OneWorld 65 Combines International Adapter with 65W USB-C Charger

Tonya and I recently traveled to Greece on vacation, and while the trip itself devolved into a tale of COVID-driven woe for me, it did give me a chance to test some new gear: the OneWorld 65 International Adapter with 65W Charger from OneAdaptr.

For the past few years, I’ve been using a Saunorch International Travel Power Adapter that provided a universal AC socket with four USB-A charging ports, all in a colorful little cube that could extend plugs to fit into US, UK, European, and Australian power outlets (see “UK Travel Tips: Giffgaff for Cellular and Apple Pay for Transit,” 15 June 2018). It worked fine but felt increasingly dated as more of our devices rely on USB-C. Table Rotating Socket Box

OneWorld 65 Combines International Adapter with 65W USB-C Charger - TidBITS

The OneWorld 65 is a product in much the same vein, but with even more power and flexibility. It too features built-in plugs that you extend using sliders that support US, UK, European, and Australian outlets. In a clever bit of transforming, it combines the US and Australian plug types, allowing the two metal blades to rotate slightly to fit angled Australian jacks. I had no trouble using it in both US and European outlets, although it’s heavy enough that it sometimes felt like it might fall off the wall (but it never did). The plugs retract into the cube so you can toss it into a laptop bag without worrying about poking anything.

As far as charging ports go, along with the universal AC socket on the front, it features two USB-A ports and two USB-C ports on the bottom, plus a third USB-C port on the side. The universal AC socket supports 100–250V at 10A for up to 2500 watts. The USB-C ports on the bottom can provide up to 15 watts, and the USB-A ports are good for up to 12 watts. The real win is that the side-mounted USB-C port is a 65-watt Power Delivery charging port that worked well to charge my MacBook Air directly, letting me leave its bulky power adapter at home.

The OneWorld 65 can charge six devices at once, although if I’m reading the specs right, the USB-C PD port will drop down to a max of 45 watts at that point. We didn’t have any devices with us that needed to plug into a regular AC outlet, but simultaneously charging five USB devices worked perfectly. I can’t say if the MacBook Air charged more slowly when other devices were attached since it was all happening overnight anyway.

While the mix of port types made things a little easier, we still had to fuss to plug everything in. Our Apple Watch chargers are still USB-A, but we now have USB-C to Lightning cables for our iPhones and AirPods cases. And Tonya’s iPad Air and my MacBook Air both need USB-C cables. It all worked out, though I once used a tiny USB-A to USB-C adapter to get an older Lightning cable to work as well.

Although the OneWorld 65 feels a little chunky compared to my previous power adapter, it’s reasonably sized, given that it’s also a 65W charger. That’s possible thanks to gallium nitride technology, which is all the rage because it enables the creation of smaller, more efficient, and cooler chargers.

My only real criticism of the OneWorld 65 is its blue LED, which is bright in dark hotel rooms. Tonya detests such LEDs, so whenever we travel, she’s constantly draping clothes over whatever items in the room emit light. I was particularly pleased with myself when I found LightDims Black Out Edition on Amazon. For about $7, you get over 100 light-blocking vinyl stickers in various sizes that you can use to cover annoying LEDs (other types merely reduce the light level). They’re reusable and don’t leave a sticky residue, unlike the Band-Aids that Tonya pasted over the previous adapter. She loves the stickers, but unfortunately, the OneWorld 65’s LED is positioned such that light leaks out the USB-A ports as well, where it’s impossible to block. Back to draping clothes over it at night.

The OneWorld 65 costs $69, which seems like a fair price. You can find both comparable chargers and international adapters for less, but the combination of a 65-watt gallium nitride charger and an international power adapter that can charge up to six devices at once is unusual. I’m planning to use it regularly rather than just when we travel—it’s just as functional as one of Apple’s chargers, the extra USB charging ports are useful, and it even works fine with the magnetic charging nubbins for my pre-MagSafe MacBook Air (see “Are Cheap MagSafe-Like Adapters for USB-C Worthwhile?,” 4 March 2021).

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The one thing I wonder about this is whether there’s any utility in having the AC socket? I feel like it’s literally been decades since I’ve needed such a thing when travelling. Even back in the late 1990s–early 2000s with the heavy chunky power supplies which were device-specific, they were auto switching 110–240V. A simple plug adapter allowed them to be used in another country. What kind of thing do people travel with that requires an AC socket? I ask because it seems like it would add quite a bit of bulk and weight.

One problem with using a plug adapter is that it positions the charger further away from the wall. If the wall sockets are a bit loose, the weight of the charger may pull away from the wall and the whole connection may not stay in the socket.

