'Off-grid' campsites - how do you charge your stuff?

Specifically for cycle touring subjects & questions
Slowroad
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Re: 'Off-grid' campsites - how do you charge your stuff?

Post by Slowroad »

Is it possible to download maps and tourist info onto a Kindle, and what is the energy use like?
Thanks!
“My two favourite things in life are libraries and bicycles. They both move people forward without wasting anything. The perfect day: riding a bike to the library.”
― Peter Golkin
Jdsk
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Re: 'Off-grid' campsites - how do you charge your stuff?

Post by Jdsk »

Slowroad wrote: 26 Aug 2021, 8:58pm Is it possible to download maps and tourist info onto a Kindle, and what is the energy use like?
I make my own Kindle books and download relevant documents for trips. It's great.

But for maps the resolution and rescaling have been systematically disappointing.

No problems with the power consumption. And the time between charges is much longer than for the iPhones, which also carry documents for the trip.

Jonathan
Jdsk
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Re: 'Off-grid' campsites - how do you charge your stuff?

Post by Jdsk »

From another thread:
I am interested in taking a DSLR camera. One that can be rechached with a usb lead. They are bulky. Is that crazy? I am thinking of photographing people and places, and making an online journal.

I was also thinking of a dedicated media player, to save charge vs phone, and a pair of sony noise reducing headphones for those long nights in the tent. Obviously, this might not be practical.

Someone mentioned that a dedicated sat nav saves power over using your phone....

...


How about you? What tech do you take?

Tablets?


Do you charge in hostels, or use the dynamo hub?
I charge the USB battery pack off the dynamo hub and anywhere else that I can.

I don't know about dSLRS and USB charging... anyone?

We don't take a tablet or laptop.

For touring our headphones are Bluetooth headbands. No wires.

Jonathan
Psamathe
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Re: 'Off-grid' campsites - how do you charge your stuff?

Post by Psamathe »

Jdsk wrote: 1 Dec 2021, 10:48pm From another thread:
I am interested in taking a DSLR camera. One that can be rechached with a usb lead. They are bulky. Is that crazy? I am thinking of photographing people and places, and making an online journal.

I was also thinking of a dedicated media player, to save charge vs phone, and a pair of sony noise reducing headphones for those long nights in the tent. Obviously, this might not be practical.

Someone mentioned that a dedicated sat nav saves power over using your phone....

...


How about you? What tech do you take?

Tablets?


Do you charge in hostels, or use the dynamo hub?
I charge the USB battery pack off the dynamo hub and anywhere else that I can.

I don't know about dSLRS and USB charging... anyone?

We don't take a tablet or laptop.

For touring our headphones are Bluetooth headbands. No wires.

Jonathan
My DSLR wont charge direct from a USB and the charger that came with it is mains only. But there are USB battery chargers for my (and many other) DSLRs, small not much bigger than the battery. Battery clips into it and pug a USB cable into it and use any standard USB power source.

The model I git for my DSLR was https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07ZNHS7MC. I has quite a range of choice and quite a few models for other DSLRs.

Ian
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RickH
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Re: 'Off-grid' campsites - how do you charge your stuff?

Post by RickH »

I have an old(ish) EOS 550D. for that, & it's predecessor the model no I forget, I got the battery grip. IMHO, it improves the ergonomics especially for portrait format shots but also means you have 2 batteries on the go. These last for many hundreds of shots.

I only use the camera sporadically these days & tend to just recharge the batteries when I have an "event" coming up. Mine were last charged for one in September where I took nearly 500 shots in a few hours. I've not used it that much since then & battery levels still seem fine.

If I took the SLR on a cycling trip I'm pretty sure it would be weeks, rather than days, before it needed charging.
Former member of the Cult of the Polystyrene Head Carbuncle.
Jdsk
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Re: 'Off-grid' campsites - how do you charge your stuff?

Post by Jdsk »

RickH wrote: 3 Dec 2021, 8:29pmIf I took the SLR on a cycling trip I'm pretty sure it would be weeks, rather than days, before it needed charging.
I've never taken an SLR on a cycle tour. But it sometimes goes in the rucksack with a few batteries and a big lens. Agreed.

Jonathan
Jdsk
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Re: 'Off-grid' campsites - how do you charge your stuff?

Post by Jdsk »

Psamathe wrote: 1 Dec 2021, 11:41pmMy DSLR wont charge direct from a USB and the charger that came with it is mains only. But there are USB battery chargers for my (and many other) DSLRs, small not much bigger than the battery. Battery clips into it and pug a USB cable into it and use any standard USB power source.

The model I git for my DSLR was https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07ZNHS7MC. I has quite a range of choice and quite a few models for other DSLRs.
Thanks

Jonathan
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RickH
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Re: 'Off-grid' campsites - how do you charge your stuff?

Post by RickH »

Jdsk wrote: 3 Dec 2021, 8:37pm
RickH wrote: 3 Dec 2021, 8:29pmIf I took the SLR on a cycling trip I'm pretty sure it would be weeks, rather than days, before it needed charging.
I've never taken an SLR on a cycle tour. But it sometimes goes in the rucksack with a few batteries and a big lens. Agreed.

Jonathan
You've just made me think of the late 80s when I was both the owner of an early (they'll never catch on you know :wink:) mountainbike & a bunch of medium format gear. It wasn't unknown for me to stuff a flight case in my big rucksack, strap a tripod on the outside & set off on the aforesaid mountainbike up across the moors with aim of trying to get some decent shots of the local landscape when the light seemed good or it looked like there might be a sunset worth photographing. :D
Former member of the Cult of the Polystyrene Head Carbuncle.
mattsccm
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Joined: 28 Nov 2009, 9:44pm

Re: 'Off-grid' campsites - how do you charge your stuff?

Post by mattsccm »

"I don’t think my wife has ever telephoned me while I’ve been out on my bike, but you can be sure she’ll do precisely that if I were to switch off my phone :D"
Sorry its old but that would teach her to try wouldn't it? :roll:
Oh how did we manage?
keyboardmonkey
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Re: 'Off-grid' campsites - how do you charge your stuff?

Post by keyboardmonkey »

mattsccm wrote: 1 Jan 2022, 10:06pm "I don’t think my wife has ever telephoned me while I’ve been out on my bike, but you can be sure she’ll do precisely that if I were to switch off my phone :D"
Sorry its old but that would teach her to try wouldn't it? :roll:
Oh how did we manage?
Ha! Well, in the days before we had mobile phones I hadn’t yet met the woman who would become my wife :wink:
keyboardmonkey
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Re: 'Off-grid' campsites - how do you charge your stuff?

Post by keyboardmonkey »

Bit of an update on this campsite on the Way of the Roses around thirty miles from Bridlington. As well as compostable toilets - replacing the portaloos from last season - they have now brought in solar powered USB chargers. Just two ports at the moment. I don’t know how the numbers work, but there is typically enough power to run a washing machine, apparently.
Solar panel at Field House Campsite, Tibthorpe
Solar panel at Field House Campsite, Tibthorpe
USB solar powered charging
USB solar powered charging
From what I understand more ports may follow. I wonder if this is commonplace on campsites.
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