How to charge a laptop/camera from the bike?
 

Hello ladies and gents,

I'm planning a RTW trip in 2010 on a wee or a V Strom. Obviously I'm planning to take a laptop with me as well as SLR Camera and a Camcorder. The problem is how do I charge it's battery in the more remote areas of the world? Is there any way of getting it charged from the bike?I could plug it in during the day when I'm riding, get it charged. Is there anything outthere?

All comments will be appreciated.
Andy.

[QUOTE=AndyWx;213906]Obviously I'm planning to take a laptop with me /QUOTE]
Not that obvious, i didn't feel I needed one on my last trip, too heavy and just another thing to worry about. Plenty of internet cafes about (unless you're in North America that is...)

I just attached a 12v waterproof cigarette socket to the bikes battery. While riding, I just plugged in my mp3 player, camera battery charger etc.

Sure you wouldn't rather do it on a DR650?? I know of one in Edinburgh for sale...

I've purchased a female plug with leads and clips for $6 and a 3 way 12v cigarette splitter with 1 usb port to charge my eeepc, phone, camera and ipod using car chargers. It will require a 5amp fuse which I'll buy on the weekend.

This is the splitter:
DealExtreme: $6.80 1-to-3 Triple-Socket Cigarette Power Splitter with 5V 500mA USB Power Port

I'm just gona wrap it in plastic and store it in my saddlebags.

Fit a power socket if the bike does not come with one. Wire it with a fuse through either an ignition controlled circuit or a permanantly live circuit (this allows for charging, inspection light, etc when the bike is not being ridden).
There are two types - the normal car 'cigarette lighter' type of socket and the smaller "Hella" type used by BMW and Triumph and also widely used by truckkers.

Car charger leads/adapters are available for iPods, phones and most cameras. Presumably LapTops do as well.

I have a splitter lead and extentions of varying lengths so I can get power to a tank bag, my pocket, panniers, top box and heated vest. (Not all at once!!)

[quote=MikeS;213915]Hi Mike!

I was thinking about a DR650 too but because we're going two up with my wife and we're not going to do a huge amount of offroading I think we'll go for a wee or a V Strom.

Thanks for the info though.

About the laptop I think that we'll need it for downloading some of the picture and film material onto it. Also I think I'm gonna get a 1TB external HD and loads of cards for the camera. I think I'll get cigarette socket fitted maybe with a USB Port as well.

Thanks again!
Andy

Good stuff Tony. I thought that there had to be something out there! I think that I'll go with something ignition related so that it's not live when the bike is not running. I'll deffinitely check out all the sockets and adapters needed for cameras and laptops.

Thank again!
Andy.

Thanks PocketHead! This thing is great! I think I'll get it. Good stuff.

What about it's reliability in wet conditions or off road?

Cheers,
Andy

Hi again!

For all interested I found a mounting guide for the cigarette socket. Seems quite easy.

Installing a Cigarette Lighter Accessory Outlet on a Motorcycle | WhyBike? Motorcycle Blog

All the best and see you all outthere!

Andy!

Looks great, I've not seeno ne with a USB port and it seems more and more things will charge off one. In fact I could do with several USB ports and just the one cig lighter really.

How's the adaptor thing constructed, I've got a three way (no USB) one which was screwed together, so I took it apart to get to the wiring, cut the "plug" bit off and ran a wire in through a grommet it'd fitted in the hole, I've got that hard-wired with fuse into my ignition circuit, so I've always got a bunch of sockets ready, and don't have that old "double adaptor look going on.

For the upcoming trip though I've decided to opt for something different, my EEEPC's USB ports. My camera and cellphone both charge off USB, so I'm planning on using the EEPC's car charger to charger it up and then charge the other two off the USB ports. That way I don't have to worry about hundreds of bulky cigarette lighter charging leads, just a couple of USB leads will do.

I wonder if anyone makes a step down from 12V DC on a vehicle to 5V USB direct?

take your pick :)

12v usb adaptor - Google-søgning

Oh yes, Google, always a good idea before asking a dumb question, thanks for that. I've just found a USB powered AA-cell charger too, so I think I'll get one of these adaptors, and see if I can make up a little hardwired USB-loom for my bike. the ideal would be a couple of ports to the inside of the top case for charging batteries and my bluetooth headset and one on the bars for the phone.

Now just have to find a waterproof casing/mount for it.

Hope you don't mind me jumping in here with my own (related) query?!

