Adapter

Poll without page-refresh

Article on other languages:

	del.icio.us
	Digg
	Furl
	Reddit
	Rojo
	Add to OnlyWire

This article does not cite any references or sources. (December 2007)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

For other uses, see Adapter (disambiguation).

A travel adapter which allows a user to plug an appliance in to any receptacle in Europe, Australia, and North America.

This mains power plug travel adapter allows European or British plugs to be inserted into American or Australian sockets

An adapter (preferred US spelling) or adaptor (preferred UK spelling; both spellings in use in UK and US English)[1][2] is a device used to match the physical or electrical characteristics of two different things so that a connection may be made between them.

An adapter may be very simple, connecting one kind of plug to another kind of socket, but not changing what passes through. One example would be a garden hose, which normally has threads that screw on, but can be attached to an adapter which allows it to snap easily on and off of faucets, other hoses, or attachments. Likewise, a serial port may require an adapter to connect between the old DB-25 type and the later DE-9 type, which have 25 and 9 pins (respectively) but only 9 wires each.

Other adapters may include a device that changes what is passing through, such as a transformer that adapts household electrical current from high voltage (100 to 240 volts AC) to low voltage suitable for consumer electronics.