Norm's Top 10 Travel Charging Tips For the Power Hungry

So, I am really into gadgets. Shocking, I know. And the thing about gadgets? They take power. Yeah, your Kindle takes less power than an LED bulb, but does it take more than a book? Yup. And if you ran out of power half way through The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo while crossing Siberia by Lada, you would be pretty bored (actually, if you could read in the back of a Lada, I would be seriously impressed).

It is veeerry bumpy, ya

So then what is a gadget hound to do?

10) Solar Sucks (for this)

Solar chargers are cool, very cool possibly. Charging your gadgets from the power of the sun? Awesome! However, cold hard reality kind of bites on this one. First, your phone, camera, netbook or tablet, and especially laptop take a lot of power. For example, a laptop normally takes about 60watts of power to charge. This is what a 60w solar rig looks like:

Yes.. that is a car battery

Yeah... so this is 60watts: a netbook takes about 50watts, a iPad/Tablet about 45w, and a smartphone 15w. In other words, as I said in my review of the Solio H1000, portable solar panels are low voltage, low watt solar chargers which recharge an internal battery, and then let your power USB devices. The theory is very cool, the practice is very slow. Because (as you can see above) it takes a lot of area to generate meaningful solar power... it takes literally days for these little chargers to charge up. And I mean days of direct sunlight not behind any glass (especially modern coated glass). At the end of 5 days leaving your $50 charger sitting out in direct sunlight, you will have about ~1,000-1,500mAh of power for a USB device, or enough to mostly charge a basic smartphone battery.

As I said about the Solio, if I am heading in the wilderness, the Solio will be one of the first things I pack. It gives you a little power to get by, listen to some music and call home every few days, and make the emergency call when you really need to. This is very important.... but doesn't solve the needs of the power hungry. In other words, if you are not going to be in the wilderness, but rather the wilds of international travel... read on.  

9) Power Packs

Most people end up charging their "solar" charger off of USB anyway, which means they are carrying around that big 'ol solar panel just to get at the lithium-ion battery inside it. Which is like carrying around Al Gore because you need methane. Instead, you can buy yourself a small, portable power pack. Basically, what to look for is power/weight, and of course cost. My personal favorite is the energizer xpal line which comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes and shows up on Woot.com now and then. 

8) Batteries 

There is a better option than portable power packs though - batteries. I mean standard, AAA and AA batteries. A lot of time, energy (ha), and effort has gone into making great AA batteries and.... they work alright, but they are everywhere. For example, my old digital SLR (Canon Rebel) used proprietary li-ion batteries. They would last for ages, but I ran out one time in Austria on the road and I was... screwed, and a wee bit annoyed. My new camera (Pentax K-x) uses AA's. The rechargeable kind sort of suck, because they don't hold a charge long (even the sanyo eneloops I use don't last anything like a proper camera battery) - but anywhere in the world you can get AA alkaline batteries, and carry some spare lithium non-rechargeable's with you, and you are good to go... and all this ties into my next point. 

7) AA to USB. 

Most of what you have will charge off USB - the exception is a netbook/laptop, and those are power hungry beasts. And the easiest way to power up your USB devices? One of these little guys, a energizer energi to go charger. Ignore the $20 price tag, I got mine for $5 off ebay a while back, and they were on woot.com for $2.50 a pop last week. Basically, they let you use AA batteries to charge your gadgets. They are light (with no batteries in them), cheap, reliable and most importantly, refillable. 

6) Extended life laptops
These days, there are a number of good options for long battery life laptops. Some of them break the 24hr mark (in tests). Sure, they are often bigger and heavier, with the battery being more of a plate on the bottom of the laptop rather than slotting into it. But who cares - especially as some of these start off life as light weight netbooks or ultrabooks before they get the Quasimodo treatment. 

5) Hand crank.

So, why am I against solar but pro hand-crank? Because hand-crank is power when you need it. And, when you are traveling, working, globetrotting etc, you rarely have the opportunity to stick a solar charger out into the sun for a few hours. This is a good one, made by Eton, and solid in terms of cranks to power ratio. Cheap Chinese ones work also, but plastic gears might loose their teeth over time, and small handles mean tired arms etc.

4) Universal Adapters
Ok, this one is pretty obvious... but there are some good universal and convenient designs out there. Get multiple so you can charge many things at once.

3) USB is your friend.
USB is a universal standard, and increasingly, it is available just about everywhere. USB is not just a data connection, it is a power standard. Even beyond your usual electronics, there are many different small gizmos and gadgets which run quite well off of USB. And wherever you go in the world, USB is USB.

A good tip is to bring a powered USB hub instead of  your usual cellphone charger. This lets you charge many things at once and does not add that much in terms of size and weight. A good one here. 

2) 12v is your friend. 12v universal adapter, USB adapter, Netbook adapter etc etc, cheap light 110 to 12v adapter means you dont have to bring multiple. If you are going somewhere and renting a car (and plan on driving a fair bit), 12v can be your best friend. 12v in the US and the rest of the world is... exactly the same. Used to be a little different, but no longer. And what can you do with 12v? Anything. A $1 USB adapter will give you two usb plugs for your phone etc etc. A $10 120v adapter will let you charge your laptop. Or, if you have netbook, you can buy a dedicated 12v charger for about $15-20. 

1) Get an extended battery for your phone. If you are reading this, you probably have a smartphone. And if you have a smartphone, it is the best travel device that you have. Actually, it is the most useful device you have period (well, unless you are batman - he has some cool shit). Even if you don't have a cell signal where you are going, your phone is still your best friend. It is a mp3 player, movie player, portable game system, portable note taker, decent camera and camcorder, calculator, translator (with the right app) and GPS navigation system. Get an app (skype, etc) so that you can make international calls off wifi. Basically, your phone is your best friend. So, get an extended battery. Or, if you are a submissive to Apple's Dom, then get an external battery back for your iBrick.

Putting it all together:

Once you standardize on 12v/USB/AA(A) batteries, all of your chargers are multi-purpose and will do anything. Your battery charger can recharge your phone, your USB charger can recharge your batteries, your 12v charger can power your laptop, your laptop anything off USB, anything off USB can run off AA(A)s and anything except your laptop can run off your batteries. It's a great big circle of happy electrons, and it will make your life on the road (or off the road) much easier.