I'm a complete numpty when it comes to electrickery so this may be a really stupid question ....... but .....
My DSLR has a bespoke battery, not AA etc, and a charging unit/adaptor that I plug into the mains. Assuming I can find an appropriate lead to plug into the chargng unit with a cigarette lighter type plug on the other end will it charge the battery OK? Worse, could I damage the charging unit or bike?

My bike is already fitted with the small cigarette socket so at least there's no risk in me having to fit one!

Try Hahnel battery chargers they do a universal one that covers most DSLR batts. Here's a few to be going on with...

Amazon.co.uk: hahnel battery charger - Electronics & Photo: Electronics & Photo

That's fantastic - thanks very much!

12 laptop charger
 

I remember seeing a 12v charger for a laptop as well. Does anyone know where I can find one, or what make it was?

Thanks

Here's one from Maplin

Alternatively try here

Tim

Best solution I've found was to use a regular domestic charger and one of these.

Ring Powersource Inverter 75W from Halfords Price £24.99

Absolutely brilliant. I've yet to try it on a laptop though.

EDIT: Just looked at the links in Tim's post. Tim's recommendation is better than mine if you're only planning on running a laptop. It's obviously more powerful than mine but only runs DC. I've only used mine on mobile phones, PDA's and GPS receivers and it does a cracking job for what I need.

On the recent sojourn to Russia I used a monkey.

Really - they're very good. They come with all sorts of adaptors for lots of different things (including USBs) and you only have to charge that up rather than have lots of chargers - it's also quite small and takes up no room.

https://powertraveller.com/

The monkey wasn't powerful enough to deal with a laptop (even my eeePC) though - but since my trip they've announced a gorilla which is powerful enough.

https://powertraveller.com/iwantsome.../powergorilla/

and have a couple more things coming out which will solve your problems powerwise on the road.

Really nice guys from Hampshire in the UK - worth giving a try.

m

look look!

They're even making a baby gorilla that charges iccle laptops like the eeePC

baby/mini gorilla - 8.4v, 9.5v & 12v charger for mini laptops & Tablet PCs

https://powertraveller.com/iwanta/000095/

Too much power consumption for a laptop?
 

We took a laptop on our trip through Africa and used it for everything from route planning (using Maps4Africa) to updating our website. I wired a hard saddlebag with power using a relay so that it was only on when the ignition was on. The theory was that I would charge the laptop during the day while riding so that I could use it at night. Unfortunately I only had a 60 W inverter and the laptop takes 75 W so I blew the fuse on that quite quickly. :rolleyes2: Then I had second thoughts about running 75 W all day and what that would do for the charging system when riding slowly. So the laptop was charged at campgrounds and hotels. Our laptop lasts about 6 hours on a charge so we didn't need to charge it every single night. All the other electronics (e.g. cell phone, pocketpc, camera) don't take much power and were charged using a different plug on the bike overnight.

Hope that helps!

Seperate the battery?
 

Hey all

Ive got a dell Latitude e4300 which I want to take on the road with me (I want to be editing videos wile on the trip), I can see a problem with keeping the thing charged as the power supply is a 90W unit! BUT that is designed for running the laptop + charging the battery, I only want to charge it - the battery is only 11.1V.

Has anyone seen a separate battery charging unit for laptop batterys? (yes I have been searching google before you ask) - if I can isolate the battery, then in theroy at 11.1 the bikes power system should be able to cope with that - either that or I need to find a smaller laptop that can deal with editing and posting vids - any suggestions?

Dom

I used a cheap 12/230 volt converter wich worked great :-)

You just need a car charger which transforms 12V to the voltage of your Laptop.

For example this one:

http://www.amazon.de/gp/aw/d/B002HG5T4M

Regards
Stefan

Gesendet von meinem GT-I9300 mit Tapatalk 2

When using an inverter just be aware and learn about your particular bikes charging system

I killed a rectifier/regulator on my Vstrom because I was using the inverter to run the laptop at campsites. The Vstrom uses a shunt regulator and the amount of heat generated burnt it out, if the bike is running and moving it is probably ok to charge it

Cheers
TS

Err that would be with the engine running ..but the bike stationary.

Best is if you charge the batteries while you ride along.

In the case of a Vstrom, at $300 a pop, I would not be running an inverter off the battery ever again, even with the engine running and stationary. The amount of heat generated is too much.

There is an after market R/R which is supposed to run a lot cooler due to a better heatsink, I would be doing some testing on that before I was confident enough to use it.


Cheers
TS