The one thing I wonder about this is whether there’s any utility in having the AC socket?

Isn’t it to preserve access to the full-power, wall socket? (The adapter blocks access to the wall socket and the socket on the adapter gives it back to you, right?)

As for 120 vs. 240 volts, I presume that the socket’s power isn’t transformed in any way, just a straight-through connection to the wall socket power. So yes, you’d still need your device, e.g., hair dryer, to do the voltage change.

On their web site the specs are:

SPECIFICATIONS Input: 100-240V Output (USB-C PD): 65W max, 5V3a, 9V3a, 12V1.5a, 20V 3A Output (Smart USB): 5V3.0a Output (AC): 100-240V @ 7A max.

Implying that, as Nello says, it is a straight through connection to provide access to the blocked wall socket at the original voltage.

Just FYI, I believe that line on the website is a typo. On the box and the actual device, it says:

Output (AC): 100-250V~10A Max, 2500W Max

I usually travel with several different things that require AC power - especially a laptop PC (proprietary power brick) and standalone battery chargers for my camera’s battery packs. When I travel internationally, I bring along a universal power strip. Something like this:

Amazon.com: KRIEGER Universal Power Strip AC 220-240V Surge Protector With Heavy Duty German Schuko Plug For Computer, Printers, 6 Universal AC Outlets - Type E/F : Electronics

Connected to a universal adapter, in order to fit whatever outlets the country may have:

Buy Skross PRO World Travel Adapter With Ground Plugs: AC Adapters - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

This lets me connect all of the power bricks I travel with. They’re all universal voltage and this lets me adapt the plugs, including the safety ground pins.

Theoretically, I should just need a plug adapter with a normal power strip, but I have never seen a US power strip rated for 220-240v, so I don’t think it would be safe to use one outside of North America.

What kind of thing do people travel with that requires an AC socket?

I travel with a camera battery charger that requires AC. And my wife always has an item or two that requires AC. It’s just handy to have a usable AC outlet when you travel. :)

As an aside, I learned recently of a USB-C-powered charger for my camera batteries! Already on my Christmas list!

Tonya and I recently traveled to Greece […]

[…] the trip itself devolved into a tale of COVID-driven woe for me[…]

I hope you’re both fine, and I feel a bit less silly for hitting the Cancel button on my Greece trip that had been planned for last summer.

Thanks for the product report.

After a bit of web searching, it seems that they do exist. I ran across this example (not an endorsement, just an example): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077ZSC6RQ

This is a power strip (6 AC + 4 USB) with North American receptacles and a North American cord, but claims to be rated for 240v operation. So (assuming the manufacturer is being honest) it should work overseas with just a plug adapter.

I’d like to put in a plug for the Mogics Donut, maybe the best designed piece of travel gear I’ve used in 40 years of business and pleasure travel (and probably 1.5m flight miles.) | MOGICS This combines a universal plug adapter, an extension cord with 5 AC outlets, and 2 USB ports into one small package. The only thing that would make this better is replacing the USB-A with USB-C ports. Before I got this, I’d carry a heavy duty US extension cord and a plug adapter, along with USB and other chargers. Now I carry this, my MB Pro power adapter, the battery charger for my DSLR, and a 2 port Anker high power USB-C charger. The phones get charged off the USB-A ports on the Donut, the laptop, camera battery charger and Anker USB-C use the AC ports (with the USB-C charger for the iPads), and I can charge all our devices at the same time from a single hotel outlet. I note that finding a convenient AC outlet can be a challenge in some hotels (the worst was Euro Disney outside of Paris, where the only AC outlet I could find to plug into was in the bathroom.)

Mogics Donut, maybe the best designed piece of travel gear I’ve used in 40 years of business and pleasure travel (and probably 1.5m flight miles.) | MOGICS This combines a universal plug adapter, an extension cord with 5 AC outlets, and 2 USB ports into one small package.

A nice gadget. Not suitable for my needs (when traveling with my wife, we typically need 10 plugs), but it looks like a great idea for anyone who doesn’t need that many.

My only concern about it is that it doesn’t support grounded plugs. Their power cord is 2-wire only. Although they show grounded plugs connecting to it, the ground plug is left floating, which is a potential safety hazard. But if you don’t travel with any devices that have grounded plugs, this won’t be a concern.

And for the curious, Here’s why I usually travel with a 12-outlet strip. When my wife and I are traveling together, we need to support: 3 phones (2 mine, one hers), iPod Touch, iPad, Kindle, Apple Watch, my laptop, her laptop, camera. This means 7 USB devices and 3 AC devices. Maybe also another laptop (AC), if I think I may need to work while we’re away and a Nintendo Switch Lite (USB) if we want to bring it.

