OESF Portables Forum
General Forums => General Discussion => Topic started by: donquixote on December 05, 2006, 11:05:41 pm
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Hey there, I'm going to England (from NA) and I want to keep my Zaurus charged. Any suggestions on charging effectively (and affordably)? Thanks.
dq
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Any suggestions on charging effectively (and affordably)?
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Care to elaborate.
Have you checked the specs on your AC adapter?
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Hey there, I'm going to England (from NA) and I want to keep my Zaurus charged. Any suggestions on charging effectively
I find that connecting the Z to the mains via the AC adaptor is quite effective
(and affordably)?
The shaver sockets in all hotels will accomodate the AC adaptor, and hotels don't usually charge extra for electricity so it should be quite affordable If you're not staying in hotels then yourself a travel adaptor.
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Dunno about your charger, but make sure it can take the 240V we use over here.
Si
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Dunno about your charger, but make sure it can take the 240V we use over here.
Si
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That's the thing, the AC adaptor I have is only rated up to 110V. So I'm not sure how I can keep it charged; if I use one of those plug-converters I'll probably fry the Zaurus. I found a voltage transformer/converter for sale here, but on the back it said: NOT FOR USE WITH ELECTRONIC DEVICES OR CHARGERS. So I didn't get it. Any suggestions? Thanks.
dq
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Dunno about your charger, but make sure it can take the 240V we use over here.
Si
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=148235\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]
That's the thing, the AC adaptor I have is only rated up to 110V. So I'm not sure how I can keep it charged; if I use one of those plug-converters I'll probably fry the Zaurus. I found a voltage transformer/converter for sale here, but on the back it said: NOT FOR USE WITH ELECTRONIC DEVICES OR CHARGERS. So I didn't get it. Any suggestions? Thanks.
dq
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buy a PSP charger when you get to Europe. They work, same power requirement, same plug size.
oh and damn cheap too
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alot of the devices i have been getting now charge from a usb port, so the kindly provide a charger wiith a usb port in one end that works oon 120v to 240v (its all switchmode stuff anywoy aand would probelly work on 60v if i tested it )
anyway the good thing is they come with a universal adaptor (so they only havve to make one power ssupply for the whole world) and they are tinny (i have one thats the size of a matchbox
combind this with a sync aand charge cable for the Z and you can charge most modern electronics
if you need to power more than one device then i recomend a very cheap hub (the cheaper the better as they dont do proper powerr managment) plug it into the charger and you have several portts capable of powering severaal devices, plus you have a hub for when you need it
if you need one then i would recomend buying somthing from hong kong on ebay as this is where i get them from (and somthing that charges off usb), i got one with my PDA from HP, one with my GPS unit, one with my bluetooth headphones and i have several others from unkown sources. if you are in auustralia and need one PM me
funny thing is that it works great if you use a Male A to Malee A cable (you need to get some adaptors from those universal usb cable kits) and plug it into one socket, then plug the Z into the host side so it controls it then plug in a USB hard drive, that waay you dont need an external power supply for the hard drive. might not work with a 3.5" drive however (they are fairly power hungry and normally need 12v as well
hope this helps
ps one last thing, try and get one that has a Amp output of 2A on the USB side, it helps if you power several devices.
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Most USB / AC adaptors are only rated to approx. 600MA - not enough to charge a Zaurus as I found out on what turned out to be a very boring trip as all my reading material and last few episodes of Lost were on my C3100!
The PSP accessories work for me, I have used the own brand ones sold in GAME, I have used the car charger and a rechargable external battery pack with success. At worst when you get to Europe you can pick up a generic PSP charger that will probably be dual voltage so you can use it when you go home to that watered down electricity in the states ;-P
On a slightly more expensive note I picked up a nice little gadget called a powermonkey that will do the job for practically all devices (phone, PDA, MP3 some cameras) with adaptors for most countries AC power.
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Trust-A-Mon...ces-38852.shtml (http://news.softpedia.com/news/Trust-A-Monkey-To-Charge-Your-Mobile-Devices-38852.shtml)
slightly dramatic review from the world of Walter Mitty http://www.eyespymag.com/powermonkey.htm (http://www.eyespymag.com/powermonkey.htm)
I recharge the powermonkey, then just plug it into my device and let it recharge my SE K800i / C3100 / iriver H320 / Plantronics 640 in my pocket or bag. Saves carrying an ass load of chargers and cables. The other benefit is that you can recharge on the move or while using the device.
Enjoy your trip !
alot of the devices i have been getting now charge from a usb port, so the kindly provide a charger wiith a usb port in one end that works oon 120v to 240v (its all switchmode stuff anywoy aand would probelly work on 60v if i tested it )
anyway the good thing is they come with a universal adaptor (so they only havve to make one power ssupply for the whole world) and they are tinny (i have one thats the size of a matchbox
combind this with a sync aand charge cable for the Z and you can charge most modern electronics
if you need to power more than one device then i recomend a very cheap hub (the cheaper the better as they dont do proper powerr managment) plug it into the charger and you have several portts capable of powering severaal devices, plus you have a hub for when you need it
if you need one then i would recomend buying somthing from hong kong on ebay as this is where i get them from (and somthing that charges off usb), i got one with my PDA from HP, one with my GPS unit, one with my bluetooth headphones and i have several others from unkown sources. if you are in auustralia and need one PM me
funny thing is that it works great if you use a Male A to Malee A cable (you need to get some adaptors from those universal usb cable kits) and plug it into one socket, then plug the Z into the host side so it controls it then plug in a USB hard drive, that waay you dont need an external power supply for the hard drive. might not work with a 3.5" drive however (they are fairly power hungry and normally need 12v as well
hope this helps
ps one last thing, try and get one that has a Amp output of 2A on the USB side, it helps if you power several devices.
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Dunno about your charger, but make sure it can take the 240V we use over here.
Si
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Hey, Si, get with the times. We've gone European and everything's 230V 50Hz now, 240V is *so* yesterday!
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There's a safer bet than PSP whose voltage is slightly high - TomTom GO adaptors work perfectly as they're 5V-1A... so you could either get a TomTom mains charger or an in-car charger, depending what suits you.
As for-step-down transformers, you've still got the issue that USA is 60Hz and UK/Europe 50Hz, which can be a bit punishing on USA transformers - however it generally doesn't matter too much to switch-mode PSUs which chop the incoming mains up anyway.
The alternative is to simply buy yourself a spare universal-voltage zaurus charger of course!
Whereabouts in England are you going? Might be possible to arrange to see a few of us in the UK - ask in the UK forum!
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I'm glad my Z came with the EA-75 adaptor which is rated 100-240V/50-60Hz and so caters for all the civilised parts of the world