Hi all,
I have a question.
Just bought a HV20 and I am traveling to India shortly.

On page 18 of the Instruction Manual it says
"To prevent equipment breakdown and excessive heating do not connect the power adapter to power converters for overseas travels or special power sources such as those on aircraft and ships, DC-AC inverters, etc."

How strict is this admonition? If this is true how what do I do about powering the camera? Is there a special Canon power adaptor that allows connection to Indian power supply?

Thanks.
Anil

I am also going to be in India (in January, actually) and do not anticipate any unusual power issues with the HV20 When I look at the a/c adapter, it goes from 100v - 240v. I generally travel with a power strip that also goes from 100 v to 240v and plug all of my electronics into that. I try to avoid "dirty" power sources that may have very uneven fluctuations of power. Thus far, I've never had a problem when traveling abroad.

Do you think there is something unique about power when traveling in India? I thought that India is increasingly "high tech" (at least in the cities).

JudyM

Hey guys I live in India and can help with these questions. All camcorders are designed for international travel and are thus 110-240v and the only thing to bother with is the physical plugs endings. India is humorously non-standard in it's 'plug points' with most wall sockets taking 2 sizes of round (non-American) plugs. A 'tip adapter' is pretty easy to find here, and what I've started doing, like Judy above, is just use an Indian-bought power strip (with some low-level surge protection but nothing to get excited about when it only costs $2) which plugs easily into the 'round holes' and can take many kids of plugs, including American flat ones.

As for the reliability of electricity, it varies a lot. It's common to have regular outages and high and low voltage times. I've lived here for 4-5 years with more gadgetry than the average 3 AVSers and I've had very few of my consumer items blow. Most of the trouble I've had has been when I stupidly plug 110 only stuff into 220 by accident. I can usually get it fixed for $3-5.

Anyway about the risks, the good thing is I've never heard of anything actually dying from bad Indian power, but rather the AC adapter will blow (or short or whatever). I know that iPod power supplies have been especially susceptible to it, but iPods don't come with wall chargers any longer anyway so not a huge risk.

I've had a half dozen laptops and 2-3 camcorders in regular use in India, cell phone chargers, digital camera battery chargers etc and nothing's ever gone bad on me, and I've lived in some quasi-rural, high-fluctuation areas. As I type the tube light over head is going from dim to bright every 3-4 minutes. This is in the heart of a State Capitol in North India :)

Enjoy India! It should show beautifully in HD - that's actually what brings me into this forum today.

Hey guys I live in India and can help with these questions. All camcorders are designed for international travel and are thus 110-240v and the only thing to bother with is the physical plugs endings. India is humorously non-standard in it's 'plug points' with most wall sockets taking 2 sizes of round (non-American) plugs. A 'tip adapter' is pretty easy to find here, and what I've started doing, like Judy above, is just use an Indian-bought power strip (with some low-level surge protection but nothing to get excited about when it only costs $2) which plugs easily into the 'round holes' and can take many kids of plugs, including American flat ones.

Greetings,

The 110-240v power strip that I bought has adapters for all different wall sockets...makes international travel easy. I highly recommend it. I think I paid $25 or $30 for it a few years ago. I also carry an extra little surge protector I can plug in between the specific item and the power strip if I am very nervous. Thus far, I've never had to use it. I don't remember specifically which website I bought the 110-240v powerstrip from, but I don't think that type of thing is particularly difficult to find. It's the first thing I set up in any hotel when I travel, whether it's in the USA or internationally.

Judy