charging camera batteries on Tanzanian safari?
Jan 11th, 2006, 04:15 AM
#21
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Hi,
I noticed when going to the site that lifelist rec., that the outlet has 3 prongs rather than the 2 that my charger has. Is it ok or do you need to use a 3 prong adaptor to plug in? Climbh. do you remember what you p'd at Radio Shack.
Thanks for the good info.
Sherry
I noticed when going to the site that lifelist rec., that the outlet has 3 prongs rather than the 2 that my charger has. Is it ok or do you need to use a 3 prong adaptor to plug in? Climbh. do you remember what you p'd at Radio Shack.
Thanks for the good info.
Sherry
Jan 11th, 2006, 05:05 AM
#24
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Hi Sherry
Here are the Radioshack links to the 2 models we used:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...entPage=search
http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...entPage=search
You can plug the 2-prong line straight into the 3-prong just as you would do at home.
Eben
Here are the Radioshack links to the 2 models we used:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...entPage=search
http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...entPage=search
You can plug the 2-prong line straight into the 3-prong just as you would do at home.
Eben
Jan 11th, 2006, 01:37 PM
#31
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To determine how much wattage you need for your inverter, you'll have to figure out how much wattage each of your devices is using. This is printed on a label attached either to the device itself or any power brick it may have. For example, my laptop computer has a power brick and looking at the label tells me it needs 90 watts. The battery charge for my Canon DSLR also has a label - it's on the bottom of the charger that identifies what the load is. (I'm at work, so I don't know what the actual wattage is off hand).
What you do is add up the wattage of all the devices you can have plugged in at one time and that's how many watts you need in your inverter. So, if I plugged in two laptops into an inverter, and each power brick said it needed 90 watts, then I would need a 180 watt power inverter.
Bear in mind that the 180 watts is the constant load. Power inverters have two numbers - the constant load and the peak load. The peak load is for devices that have a brief surge of power at some point - like when starting up a device. Usually, the inverter only provides the peak load for a little while - like 5 minutes. The constant load is the amount of power it provides continuously. So, the link to the power inverter I posted above was to a 175 watt power inverter. However, the 175 watts is the peak load. The continuous load is 140 watts. When you add up the watts you need, make sure your inverter's continuous load equals or exceeds that amount.
In general, your needs for a safari (e.g. charging batteries, laptops, etc...) are fairly small in terms of wattage. I just would caution against getting carried away - trying to power a microwave oven and a hair dryer at the same time will easily overwhelm the amount of power that a car can put out through the cigarette lighter. The same is true for lots of little devices. If you're looking to charge a camera battery and a laptop at the same time, you'll be fine. If you try to power 6-7 laptops at the same time, then you'll exceed whatever the vehicle is putting out.
I haven't had any problems killing fuses in my inverter when starting my car, but then I have a 300W power inverter for roadtrips, so it's unlikely that I'm generating enough juice to burn one out. Mine also has an on-off switch. It's actually easier to just pull the plug out of the cigarette lighter before starting the vehicle and then plugging it back in.
Here's a FAQ on power inverters:
http://www.donrowe.com/inverters/inverter_faq.html
What you do is add up the wattage of all the devices you can have plugged in at one time and that's how many watts you need in your inverter. So, if I plugged in two laptops into an inverter, and each power brick said it needed 90 watts, then I would need a 180 watt power inverter.
Bear in mind that the 180 watts is the constant load. Power inverters have two numbers - the constant load and the peak load. The peak load is for devices that have a brief surge of power at some point - like when starting up a device. Usually, the inverter only provides the peak load for a little while - like 5 minutes. The constant load is the amount of power it provides continuously. So, the link to the power inverter I posted above was to a 175 watt power inverter. However, the 175 watts is the peak load. The continuous load is 140 watts. When you add up the watts you need, make sure your inverter's continuous load equals or exceeds that amount.
In general, your needs for a safari (e.g. charging batteries, laptops, etc...) are fairly small in terms of wattage. I just would caution against getting carried away - trying to power a microwave oven and a hair dryer at the same time will easily overwhelm the amount of power that a car can put out through the cigarette lighter. The same is true for lots of little devices. If you're looking to charge a camera battery and a laptop at the same time, you'll be fine. If you try to power 6-7 laptops at the same time, then you'll exceed whatever the vehicle is putting out.
I haven't had any problems killing fuses in my inverter when starting my car, but then I have a 300W power inverter for roadtrips, so it's unlikely that I'm generating enough juice to burn one out. Mine also has an on-off switch. It's actually easier to just pull the plug out of the cigarette lighter before starting the vehicle and then plugging it back in.
Here's a FAQ on power inverters:
http://www.donrowe.com/inverters/inverter_faq.html