"Their power cord is 2-wire only. " That’s correct. But then a lot of the outlets I’ve seen in hotels don’t support a ground, either, nor do many plug adapters.

I’ve never seen a hotel that didn’t have grounded outlets, and that includes many different countries (including China, UK, Sweden, Denmark and Belgium).

The so-called shaver outlets you sometimes find in the bathroom are the big exception. But I’ve always found other outlets in a hotel room that I could use, and they’ve always been grounded. (Sometimes they’re all in-use and I need to unplug something in order to plug in my power strip.)

As for plug adapters - you’re right, most are not grounded. And because safety matters to me, I make a point of only buying adapters that are grounded. They’re not hard to find, but you need to explicitly look for them.

That might be a difference in the kinds of places we stay. Certainly in big chain hotels, they’re fully up to code. But in the small hotels & B&Bs I prefer, often there’s just a 2-hole outlet with no additional grounding wire.

I obviously can’t disagree with what you’ve observed, but it’s worth noting that in Europe, the ground pin is not always in a location where you might immediately recognize it as such.

See the Wikipedia page for CEE 7 standard plugs and receptacles used for most (but not all) of Europe.

The remaining outliers for Europe are:

Denmark uses a Type K receptacle. Its power leads are spaced identically to a CEE 7/1, but the ground pin is a half-round hole located below the power leads.

Today, Denmark also permits CEE 7/3 (since 2011) and 7/5 (since 2008) receptacles, in order to accommodate grounded appliances without requiring them to be designed for Denmark. Which is good for travelers, because I haven’t seen any “universal” adapter that supports the Danish-standard ground pin.

Italy uses a Type L receptacle. There are two variations, with different pin diameters and spacings. One is compatible with a CEE 7/1 and the other is not. The ground pin is centered between them.

Italy also uses hybrid receptacles that can accommodate CEE 7/3 with grounding and other standards in addition to type-L.

Switzerland uses a Type J receptacle. It is similar to the Italian type-L, but the ground pin is offset and it is usually recessed within a hexagonal opening.

Finally, European appliances that don’t require grounding often have a Europlug which can mate with all of the above receptacles.

CEE 7/1 is what I’ve seen quite frequently. I do know to look for the side springs in CEE 7/3.

It’s an interesting question back to Adam: Does that OneWorld adapter include contacts for the various European ground connections?

Does that OneWorld adapter include contacts for the various European ground connections?

Definitely not grounded. Looking at the photos on its product page you can see that only the UK configuration extends a third post, and it’s plastic:

The European configuration is a Europlug:

Ungrounded is one thing, but does that adapter at least have a recessed area for the ground pin sticking out of some European sockets (eg. France)? If not, that adapter becomes a nice little paper weight, even for ungrounded equipment the moment you want to use it with any socket that’s up to modern code (i.e. grounded).

The above image (as well as those in @ace’s article) shows it lacks such a recessed area on one side. I can’t see if perhaps they included it on the other. But even if they added one on the other side, having it on only one means you lose the ability to change the orientation of the adapter. Not great (but in principle could be desired).

That’s why European plugs (even in countries without grounding pin sticking out of their sockets, eg. Germany) come with that hole you see at the top of this pic.

Go look at the photo (above). It doesn’t fill the round socket, but only occupies the space of a hexagonal Europlug. Nothing comes close to the post of a type-E (French) socket.

Is there enough clearance though? The spec (in those countries where there is a grounding pin) calls for the grounding pin to be longer than the line and neutral pins (in order to ensure grounding connection is always made first).

Very good timing—but I just bought something that probably comes out of the same Chinese OEM maker. Almost everything is identical except maximum wattage and the number of ports. It’s a $23 item called the EPICKA Universal Travel Adapter. I figure I’ll mostly charge my razor and my computer through the AC side. So I’m bringing really just the extra USB-C AC adapter. Everything else I can charge via the EPICKA. (Yes, it does sound like one of those generated names that pockmarks Amazon these days.)

Oh, and a reason to bring something like this instead of simpler adapters is if you’re going to the UK and EU or any other combination of countries with different plugs. My older kid is on a long European trip and I bought him an EPICKA as he has these electrical/electronic devices: an iPad (with USB-C), phone, razor, snapshot camera, and Bluetooth headphones. He really only needs to plug in the razor!

Oh, and a reason to bring something like this instead of simpler adapters is if you’re going to the UK and EU or any other combination of countries with different plugs.

If we’re talking ungrounded, there’s really only the UK that’s a problem. The rest of Europe can be covered with a single adapter.

