Charging MP3 players

todpod

Observer
and stuff. Trying to come up with the best way to handle this. currently have 2 cellphones and a kindle fire for the wife. I figure the kids will add there own mp3 players and phones to mix. Have a fairly new truck but don't want to kill the battery. I am hoping we go to the camp sites and the truck sits for a while. Thought about putting a deep cycle battery on the trailer hooked to a solar trickle charger. This seems a little extreme. Any ideas?
 

Hafwit

Adventurer
If you don't want to have an umbilical cord to your vehicle, you might consider one of the Go Zero batteries that is portable and has the ability to be charged with a solar panel in addition to plugging it in. That allows you more flexibility as to where you use it. We have one that we charge during the day with a solar panel placed on a table in camp and then we use it to power various things--dvd players/games/etc. at night in our tent. It is important to keep the kids entertained.

Cheers,
Greg
 

Scoutn79

Adventurer
For a fairly simple idea you could use one of the jumper packs ( the type you can jump start your vehicle with) that have a 12v and/or integral USB charger You can get very small 12v power plug adapter with 2 USB ports on it and they are about 1 1/2" long..I have one from Griffin. Then you can power your devices and then plug it into your power port to charge the jumper pack while you drive. If the worst happens you can jump your truck to boot....Plus it is nice to be able to have 12v power on the camp table to power your 12v blender for Margaritas.
Darrell
 

1leglance

2007 Expedition Trophy Champion, Overland Certifie
Or you could wean everyone off the electronics and let them enjoy the wonders of the outdoors.

Give each kid & the wife cheap digital cameras and let them explore...when you get back home have a photo show with friends/family

Buy some outdoor toys like kites,frisbees, balls and such so everyone is playing actively.

Take a famous book that they have not read and read small sections then talk about it.

Board games like when were kids are also fun in the outdoors.

Cooking can become a great family activity.

But if you really need power out there.....then I agree with the 12vdc jump back that has cig lighter sockets & usb
 

kilimats

Observer
love mine, it even power our HP 2740p tablet PC< amazing little unit for the price ( i need to get a solar panel next): energizer xp1800

It will also power 12v accessories, we use it for out shower water pump, works great and give you infinite run time lol

Xpal18000.jpg
 

todpod

Observer
The mp3 is for me :). I just want to be prepared. We didn't have much last year. The kindle is probably the big thing so the wife doesn't have to drag along books.
 
Duracell makes a charger that runs off AA sized batteries. It can charge a phone in about thirty minutes, two or three times on a set of two AAs.
 

Jay H

servicedriven.org
I don't see the problem with jumpering the relay to one 12v socket so its always on and using it only for charging low power usb devices over night. A good vehicle battery even after many years will have at least 50 amp hours left at 12v nominal for 600watt hours. A smart phone, camera or mp3 player battery is about 6watt hours. Assuming even the worst ever 1DC-DC charging conversion rate there is plenty of excess capacity. A power hungry tablet that pulls 2Amps on the other had is more of a problem in which case the other solutions mentioned are really appropriate.
 

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