A lot of plugs

WhatPlug.info

Guide for the traveller with plugs

How to use plugs from Netherlands in South Africa

Plugs, sockets, adapters and other information needed for travelling from Netherlands to South Africa in this page. If you want a report for other countries, re-start the wizard to find to electric adapters for your trip here.

Quick Chart at-a-glance

  Netherlands South Africa  
Voltage: 230V. 220V, 230V. icons/teeth.gif icons/exclamation2.gif  
Plugs Type: C, F. M. icons/exclamation2.gif  
Hertz: 50Hz. 50Hz. icons/teeth.gif  

If you are electrical savvy, perhaps the previous chart is all you need. If this is not the case, you can continue reading and discover what the chart is saying!

Plugs and Sockets at each country

In Netherlands the following plugs are used: (includes Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht, Maastricht, Groningen, Leiden.)

Netherlands' Plug Type C Netherlands' Plug Type F
Plug Type C Plug Type F
Netherlands' Outlet Type C Netherlands' Outlet Type F
Outlet Type C Outlet Type F

... and in South Africa you will use: (includes Pretoria, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban, Stellenbosch, Port Elizabeth, Maseru.)

South Africa' Plug Type M
Plug Type M
South Africa' Outlet Type M
Outlet Type M

Birds

Birds

Voltage

Take extreme care: the electric network is not homogeneous

Different voltages are used within the countries. So perhaps different voltages are used in different regions or cities. You will have to exercise extreme caution about this. Before pluging any electric device, you should check your device voltage and you must ask a local for the voltage used in the electric network. If you move to different city or region, you should ask again. Using electric devices in different voltage network could incurr in a broken device and even fire. Please read further the page for more information.

On the positive side, nowadays many devices will switch automatically to the network voltage and they will work just fine, i.e. mobile phone chargers are typically multi-voltage (but please, do actually check your own).

High-power devices don't usually handle different voltages due to the high-currents involved i.e. anything that its main purpose involves generating heat (or cold) like hair driers, baby bottle warmers, kettles, etc. On the contrary, modern low-power devices are likely to auto-detect and auto-adapt to different voltages i.e. usb chargers, laptop chargers, etc.

You might either need a step up voltage converter, a step down voltage converter, or maybe, nothing at all. When a country electronic grid is not homogenous, there is not much we can help but ask you to exercise caution.

Plugs Type

Different plug systems

Different plug systems

Sorry, none of the plugs used in both countries are common. You will definitelly need plug adapters, please continue reading for more information.

Adapters

Lists of adapters you can use in your travel:

Adapter: generic

front view of generic adapter to use plugs type A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, N from Netherlands in outlets type M from South Africa back view of generic adapter to use plugs type A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, N from Netherlands in outlets type M from South Africa
Front Back

This adapter allows you to use plugs type: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, N into outlets type: M.

This adapter is extremely generic without loose terminal and finger protection, it does have earth pass-though which is a good thing; but it will not have a good grip because it support so many different plug types in only three generic slots; we don't recommend this adapter unless no better alternative can be found. i.e. a more expensive one.

Adapters you can buy

You can buy the following multi-purpose adapters from Amazon. Please also take a look at the recommended gadgets for your trip.

Hertz

Equal Hertz

This is the perfect situation. You will not have any clock shift issue with the same Hertz.

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