Now if you want grounded, that’s where the fun really starts…

I think the big difference is that the OneWorld 65 is a 65-watt GaN charger, whereas the EPICKA isn’t GaN and seems to max out at 15W for its single USB-C port. So it would be pretty slow to charge a MacBook Pro.

So it would be pretty slow to charge a MacBook Pro

Yes, exactly—I hadn’t spotted the OneWorld, which would be a great U.S. charger, too, for all my devices! But I paid $50 less. I just recalled I’m leaving my MacBook Air behind on my upcoming trip, so I really am only charging an iPhone, Watch, headphones, and earbuds. No other electronics—quite rare for me.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem that anybody is currently making a high-output USB universal charger that also propagates the ground wire to the AC outlet side. Which means I wouldn’t feel safe using it with a device that has a ground wire on its plug.

Skross (a brand I like) has a USB adapter with ground, but it only has two USB-A ports and its maximum USB output is 5V at 2400mA (shared) (12W). Which isn’t enough for charging a laptop. So it’s not a viable replacement for Adam’s use-case.

The real winner of this article are those LightDims stickers. I received my set today and immediately covered obnoxious blue lights on a set of Amazon speakers and my OWC miniStack STX. I’m not sure I’ve ever made a better investment in terms of time and cost to quality of life improvement.

Well, it was probably 10 years ago, but I was on a trip where I needed two different -diameter pins- in the Euro 2-prong plugs on a trip to multiple countries. The thicker pin adapter wouldn’t go into the thinner hole socket, and the thinner pin adapter would not -stay plugged into- the thicker hole socket. At the time, I had a 6 adapter set that included both thick-pin and thin-pin adapters. My Mogics donut’s adapter has only 1 diameter pins (I’m not sure if it’s the thicker or thinner pins.)

Sounds like you visited Italy.

As I understand it, most of Europe’s pins are the same diameter. Except for Italy, where the type-L receptacle comes in two forms - wide spacing with thick pins, and narrow spacing with thin pins.

After re-reading the Wikipedia page, it seems that the European CEE 7/1 plug doesn’t fit either - it has the diameter of the thick pins, with the spacing of the narrow pins.

When I was there, my hotel also had hybrid receptacles that could accept a CEE 7/4 (“Schuko”) plug, which is the best choice for compatibility. That’s what I’d recommend for travelers today.

At that time (a long time ago), I had a really cheap adapter where the two prongs were on a spring-loaded mechanism so they could be made to fit in narrow or wide outlets. And that’s what I used while I was there. But I would never consider using that adapter today - it looks like a massive shock hazard waiting to happen.

Yes, Italy and Switzerland (and by extension, I assume, Lichtenstein) use smaller diameter. Fortunately many adapters (incl. the one I linked to) use those smaller pins. The smaller pins will also work just fine in countries with larger pin outlets, like Germany. The other way around, nope. So bottom line, just get the smaller diameter.

Skross (a brand I like) has a USB adapter with ground , but it only has two USB-A ports and its maximum USB output is 5V at 2400mA (shared) (12W). Which isn’t enough for charging a laptop. So it’s not a viable replacement for Adam’s use-case.

As a Brit, lots of stuff over here comes with plugs that have the earth pin being plastic. So I really wouldn’t worry about it.

Another less fortunate tale about this company can be found at Kickstarter where 500+ backers were left in the cold.

As a Brit, lots of stuff over here comes with plugs that have the earth pin being plastic. So I really wouldn’t worry about it.

The plastic post by itself isn’t a problem. If the connected device only uses two wires (e.g. has a non-conductive enclosure or double-insulated mains wiring), then it’s perfectly safe.

The problem here is that the device has an AC power pass-through receptacle, where you can connect devices that have and require the ground line. If you connect such a device to it, the ground line will be left floating, defeating its purpose as a safety mechanism.

If a connected device has a failure such that its enclosure comes in contact with the hot lead, the case will be energized instead of shorting to ground (which would cause it to trip a GFCI or a circuit breaker). It won’t happen under normal circumstances, but if there is a failure, I want the protection to actually work.

Checked out the link in milucmedia’s post. It is clearly the same company making the device discussed here, using the same logo. This is very disturbing and should immediately disqualify this business from further consideration.

These are what we travel with when we go to Britain or to EU countries.

Each allow 220V passthrough and have two USB-A ports. We have two of each. Overnight my wife generally charges up to two devices, usually her iPad mini and iPhone 13 mini, both with lightning cables, and occasionally her Kindle, with micro-USB. So one of these is enough for her.

