Aruba is an island nation located in the southern part of the Caribbean Sea and for tourists who want to spend some time in Aruba, they must know the standard voltage, electrical outlet, and plug present in Aruba. The standard electrical voltage used by the electronic gadgets and appliances in Aruba is 110-120 volts with a frequency of 60Hz. For the primary types of electrical outlet and plugs, the widely used in Aruba are the Type A NEMA 1-15 / JIS C 8303 North American, Type B NEMA 5-15 North American, and Type F CEE 7/5 Schuko. This will not only spare a tourist from all the delays and problems caused by electronic gadgets and appliances, but will also enable safe and efficient use of these.

When the plug of the electronic gadget or appliance is not compatible with the shape of the electrical outlet present in Aruba, there are adapters that can be used by the tourists. There are different kinds of adapters and the most ideal is the universal adapter that could be used in almost all kinds of plug and electrical outlet, may it be in Aruba or another country. There are also voltage converters that are designed to make the 220-240 volts of other appliances compatible with the 110-120 volts used in the electrical outlets present in Aruba. Examples of the voltage converters are the network-resistor converter, step-up and step-down transformer, and the combination voltage converter.

Type A NEMA 1-15 / JIS C 8303 North American (Non-grounded and Non-polarized) Plug, Electrical Outlet, and Adapter

Type A plug and outlet

The NEMA 1-15 is mostly found in North America and in the east coast of South America as well as in other countries like Aruba. This is used for smaller devices that do not really need a ground connection. Also, the NEMA 1-15 is a flat blade attachment plug that uses two flat parallel pins or blades. Older designs allow the blades to be inserted either way; however, contemporary NEMA 1-15 plugs in Aruba are designed with the neutral blade wider than the live blade allowing just one way of plugging and ensuring that the polarized plug is inserted appropriately into the electrical outlet.

The NEMA 1-15 is also known as the Type A North American/Japanese 2-blade Electrical adapter plug and electrical outlet. It also has the technical name North American 15 A/125 V ungrounded. The new design of NEMA 1-15 changed so much that it will not fit in the old type of NEMA 1-15 electrical outlet in Aruba.

Type A adapter

With the NEMA 1-15 adapter, the receptacle end will accept any standard household plug in Aruba, aside from the Type M South African SABS1661 plug, which is also known as the Old British BS-546 Large plug. The blades of this adapter are 6.4mm long, 1.5mm thick, and are spaced 12.7mm apart. The NEMA 1-15 plug is also non-polarized and non-grounded which is very important Aruba. Although the NEMA 1-15 looks similar to the plugs of the U.S. and Canada and the appliance and electronic gadgets might be manufactured in the said countries, an adapter might still be needed because of the grounding and polarization requirements in Aruba.

In the NEMA 1-15 plug and electrical outlet, grounding is done by the third, round pin located beneath the two vertical blades on the plug Aruba. On the other hand, polarization is done by the left vertical blade being taller than the right one in Aruba. If the plug does have grounding or polarization and the electrical socket does not have one, it would be physically impossible to insert the plug into the electrical socket in Aruba. If this happens to a tourist in Aruba and there is also no adapter present, that person might not be able to use his or her electronic gadgets and appliances. There is also another electrical outlet that is commonly used in Japan, the JIS X 8303 Class II (Japanese 15 A/100 V ungrounded) which is similar to the NEMA 1-15, the only difference from Aruba is the stricter dimensional requirements for the plug housing, marking, and mandatory testing and approval.

Type B NEMA 5-15 North American (Grounded) Plug, Electrical Outlet, and Adapter

Type B plug and outlet

The Type B NEMA 5-15 is often used in North and Central America as well as Japan, and it is also what is used in Aruba. Also, the Type B NEMA 5-15 is a class I plug that has two flat parallel prongs and a grounding pin, rated at 15 amps. The Type B NEMA 5-15 has blade contacts 6.4mm tall, 15mm thick, and are spaced 12.7mm apart. The grounding pin, on the other hand, is 4.8mm in diameter. The Type B NEMA 5-15 is also compatible with any standard household plug in Aruba, except the Type M South African SABS1661 (Old British BS-546 Large) plug. Although the Type B NEMA 5-15 is grounded, it is not polarized. In Japan, this kind of plug and electrical outlet is the standard. Similar to Type A NEMA 1-15 plugs, the NEMA 5-15 is also one of the most dangerous plugs in Aruba and even in the world because the prongs are not insulated. The black covering that is supposed to cover the plug body is lacking hence if the plug is pulled halfway and the prongs are still inserted in the electrical outlet, there might be some accidents in Aruba like electrocution or a minor electrical shock.

Type F CEE 7/5 Schuko Electrical Adapter Plug and Electrical Outlet

Type F plug and outlet

Commonly known as the Schuko plug, the Type F CEE 7/5 plug and electrical outlet was derived from the German word “Schukostecker” which means “protective contact plug.” This electrical outlet in Aruba is also similar to the Type E with the difference being its two earth clips on the side instead of the female earth contact. The Type F CEE 7/5 Schuko is used for the “Type F” CEE 7/4 Schuko style electrical socket of Germany or to a “Type E” CEE 7/5 socket of France. The receptacle end of Type F CEE 7/7 Schuko is compatible with most sockets except the “Type M” South African SABS1661 (Old British BS-546) plug and the non-grounded CEE 7/16 Europlug Socket because of its 4.0mm pin receptacles that are too small for the 4.8mm pins of the Type F CEE 7/5 Schuko. This Schuko plug and receptacle in Aruba also has side grounding contacts which allow symmetrical connection system for live and neutral to be reversed.

Type F adapter

Most European countries including Aruba use the Type F CEE 7/5 Schuko except Denmark, Italy, England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Malta, and Cyprus that have their own standard electrical outlet. On the other hand, the plug end of Type F CEE 7/5 Schuko is compatible with the variations of the Schuko electrical outlet for France and Germany. The pins of this adapter in Aruba are 4.8mm in diameter, 19mm long, and spaced 19mm apart. They have both side-grounding clips as well as a receptacle for the male grounding pin which is found in French Schuko sockets. If the appliance or electronic gadget to be used in Aruba is already a Schuko, there is no need to use the Type F CEE 7/5 Schuko adapter for the electrical outlet.

Voltage Converters and Universal Adapters

Travel Voltage Converter

If a tourist wants to use his or her gadget in Ukraine, the best way is by using voltage converters such as resistor-network converters, transformers, and in some cases the combination of both. The resistor-network converters to be used in Aruba are usually advertised to support as much as 50-1600 Watts and are just ideal to use for short periods of time. The resistor-network converter is also not recommended for digital devices like laptop computers however it is great for lightweight electronics like hair dryers and irons.

Transformer

Another thing is that if a tourist would want to use a laptop computer or charge batteries for camera, mp3 players, camcorders, and radios in Aruba, the ideal voltage converter is a transformer which lowers maximum watt rating. It could be used for long periods of time but is a little bit heavy because of the large iron rods and copper wires. The last kind of voltage converter in order to use electronics in Aruba that are not compatible with the electrical outlet present in Aruba is the combination of resistor-network converters and transformer.

Most appliances and electronic gadgets made in Europe have a voltage of 220-240 volts and using it directly on a 110-120 electrical outlet in Aruba would cause damage to the appliance or electronic gadget, to the extent that it might be totally fried out or  might even cause a fire.

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