glad it worked out, Gary. My computer, phone and other gizmos could run 110-220 volts so all I needed was a simple plug adapter like you. After a small hiccup -- bought a N. American-to-EU adapter instead of a N. American-to-Swiss adapter at first -- everything works almost perfectly. (I just used a rubber band to keep the loose adapter in place.)

The cheapest adapters I've seen are at Fust for a few francs. M-Electronics and InterDiscount had only the expensive universal adapters for CHF 40 or 50, but I think they are also voltage converters.

Welcome to French Switzerland.