I usually charge at least two devices overnight, sometimes three, and I will take an US plug Anker two-port USB-C GaN charger, so I can charge my iPad Air (USB-C), sometimes my Beats Fit Pro (also USB-C), and iPhone 13 Pro (I can use either a USB-A or USB-C to lightning charger; for overnight I almost always use USB-A). I also have a two meter Apple Watch USB-A charger cable. It’s slower than the new USB-C fast charge cables, but when traveling having the longer cable is usually more desirable than the fast charge. (I also have a Kindle, but we never need to charge the same night, so we usually have just one cable.)

Anything I plug in to the pass-through ports has only two prongs, never something grounded, and nothing requires 110V, so passing through 220V/50Hz is always fine. It appears the UK plug adapter has a ground prong though.

I keep looking for and wish I could find an EU style charger that is as small as the UK version. That thing is pretty big. (There is a third US plug connector on the side that you cannot see.)

If I traveled with a laptop (hardly ever do), I would use the passthrough plug to charge/power the laptop, but it can charge from the Anker 30w USB-C adapter and the cable I use for the iPad Air.

lovely! If the pandemic doesn’t take another bad turn, we’re hoping next year to to finally take a trip to Europe we had booked for March April 2020 that took months to unwind (refunds for flights,trains, hotel reservations… Prague, Vienna, Belgium, Netherlands; this time we’ll add Zurich).

awesome! our guest room has a router with a bunch of blinking blue lights [and a sign on it “please do not disconnect” :) ]

I may need a big sticker for one for my MacBooks :) . For eons, I used a completely black screensaver. But after some macOS upgrade I couldn’t get it to stick anymore, it always shows some motion.

For eons, I used a completely black screensaver. But after some macOS upgrade I couldn’t get it to stick anymore

Instead of a black screen saver, just configure the display to turn off after some interval:

This will also have the advantage of turning off the display’s backlight (assuming you don’t have an OLED screen, which doesn’t have a backlight), so it won’t waste power trying to illuminate a black screen)

Thank you, and I agree. I had that set. I have “Wake for network access” on. But I figure due to Prevent computer from sleeping automatically when the display is off being enabled that shouldn’t matter to the display.

I wonder if I need to do a PRAM reset or something. But for now, I’ve changed the value to 59 minutes in case that makes a difference.

This is Michael from OneAdaptr, thanks for your message.

We have gone thru probably the most significant challenges we had for the Nucleus project in the company’s history but we can assure you that the supporters are not forgotten.

Please allow me to provide some insight. The manufacturer we worked with for the Nucleus project had gone default with tooling, and all products were being paid due to COVID which led to a total shutdown in China and nowhere to be found as the border is shutdown between Hong Kong and China till today, making it impossible for any effort to reclaiming the tooling and funds. As COVID spread to a global shutdown, the impact on our business is brutal as we focus on travel. We were in fact running out of business as we went absolutely out of capital. As travel resumed, we are able to secure new investor who agreed to providing funding to support new projects and use money generated from these new projects to replenish our supporters. (OneWorld65 being one of the projects.)

We will be posting update at the project to inform backers for our plan to replenish them soon but we are working hard to ensure we have sufficient funding to carry the whole thing out.

Thanks for the insight Michael. This sure is of interest to the supporters of the project at Kickstarter, where your last message has the date Sept 7, 2020. Looking forward to your update over there.

thank you, @Shamino, toggling those settings did it. If it wasn’t for your suggestion, I would have just put up with the problem. That explains why the problem was only on one MacBook: a glitch.

When my wife and I are traveling together, we need to support: 3 phones (2 mine, one hers), iPod Touch, iPad, Kindle, Apple Watch, my laptop, her laptop, camera. This means 7 USB devices and 3 AC devices. Maybe also another laptop (AC), if I think I may need to work while we’re away and a Nintendo Switch Lite (USB) if we want to bring it.

Well, I agree that a three pong outlet is important to use if the device has three prongs to plug, but one reason I like the mogics doughnut is it tiny size and the fact that all of the device chargers that I travel with only use a two prong plug. I save quite a bit of space and weight traveling with the donut vs a power strip. I do have a universal travel converter to plug it into when necessary at foreign destinations. I’m curious why you need a three plug power strip — it looks like all or most of the devices on your list. have two prong plugs. Maybe only the laptop?

I’m curious why you need a three plug power strip — it looks like all or most of the devices on your list. have two prong plugs. Maybe only the laptop?

The laptops are the devices that use all three prongs. Depending on the purpose of my trip and who is traveling with me, that might be as many as four computers (one for my work, one for my personal use, my wife’s and my daughter’s), and at night all will need to be plugged in.

OneWorld 65 Combines International Adapter with 65W USB-C Charger - TidBITS