charging apple watch in ireland

Any Apple power adapter with a USB output port will be fine for your watch, and all Apple adapters will accept any supply voltage 100-240v AC so with the travel set (duck heads) to fit different wall sockets you have everything you need.

However, they are all 5v output from the USB port (not 12v) so look closer at the label and just check what you have. I think it might be 12W (that’s the Watts power rating not the voltage which is much smaller writing). The 12W adapter is perfect for your iPhone iPad and watch. That’s the adapter I use when I travel with the same set of devices so I know it works.

Adding: The adapters that don’t work for the Watch charging cable are the new 18W and higher power USB-C outputs. Basically, if the watch magnetic cable will connect it is compatible. You should also be able to use any other USB adapter, or if you are lucky in a hotel room you might find the wall sockets also have a built in USB port for charging. That can be useful if you only have a single charger and you need to boost more than one device in a hurry.

Here is Apple’s no charging checklist, If your Apple Watch won't charge or it won't turn on - Apple Support. I think you will have done most of the points, but see particularly #6 for the forced reset.

That’s ominous. I would suspect possibly a damaged magnetic cable if two adapters won’t charge the watch. If you get to 3 failures get a new cable. Fortunately you can test the adapters easily, just switch to the lightning cable and try your iPhone which has a much higher power demand than the watch. You could even try the watch cable on a computer USB port, Apple Watch has a really low current demand and will charge from any USB source.

Just to be clear, my 10 or 12W adapters with the regular old style big USB charge iPhone, iPad, and Watch S3 when I travel. The only difference is which one comes out of the bag. If it’s working now don’t mess with it, but I suspect there may be a watch charging cable on the way out in the not too distant future. You’re visiting Dublin... I forget if there’s an electronics store in the airport duty free but I would be thinking of grabbing a spare on the way home if the price is right.

As I said earlier, if the plug on the cable fits the socket on the power adapter, it should work even down to a 5W adapter. If the adapter rating is a bit on the low side it might take longer to charge the phone or iPad which have a bigger thirst for power, but the watch only draws something like 1W or 2W so the extra muscle on a higher rated adapter is just not used, the adapter runs below max rating. It’s a bit like having a high powered Ferrari in slow traffic, the engine has a lot in reserve but your right foot never asks for more than 50bhp.

I use an Apple USB-C Watch charging cable with a 29W Apple charger.

Bah! I couldn’t find one of those when I looked. No stock...