# What are my options for charging electrical equipment



## ChrisandJohn (Feb 3, 2008)

We are now in our 4th year of motorhoming but, though we love it, we haven’t wanted to get into buying lots of specialist equipment that we’re not sure we need. Most of our camping is done on sites with hook-up. Since buying our new (to us) motorhome though earlier this year we could probably manage quite a few nights without electricity thanks to the new 110ah battery and mostly LED lights. The main reason now I would want electricity for short stays is to charge the MacBooks, phones, ipod and speakers, camera batteries etc. and possibly even the ereaders. 

What solutions are there please?


Chris


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## Jezport (Jun 19, 2008)

A small pure sine wave inverter will mean you can plug in any low current items the same as at home.


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## ChrisandJohn (Feb 3, 2008)

Thanks Jezport

Is this one from Maplins the right kind?

Anything else, you or anyone else can tell me would be gratefully accepted.

Chris


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## DABurleigh (May 9, 2005)

Chris,

If you wish to read more:
http://www.motorhomefacts.com/ftopicp-450452.html#450452

That one will certainly do you. Personally I would save a lot of money and get a modified sine wave 150W (fanless) one when they are on offer from Maplins (very often). Under £20.

Dave


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## ChrisandJohn (Feb 3, 2008)

Thanks Dave, your guide to inverters was extremely useful. I'm chipping away at my ignorance bit by bit. I'm almost, but not quite, at the stage of knowing what I need to ask next.


Chris


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## geraldandannie (Jun 4, 2006)

Hi Chris

I'm afraid we're quite techie when we go away. Some years ago, I bought a 150W inverter from Ebay, and it was fine for everything for a couple of years, except a new MacBook. I sold that at an MHF Global Rally, and bought a cheap 300W inverter from a Newbury show (around £40 I think). This charges everything we have - MacBook, Samsung laptop, camera, video camera, shaver(s), iPod(s), Kindle(s), and probably a few other things too. We used it a lot in France recently (10 weeks away and only 4 nights with hookup), and it has worked fine for 2 years or so now (touch wood :wink: )

Gerald


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## Pat-H (Oct 30, 2009)

Where possible I'd look for car cigar lighter chargers for the various items you need to operate or charge.
We have a 4 way cigar outlet box that plugs into the 12V output in the motorhome. This allows us to charge mobile phones, Netbook and loads of otehr stuff. Not much kit can't be powered from a 12V cigar outlet.

That route tends to be more efficient than converting 12V to 230V then back down to 19-5V as required by the various devices.

Mains inverters are great but they can waste a lot of battery power in the conversion. Even an 80% efficient one is wasting 20% and the mains adapter to say the mac book will waste yet more.

I'd also look at solar charging to top the batter back up during the day.


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## rosalan (Aug 24, 2009)

You have not described what 'extras' you already have but the more we use our van, the more independant we wish to be, of mains power.
We have a 60w Solar panel that keeps the batteries topped up and recently fitted a battery master that means the engine battery also gets charged with the sun.
At the motorhome shows, almost every type of adapter for charging my phones, netbook and other low powered units can be obtained to fit into the cigarette lighter (12v power take off), which are powered by the sun (indirectly).
If however you want a hair dryer, you will not be looking at this route.
Alan


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## Addie (Aug 5, 2008)

I agree with Pat-H.

Never use an inverter when a similar travel charge type device will do the same job without having to convert 12v to 230v and then back to 19v.

For the Mac Book there are lots of car charger options (I don't know if you have a Pro or not, you might need to look for the 80w one if so - check the back of your existing charger to see the wattage)

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/i.html?_from...macbook+car+charger&_sacat=See-All-Categories

iPods, Camera Batteries etc can all be charged from a similar device - check ebay, they are often just a few pounds. If they can be charged from a USB cable - this device is what you need:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/330571879581

With regards to 'speakers' - we use the Van's own head unit to play our iPod through, this uses the cab battery which is otherwise redundant. We've used it for 5 days before and it still started first time - maybe look at a headunit that can accept an iPod or maybe some battery powered speakers?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001F1PB...de=asn&creative=22206&creativeASIN=B001F1PBX4

Inverters are fine if you can charge a device while travelling (engine running) from the cab sockets but I would avoid long spells of using them off the habitation battery - especially if you have 'only' 110AH.


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## sallytrafic (Jan 17, 2006)

Until recently they don't make a suitable 12V charger for the mac. The main stumbling block was the magsafe connector. Now there are 60W and 85W chargers (Chinese) aplenty on eBay etc. Note these are chargers they won't always support you using it at the same time. 

For a year or so I have owned a 60W Chinese mains adaptor for my macbook which has performed well but my Maplin 150W quasi inverter goes to overheat mode on occasions. This shows the problems of having a quasi feeding a switched mode power supply. It is also not very efficient as others have said.


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Another vote for 12v cigar chargers. I have a multi charger from Maplins etc and all the 12v chargers for GPS, iphone, ipod iWhatever, nokia etc.

