Car chargers: how reliable?

Nihil_Baxter

Nihil_Baxter

Member
Hi folks,

I will soon be shooting a doc in Africa in a small fishing village in Somalia with no electricity whatsoever. My only chance of recharging my batteries is using the car outlet of our 4wd, so I will need to buy a car charger.

Any good or bad experiences using car outlets? How long does it take to fully charge the batteries? How much do the car batteries drain from charging my batteries?

thx
 
You just charge them up while driving, no problem.
They charge exactly the same as in your house.


Just make sure there is a built in fuse, and take some extra fuses with you.
 
Yeah, they work fine. I would not leave them over night or for really extended periods. I never thought about fuses, but that makes a lot of sense.
 
I use the lenmar car charger. I guess when I was driving I didn't know how long it took to charge. But they suppose to be faster than the panny charger.

I had no problems and didn't bother with any fuse as pookie mention.
 
Also consider using an inverter, converting the 12V to 110 --- this will allow you to power other things from the 4WD. It's important (as mentioned earlier) to NOT leave anything charging too long without running the engine.

Some vehicles shut down the power outlets when the keys are removed from the vehicle, my 2004 Toyota Highlander is an example.

There are also Solar Chargers. Have no direct reference for those.

Good Luck, Greg NYC
 
Thanks a lot for your suggestions, guys! In fact I learned about those car converters myself yesterday, think I´m going to order one. This way I can recharge my Paglight battery, too.

I will post my experiences after my journey.

Cheers!
 
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