Car charger for NP400 recommendations?

[JHaagsma]

Can anyone recommend a specific charger for the NP400 that also works with 12V DC from a car battery? Preferably one that is also being sold in Europe (shipping&taxes would make it uneconomical to order in the US).

I will probably be doing a camping trip in Africa. Groups usually travel in a truck built for passenger transport. Are truck batteries also 12V? Or do they have a 12V cigarette lighter? Or do car chargers also work on higher voltages? Otherwise I might have to get a lot of NP400's to keep me going until we reach the next hotel...

 

[TopangaMan]

Can anyone recommend a specific charger for the NP400 that also
works with 12V DC from a car battery? Preferably one that is also
being sold in Europe (shipping&taxes would make it uneconomical to
order in the US).

I will probably be doing a camping trip in Africa. Groups usually
travel in a truck built for passenger transport. Are truck
batteries also 12V? Or do they have a 12V cigarette lighter? Or do
car chargers also work on higher voltages? Otherwise I might have
to get a lot of NP400's to keep me going until we reach the next
hotel...

If you're wanting to charge batteries from a vehicles power source then it sounds like you're talking about a power inverter. I got one last year specifically for car camping and traveling where there's no wall outlets. Of course mine is based on 120 volts at whatever the standard amperage is here in the U.S.

There are several power inverters offered. I picked up a Coleman 400 watt model at Costco. It will charge all kinds of small appliances but all I cared about were my camera batteries. Oh, and one more item- it powered my little electric coffee grinder too.
Here's a link:

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/horizontal-item.jhtml?id=0013963521097a&navAction=jump&navCount=1&indexId=cat20167&podId=0013963&catalogCode=IF&parentId=cat20167&parentType=index&rid=&cmCat=MainCatcat21412&hasJS=true

Good luck!
Gary

 

[John Fagerberg]

I agree, an inverter is very handy to have. Bulky to carry with you, but worth it. A couple of advantages are:

1) Takes 12Volts DC and creates 115V AC (60 cycles) in US, or you can get one for whatever your normal Voltage/Frequency are. So any AC device works the same as if you plugged it into the wall.

2) You can take a laptop with you and offload your images on to it at the end of the day. I have a 160 Gig USB drive that I use to store all my photos, so I can take that with me too.

--
John Fagerberg
http://www.pbase.com/jafent2002

 

[ydh2323]

Can anyone recommend a specific charger for the NP400 that also
works with 12V DC from a car battery? Preferably one that is also
being sold in Europe (shipping&taxes would make it uneconomical to
order in the US).

I will probably be doing a camping trip in Africa. Groups usually
travel in a truck built for passenger transport. Are truck
batteries also 12V? Or do they have a 12V cigarette lighter? Or do
car chargers also work on higher voltages? Otherwise I might have
to get a lot of NP400's to keep me going until we reach the next
hotel...

I can supply you with a 110-220 external turbo charger-- AC/DC for the car as well. Email me at [email protected] if interested.

 

[coen van dijk]

Can anyone recommend a specific charger for the NP400 that also
works with 12V DC from a car battery? Preferably one that is also
being sold in Europe (shipping&taxes would make it uneconomical to
order in the US).

I will probably be doing a camping trip in Africa. Groups usually
travel in a truck built for passenger transport. Are truck
batteries also 12V? Or do they have a 12V cigarette lighter? Or do
car chargers also work on higher voltages? Otherwise I might have
to get a lot of NP400's to keep me going until we reach the next
hotel...

Ask your tour operator for possibilities, because they know or can ask truck owner what systems are build in the trucks. A build in 24 Volt to 12 Volt converter for car radio is common, but cigarette lighter is normally 24 Volt and a 12 Volt plug is rare.

A 12 Volt to 120/230 Volt converter is different form a 24 Volt to 120/230 Volt converter. I did not see a 12/24 Volt switchable unit thusfar. Neither did I open Minolta charger to see what's inside.

--
tanti saluti,

coen

 

[TopangaMan]

I agree, an inverter is very handy to have. Bulky to carry with
you, but worth it.

John Fagerberg
http://www.pbase.com/jafent2002

John,

I went back and too another look at the inverters. There are a couple that take up even less room. They don't have as much wattage but laptops, battery chargers and coffee grinders don't require much to begin with. Check out the Coleman Compact and the ProMariner.
Gary

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/index/index-display.jhtml?id=cat20167&navAction=jump&navCount=1&parentId=cat21412&parentType=category&cmCat=MainCatcat21412

 

[Willem Steurbaut]

Can anyone recommend a specific charger for the NP400 that also
works with 12V DC from a car battery? Preferably one that is also
being sold in Europe (shipping&taxes would make it uneconomical to
order in the US).