I tend to line them up on the dinette seat when driving and swap em over once charged. Laptop will last 8 hours when fully charged which equates to about 4-5 days and the phones are pretty good to.


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## Morphology (Jul 23, 2010)

We have a cigar lighter to USB adapter, then use USB leads to charge our various phones, MP3 players, Sat Nav, GPS Watches etc.

I would echo the warnings about using inverters that aren't pure sine wave. I've got a cheepie 150W quasi sine-wave inverter, and it won't power some of my laptops, even though they draw less than 100W.


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

!2 volt for me too, using the inverter is only a last resort for anything we don't have a 12 volt charger for. 12 volt socket to USB chargers are not expensive, Alan.


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## ChrisandJohn (Feb 3, 2008)

Thank you all so much.

Now it is beginning to look more complicated, as I originally suspected. Still, I did ask for my options. :roll: 

To address some of the issues raised I'll clarify a few things.

Commitments to cats, the garden and a granddaughter keep us from taking many longish breaks. Our pattern so far has been a 3 week holiday to France in September; 2 or 3 breaks of 10 days or so in the UK, at least one of which is staying near my son's family in Dorset (when we can charge equipment at their house); several short breaks of 2,3 or 4 nights in the UK.

So far we've avoided more that a couple of consecutive nights off hook-up and are just hoping to extend that a bit whilst still being able to use our equipment.

I'm not sure, given the above, how useful solar panels would be unless our pattern of use changes substantially. We don't tend to sit around by the van all day so wouldn't be there to move the portable ones around to catch the sun. Roof fitted panels might often be shaded by trees, or in our case in the north by clouds. Perhaps members could put me right on these issues.

The main equipment we would want to charge is:
2 Macbook Pros
2 iPhones
as these get the most use and power runs out quickly

It would also be useful to be able to charge the following items but it isn't so important as either they don't get so much use, or batteries don't run down so quickly, or additional batteries can be bought, or non-electrically powered equivalents can be used.
1 original style iPod
An iFusion portable speaker/dock system
2 or 3 cameras
1 Kindle
1 Sony ereader
electric toothbrush
electric shaver.
SatNav (but mainly charged whilst travelling)


I do have a travel hairdryer but am happy not to use it. We don't have or want a TV in the van. All other items have gas fuelled equivalents.

I have a 12v charger for the iPod, which will also connect to the iPhones, but it only fits the 12v socket in the cab, not the habitation socket. 
Also, the links given to 'car chargers' by Addie seem to show similar cigar lighter type connections. Does this mean they can only be used in the cab off the engine battery, or is there an adaptor I can use with the habitation socket?

We are going to the Shrewsbury Show (not been to one before) is this our best bet for looking at, and buying, the equipment we need?


Chris


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

You should be able to get an adaptor to convert the hab socket to a cigar lighter type. I have one. Think I got it in a camping shop for about a fiver.

You do carry a lot of tech though! It all should be doable though through 12v.


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## IanA (Oct 30, 2010)

We lasted 3 days and nights last weekend on one 85ah battery - no heating needed, only used LED lights, fridge on gas, used toilet flush sparingly. We were only 25 miles away, so re-charging was limited. This weekend going away for two nights - wonder if it will last.

Most noticeable drop was when using the three non-LED lights in the toilet, which all come on together - these will be next for LEDs.


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## ChrisandJohn (Feb 3, 2008)

barryd said:


> You should be able to get an adaptor to convert the hab socket to a cigar lighter type. I have one. Think I got it in a camping shop for about a fiver.
> 
> You do carry a lot of tech though! It all should be doable though through 12v.


Thanks Barry, What might such an adaptor be called? Is there a name for the habitation type 12v socket? Any searches I've done only bring up the cigar type connection.

Charging whilst driving will only have limited use for what I'm looking for. I'm thinking about circumstances where we're on site for 4 nights or so, not driving around.

Never thought of us as having a lot of techie  but as I said previously the main items we need to consider are the Macbook Pros and the iPhones. We tend to be out, often taking photos, during the day, and in the evening we'll transfer them to the Macbooks, maybe edit them, maybe watch a DVD, or I'll even use Kindle for Mac. I might be particularly consumptive of power because I do a lot of zooming in and out. Likewise, I consume more power on my Sony ereader as I have the font very large, therefore more page turns.

Thanks to you everyone for your patience. I'll get there eventually. :roll:

Chris


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## sallytrafic (Jan 17, 2006)

ChrisandJohn said:


> barryd said:
> 
> 
> > You should be able to get an adaptor to convert the hab socket to a cigar lighter type. I have one. Think I got it in a camping shop for about a fiver.
> ...


Have a look through these two pages and see if you can spot your hab socket. >12V sockets and plugs<


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

A Hella 12 volt adapter, sorry about the long ling, the tool for shortening them does not work for me,

http://www.google.co.uk/#q=Hella+12...gc.r_pw.&fp=23194883ff024071&biw=1366&bih=643

Alan.


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