In my review of the Remington Shortcut, I mentioned that there’s a reason why they won’t ship it outside the United States. Well, it is because the power supple is 120 volt and does not work in most of the rest of the world which uses 220 volt electricity. In the room where I stay, we have a converter that drops the 220 to 110. So, I figured I would just make sure I always plugged it in there. Yeah. The second time I went to recharge the Shortcut, I plugged the power supply into the wrong outlet and couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t charging.
Amazon to the soldier’s rescue once again. I found a universal power supply that is very handy for deploying solders and travelers in general. The Velleman Compact Universal AC Adapter Power Supply can be used in place of most power supplies. It can be plugged into 110 volt or 220 volt which is what I needed. It comes with a number of tips that attach to the cord. And, the output voltage is switchable to match the device you are trying to connect it to. It is important to get Velleman part number PSSMV1 and not PSSMV1USA if the 110/220 capability is important to you. PSSMV1USA only does 110.
It sounds confusing, right. It’s really not. Use the selector switch on the side to select the output voltage. Check the device you plan to plug it into which should have the input voltage clearly labeled. The Remington Shortcut requires 4.5 volts of DC.
Select the tip that fits into the device. This is pretty straightforward, it either fits or it doesn’t. Match the polarity. Check the device you plan to plug in, in the same location where you found the voltage there should be an illustration; a dot, a circle and two lines. This illustration tells you whether the center pin in the plug should carry positive or negative electricity. Each of the tips that comes with the power supply has CEN marked on one side. The output plug on the power supply has a ‘+’ symbol on one side, a ‘-‘ symbol on the other. Make sure the CEN is on the side indicated by illustration on your device and you should be good to go.
I currently use the Velleman to charge my phone and the Remington Shortcut. It works great. I think it is important to note that if the device you want to plug into the Velleman power supply requires any kind of special plug, most electric razors and modern cell phones for example, the Velleman will not work. I’m very happy with it at this point. Does exactly what I need it to.