Power plugs in Cuba
Cuba uses Types A, B, C and L sockets, running at 110 volts and 60 Hz.
- Socket types
- A · B · C · L
- Voltage
- 110 V
- Frequency
- 60 Hz
Will your charger work?
| Travelling from | Verdict |
|---|---|
| United States & Canada | Fitsyour Type A/B plug goes straight in |
| United Kingdom & Ireland | Adapter needed |
| Continental Europe | Fitsyour Type C plug goes straight in |
| Australia & New Zealand | Adapter needed |
This is about the shape of the pins only. "Fits" means the plug goes in and carries power — it does not always mean it earths, and it never means the voltage is right. Both of those are below.
The sockets you will find in Cuba
Type A unearthed
NEMA 1-15
The unearthed plug of North America and Japan. North American ones usually have one blade wider than the other, so they only go in one way round; Japanese ones and most two-pin travel chargers are symmetrical and go in either way.
Type B earthed
NEMA 5-15
Type A with an earth pin added. A Type A plug fits a Type B socket, but not the other way round.
Type C unearthed
CEE 7/16 — the Europlug
The most widely accepted plug in the world: it fits sockets across continental Europe, much of Africa, Asia and South America. Unearthed, and limited to 2.5 A — fine for chargers, not for a kettle.
Type L earthed
CEI 23-50
Italy and Chile, and about a dozen others including Uruguay, Cuba and Qatar. It comes in two widths — 10 A and 16 A — and they are not interchangeable. Most modern Italian sockets are hybrids that take both plus a Europlug.
Voltage and your devices
Cuba runs at 110 V. Bring an appliance built only for 230 V and it will run weakly or not at all — annoying rather than dangerous. The damage goes the other way.
Almost every phone charger, laptop brick and camera charger made this century is dual voltage. Look for "100–240V" in small type on the body of the plug: if it is there, the voltage is not your problem and you only need the right shape. Anything that makes heat — a hairdryer, a travel kettle, curling tongs — usually is not, and is where people get caught.
The supply is 60 Hz. Frequency only matters to things with a motor or a mains-driven clock; electronics do not notice it.
Plug, voltage and frequency data from Wikipedia — Mains electricity by country. See all countries
The other questions travellers ask at midnight
Plug sockets are the easy one — it does not change while they are in the air. Flight times, gates and transfers do. Viaquo gives an agency's travellers a concierge that answers from the actual booking, so the questions that do change get answered without waking anybody up.
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