ciggy lighter...portable battery solution out there??

picdriver · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jun 18, 2006 Posts: 17

I drive trucks for a living & a lot of the time the agency will send me on massive multidrops..(with no maps).....of course I get along just fine with the satnav....until I hit a truck with either no..or...knackered 12/24v socket....& the satnav battery don't last the distance.....Just wondered if anyone has come across a battery type gadget which you can plug the satnav (Etc) into??? TIA..Andy

lbendlin · Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2007 4:25 am Post subject:

What charging socket is on your satnav? There are a number of "emergency battery" solutions that can be used to provide external power through round or mini-USB plugs.
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mikealder · Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2007 9:39 am Post subject:

If you are looking for at least a days power (10 hours) or more I would have a look at the automotive boost start units, some of These Boost Starter packs come equipped with a ciggy socket that you can simply plug the existing nav units charger lead in to. I would expect to get around 15 hours use from a full charge powering a Nuvi - Mike

picdriver · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jun 18, 2006 Posts: 17

That'd probably do the trick!..Think I'd look a bit stupid carting that around everytime I started work tho Smile

It's probably the solution I've been looking for..but on second thoughts think I'll keep carrying on navigating myself mapwise until I get close to source....(reserving battery)
Thanks Mike & lbendlin for replying....

Oh I don't think it had a charging socket as such anyway lbendlin...only way to charge it is from the cigarette lighter....(I did wire it up to a small mains adaptor once tho & that did the trick..charging-wise)

picdriver · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jun 18, 2006 Posts: 17

Thinking on...the internal battery can't be that big so wiring up to a normal 12v battery might give me a couple more hours..

hodgy · Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2007 11:36 pm Post subject:

If you're not using a power connector and connecting directly to a battery you need to be careful as (I'm sure someone can confirm exact figures) most units run on about 5V input (the in-car charging cable contains a step down transformer I believe) so wiring a 12V battery directly to the power input could fry your unit.

Matt

picdriver · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jun 18, 2006 Posts: 17

Yeah you're probably right...(the connector handles the 24 volts from larger vehicles no probs)....it's not direct to the unit I'd wire it tho..but thru the lighter plug (connector) itself....it's what I did when I charged it via a 12v transformer.....thanks for the warning all the same hodgy..cheers...Andy.

JohnGray · Regular Visitor Joined: Nov 22, 2004 Posts: 76

Have you thought of buying a mrdium handful (8? 16?) of high-capacity AA NiMH rechargeable batteries, finding how long they last in use, and changing them at a convenient/appropriate time on your journeys? A chap at eBay running BudPak does 2800 mAh ones, which are the highest capacity I've seen, at £10 including postage for 8. Saves messing around with cables.

I keep these and the sat-nav in a lined Tesco thick plastic container with a clip-on lid.

John

mikealder · Posted: Fri Feb 16, 2007 9:01 pm Post subject:

If you start using lots of high capacity batteries you should consider a dedicated storage holder for them, if they short out, the higher power capacity cells can catch fire - not a nice experiance - have a look at one of These to keep them safe, they only cost a few quid! - Mike

Jamas

mars.1 · Lifetime Member Joined: Apr 27, 2006 Posts: 133

You could also use low settings on your device when using batteries for journey's, so they last a lot longer. If you set brightness to 1 and volume at 2, it saves battery power.

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