I will probably be doing a camping trip in Africa. Groups usually
travel in a truck built for passenger transport. Are truck
batteries also 12V? Or do they have a 12V cigarette lighter? Or do
car chargers also work on higher voltages? Otherwise I might have
to get a lot of NP400's to keep me going until we reach the next
hotel...

Ask your tour operator for possibilities, because they know or can
ask truck owner what systems are build in the trucks. A build in 24
Volt to 12 Volt converter for car radio is common, but cigarette
lighter is normally 24 Volt and a 12 Volt plug is rare.

A 12 Volt to 120/230 Volt converter is different form a 24 Volt to
120/230 Volt converter. I did not see a 12/24 Volt switchable unit
thusfar. Neither did I open Minolta charger to see what's inside.

--
tanti saluti,

coen

I did open the charger and there is a lot of electronics in it (serveral chips).

It is a complicated device. Maybe it is possible to interrupt the secundary coil (low voltage part) of the transformator (by a phone jack with build in switch for example) and introduce an external power supply, but I don't know for the moment what voltage normally appears at those points.

I should suggest not to experiment with this device when you are not competent in this matters. Do not forget the possible danger when using the adaptor again on the mains: an opening on the side, for the headphone jack, may become very dangerous (water, things inserted by children and so on).
I think a convertor 12Vdc/220Vac or 12Vdc/120Vac is the best way to go.

But I agree, it is a desired accessory, extremely useful when travelling with the car.

Regards,
Willem
Willem

 

[Box Brownie]

Can anyone recommend a specific charger for the NP400 that also
works with 12V DC from a car battery? Preferably one that is also
being sold in Europe (shipping&taxes would make it uneconomical to
order in the US).

I will probably be doing a camping trip in Africa. Groups usually
travel in a truck built for passenger transport. Are truck
batteries also 12V? Or do they have a 12V cigarette lighter? Or do
car chargers also work on higher voltages? Otherwise I might have
to get a lot of NP400's to keep me going until we reach the next
hotel...

Inverters are the way to go but noted by others you need to know the input voltage 12 or 24 volts

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=36316&TabID=3&WorldID=&doy=10m2

Check the various tabs especially the FAQs

HTH

 

[JHaagsma]

A power inverter is too bulky for me. With an ordinary car I would't need it too, since chargers with a cigarette lighter plug are much lighter and work fine. The 12V/24V could be an issue, I'll ask into this when we book a trip. I'd probably have to buy enough spare NP400's on Ebay to last me to the next hotel if there's only 24V. How big of a problem that's going to be depends on the itinerary.

If you're wanting to charge batteries from a vehicles power source
then it sounds like you're talking about a power inverter. I got
one last year specifically for car camping and traveling where
there's no wall outlets. Of course mine is based on 120 volts at
whatever the standard amperage is here in the U.S.
There are several power inverters offered. I picked up a Coleman
400 watt model at Costco. It will charge all kinds of small
appliances but all I cared about were my camera batteries. Oh, and
one more item- it powered my little electric coffee grinder too.
Here's a link:

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/horizontal-item.jhtml?id=0013963521097a&navAction=jump&navCount=1&indexId=cat20167&podId=0013963&catalogCode=IF&parentId=cat20167&parentType=index&rid=&cmCat=MainCatcat21412&hasJS=true

Good luck!
Gary

 

[waboo]

Be very carefull when and if you use inverters. It would pay you to find out what frequency they run on. Inverters are designed to either run resistive loads or inductive loads. Inductive loads can not be used on an inverter which is designed to run resistive loads and visa versa.

You should get something very specific to charge batteries (resistive load)

voltage in? voltage out? constant current charging or not?
current output capability?

ask these questions when buying. BE CAREFULL

waboo

Can anyone recommend a specific charger for the NP400 that also
works with 12V DC from a car battery? Preferably one that is also
being sold in Europe (shipping&taxes would make it uneconomical to
order in the US).

I will probably be doing a camping trip in Africa. Groups usually
travel in a truck built for passenger transport. Are truck
batteries also 12V? Or do they have a 12V cigarette lighter? Or do
car chargers also work on higher voltages? Otherwise I might have
to get a lot of NP400's to keep me going until we reach the next
hotel...

Inverters are the way to go but noted by others you need to know
the input voltage 12 or 24 volts

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=36316&TabID=3&WorldID=&doy=10m2

Check the various tabs especially the FAQs

HTH