The Camping Forum

[TheGoodNorth]

What do people use?

I have ordered an in car charger for my iPhone for this bank holiday weekend but just wondered what others use when they don't have an EHU??

[Donnelly69]

I use something similar to this -

http://www.gadgets.co.uk/item/CARINV/12 ... erter.html

I think mine came from Maplins, it has a built in sensor to prevent drainage of your car battery. The only problem I had was, as with most modern cars, the cigarette lighter (or Accessory Power Supply as they are now called! ) does not work when the car is switched off, so for £20, I had a local garage fit an 'APS' in the boot which is permanently live, allowing it to be used when parked up.

You can charge phones, razors, lap-tops, lamps, anything really. There are different sizes available, so if you intend running things off it, make sure you get one strong enough.

[Kopite]

I use a power monkey, comes with loads of attachments so you can charge a variety of things


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[RowanWolf]

I don't have an iPhone and would not take one camping (I don't like them anyway but I've seen how much they eat through battery..daft). I've tried various forms of chargers for my phone over the years but they are all a bit rubbish so I now have an extra battery to take camping.

[Rob-merlin1973]

I turn my phone off .... it lasts much longer that way

[TerryV]

Friend of mine swears by solar chargers but not used them myself.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?Mod ... 8&T=Module

[TheGoodNorth]

Thanks for the suggestions I'll check them out in more detail.

[crazyhazy]

Another idea is an inverter, it just plugs into your cigarette lighter and then you can use your normal charger, much cheaper in the long run than buying expensive car chargers for this and that!!

[in-a-tent]

Actually we bought chargers for all our phones and the DS off ebay for less than a tenner, which is less than the cost of an inverter. They're not that expensive.

You might find this interesting http://www.in-a-tent.co.uk/blogs/2/61/T ... 20recharge

[crazyhazy]

Oh right - can you find me one for my laptop for under a tenner?

[in-a-tent]

Laptop chargers in general use 19v whereas phones and DS chargers are 5-10v. As the car has a 12v supply a laptop charger is going to more expensive (because stepping a DC voltage up is a lot harder than stepping it down) so no you won't find one for under a tenner. but there are some cheaper ones around http://www.inkino.co.uk/zen/index.php?m ... s4t5s0as04 of course the quality might be dubious, I've no idea.

I've avoided inverters for laptop charging, having read posts on other forums by people who've had their PSUs (and sometimes the laptop too) fried by a cheap inverter plugged into their car, having said that I can't find them now, it was a while back I was reading up about it.

[crazyhazy]

Mine works fine

[Wayne]

Oh right - can you find me one for my laptop for under a tenner?

£9.89

[crazyhazy]

....Think I will stick with the inverter thanks.

[Wayne]

....Think I will stick with the inverter thanks.

When I don't have EHU, I use an inverter, I haven't had any trouble with.

I think you can get issues with some of the cheap ones if you start the vehicle and the alternator makes the voltage jump a couple of volts at input, it spikes at output.



I use one of these to power my inverter during the evening and night and then charge it off the car during the day if we drive out, don't risk flattening the battery on the car then or spiking the Inverter