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Traveling with Too Many Chargers?

Posted by Cliff on from the mitigating-the-proliferation-of-wall-warts dept.

MotorMachineMercenar wonders: "I just took a roadtrip over a long weekend and noticed that I need to lug around too many chargers. I have a charger for my cell phone, Nintendo DS Lite, my two digital cameras and an iPod. Sometimes I will have one for a portable HDD and laptop. In addition I have to carry a plug converter as some of them have been bought overseas. That's up to eight gadgets just to give juice my power-hungry devices, and they take precious space and weight in my bags. Is there any way to limit the number of chargers without gimping my roadwarrior gear? Most devices have more or less fixed batteries, 'smart' chargers and proprietary plugs, but is it possible as DIY, or is there an existing product? I'd like to see a universal charger for which plugs for any current device with the flexibility to add more in the future. What are the limitations and caveats with 240 vs 120, wattage, cutting and connecting cables, and so forth?"

9 of 131 comments (clear)

  1. Easy! by sporkme · · Score: 5, Informative

    I use Igo and USB cables to charge my devices. Igo junk is available at a lot of retailers. There are varying power source and wattage ratings of the chargers, including air/car/110~/220~ power supplies that automatically adjust voltage and current, and can charge four or more devices at once if necessary. It is based on tip adapters that deliver power specific to their respective devices. They are pretty fast to make new connectors.

    There are also the alkaline/lithium battery powered auxillury chargers, most of which are universal with multiple connecters. You can also use the solar chargers, most of which include a DC car socket.

    I think that sooner than later, everything small will charge from USB and everything larger will have automatically switching power supplies that can run from any typical power source without adaptation.

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    FairTax baby!
    1. Re:Easy! by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 2, Informative

      And as an alternative to iGo, Ziplinq has a variety of tips for your 5V items that plug into standard USB ports and chargers. I started with the iGo, but now that my PDA and bluetooth headphones both have Mini-B sockets for charging, I've switched to Ziplinq. One thing though- iGo was always high quality, and I'm not impressed with the quality of Ziplinq- I've got one cable from them that the ends came off, and another that for some strange reason (perhaps a short?) draws power from the USB as a surge as soon as it's plugged in, even with nothing plugged into the other end of the cable.

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  2. Re:IGo and others (Re:Easy!) by mi · · Score: 1, Informative
    No, "peddle":
    The verb peddle has 1 sense (first 1 from tagged texts)
    1. (2) peddle, monger, huckster, hawk, vend, pitch -- (sell or offer for sale from place to place)
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    In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
  3. Re:IGo and others (Re:Easy!) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Guess he is encouraging you to use an inappropriate homophone.

  4. Universal Power Adapter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    I used to sell these things at the electronics/computer store I worked at called (review) I-GO Juice. There were a few different models out at the time, but one had pretty much any proprietary plug I had ever come across (believe me I've seen some odd ones) as well as adapters for foreign outlets and car outlets. It also auto-sensed input and output voltages and wattages/amps. Neat little thing and my customers always came back to tell me it did everything they wanted anywhere they were, and it's not often you get that. Hope that helps, I'm sure there are other companies that make a similar product, but this is the only one I've seen. Cheers, Phil

  5. Re:use usb by mspohr · · Score: 3, Informative
    I'd advise going with USB for as many devices as possible.

    I carry along a USB hub and power supply as my "charger". I can plug 4 devices into it for charging. Works great.

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  6. Re:Overvoltage by JackHoffman · · Score: 2, Informative

    In 1995, Europe has switched to a unified 230V standard with a tolerance of -6% to +10% (216V to 253V) and later +-10%. Since all previous voltages fall into the tolerance range, not much has changed as far as actual voltages go (220V in Germany, 240V in the UK), but devices are built to the 230V standard now.

  7. Re:use usb -- too slow by PleaseDontBeTaken · · Score: 2, Informative

    USB charging is great for leaving your blackberry in a cradle. But for on the go, it's not a good solution. For one thing - too slow. Plus it doesn't completely solve your carry one charger problem.

    When you charge on the road, you want to get fully charged as fast as possible. Being able to charge two things at once is even better. Basically if you travel a lot, the iGo is the best solution. A gift you give yourself. There is a competing product from Kensington but afaik it's only at Circuit City and just as expensive.

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  8. Re:And people laugh at me for this... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Actually, Digital Rebels (DSLR) have an additional grip that can take 6 x AA batteries (including NiMH) and provide far greater capacity than the internal proprietary battery. The grip plus a $20 charger plus a few sets of Energizer 2500mAh batteries cost less than the equivalent proprietary batteries, and my $20 charger uses the same generic power cable as my laptop, my PDA, my portable radio/CD, ....

    Of course, I already had the charger, since everything from my mp3 player to my LED flashlight uses AA.