charging batteries in the field (1 Viewer)

Hi folks...

I am on my way to pick up a new battery pack for my camera and it dawned on me - what do folks do when out in the field? Are there such things as chargers like the ones for cell phones that you can set up and charge in the car off the AC adapter? Are there such things available? If not, how does one contact Canon to suggest they consider making one? I always keep two charged batteries with me at all times (hence my trip today as one finally has outlived its life) and it would be a huge benefit to have a charger in the car instead of having to return home to charge up again.

Get yourself a 12 v to 240 v step up transformer that plugs into the cigarette lighter. Iuse my to charge everything from laptop to camera batteries. Cost about £30.00 UK

The device you want is essentially a sine wave inverter (+transformer). It converts direct current and steps up the voltage (usually 12volt DC from the car battery) to 110v AC or 220/240v AC.
An inverter rated at a maximum output of 150w will be more than sufficient.

I use an inverter, as Steve talked about, which plugs into the cigaretter lighter or accessory power socket, and it converts the 12v DC into 110/115 v AC. With this I can use the AC powered battery chargers in my vehicle, and I can power or recharge my laptop as well, since it needs AC when the battery runs down. Like you, I had no luck finding a 12v DC powered charger from Canon. However, I found an AC/DC charger for my Canon batteries (BP 511 type) at B&H Photo made by Impact. I don't see the one for my battery listed there any longer but here is a link to one of the models - http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/407462-REG/Impact_CMBP208_CM_BP208_Mini_AC_DC_Charger.html

for the BP 208 style battery. Don't know what battery you use, but B&H Photo lists several models of the Impact AC/DC charger made for different batteries (about $20 - very reasonable). Just do a search on B&H Photo for "Impact AC/DC charger" and you'll see what they have. I haven't used mine often, but it's worked fine when I did use it. It's the only AC/DC charger I found for my Canon batteries. It has the DC plug for the lighter socket and flip-out prongs for the AC outlet. If they have one for your battery style it's a very inexpensive solution.

Choosing a DC power inverter is more complicated depending on whether you plan to power anything other than a low power draw item like a camera battery charger. If you wish to use it to "power" an AC device like a laptop, you need to find out how much current (milli-amps) your device needs. Getting an inverter that supplies too little current will only shut it down or blow a fuse when the device tries to draw more power than the inverter can provide. Also, the higher capacity inverters usually are designed to connect by the Lighter socket/accessory socket for low power needs, AND alternately with heavy wires directly to the vehicle battery (bypassing any vehicles fuses) for higher power needs (often used when camping, etc.) For your camera battery charging needs, the lighter plug should be just fine. Hope this helps.

EDIT- I found a similar item called the "Pearstone Mini AC/DC Battery Charger for Canon BP-511/511A" (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/581203-REG/Pearstone_CMBP511_Mini_AC_DC_Battery_Charger.html ) at B&H photo for the canon 511 batteries, also just $20. I did a search for "DC charger BP-511" to find it. You could do the same, inserting your battery number in the search. I also found actual Canon brand DC chargers now - "Canon CR-560 AC/Car Battery Charger/Adapter" , "Canon CB-600 Dual Battery Car Charger and Adapter for BP-6 Series Batteries" as well as several "Pearstone" brand versions that seem to replace the "Impact" brand items. Good luck!

12 v to 240 v step up transformer

PhilW said:

Get yourself a 12 v to 240 v step up transformer that plugs into the cigarette lighter. Iuse my to charge everything from laptop to camera batteries. Cost about £30.00 UK

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Could you please tell me where you purchased this from?

Thank you

I've just bought this Belkin version from Amazon - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Belkin-140w...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1258293145&sr=1-1 .

Hope this helps.

There are some cheap chargers that simply plug into your car cigarette lighter about £10 upwards.
A few of my cameras have dry battery packs that can be used in emergency, but the at least one needs the vertical grip to be attached first.
In practice I take at least a couple of fully charged spares - especially if I am shooting video, it is the simplest option (as long as they are fully charged). If this seems expensive I have used good non-orginal manufacturer batteries with no problems at all over several years.

Thank you for the link and info, just what I needed.

brains said:

Could you please tell me where you purchased this from?

Thank you

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TheY sell them at maplins if you need one ASAP

Thanks Lee.

It's never even occurred to me to charge camera batteries in the car. By doing it that way, you'd be probably less likely to do things like leave your charger and one of your spare batteries in a motel room in New Zealand (to pick a hypothetical example out of the air at random)

I have never needed to do this I just take a couple of extra batteries along just in case.
I can only speak from a canon point of veiw but they last for ages on my mklll

My Nikon batteries last ages and the much cheaper compatable ones last even longer. I haven't any need to recharge them in the car.

I was asking about the step up transformer because the poster mentioned that it can be used to charge laptops which would be useful whilst on holiday. I have now found them at Amazon and Maplins as suggested.

I use an inverter, cigarette lighter type charger, external power packs (Li-ion and AA packs) and, for my trek, solar charger

All work extremely well powering up cameras, image banks, PDAs, GPSrs and (with the inverter) laptops