In-car chargers

trem1 · Post by **trem1** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 6:02 pm

what do we know about in car chargers??????
can i make my own up or not??
is it just a case of cutting either end off and connecting the same coloured wires???
i want to make an in car charger for my camcorder but everywhere wants silly money for one £30.00 is silly money to me

come on guys what do we know any ideas???

Benner · Post by **Benner** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 6:16 pm

As long as you get the polarity correct, it should be no problem.

Just check that there is nothing inside the chargers plug (you can find strange things sometimes)

Put it this way, normally the plug is just wires connected to different terminals and if a charger is available, this should not be a problem.

What voltage does it quote on your mains charger?

Post by **DaiRees** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 6:19 pm

You need one of thesemate. Then use the mains charger.

150W is probably enough for your camcorder charger, but it'll say on there somewhere. I've got a 300W one for running my laptop in the Zook so that I can use the GPS with electronic OS maps. Think it was about £30 from Maplins.

Benner · Post by **Benner** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 6:30 pm

Put it this way, my TomTom adaptor has an output of 5v I think, so the voltage is stepped down. In this case, 12v would kill it.

However I have a rechargable torch which has a mains charger with an output of 6v but the car charger has an output of 12v.

Really, to do it you should be matching the voltages of the in car charger with the mains adaptor. By using a mobile phone in car charger, you should be pretty close I'd expect.

Edit: I'd get what Dai has suggested

You're completely covered then.

trem1 · Post by **trem1** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 6:36 pm

how would i find out the output of a in car charger

Benner · Post by **Benner** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 6:39 pm

It is probably written on it somewhere.

To be honest I'd get what Dai has suggested, I didn't realise you could get them as cheap as that.

That way you know you're safe

mjb · Post by **mjb** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 2:07 pm

Benner wrote:As long as you get the polarity correct, it should be no problem.

WRONG!

Never try to charge things by just throwing 12V at them! If all that happens is you fry the device, you'll be lucky - batteries (especially lithium-ion) really can explode violently - see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeWq6rWzChw

You need a charger which outputs the correct voltage(s) at the correct current. I just charge my stuff up using the mains charger and an inverter.

Benner · Post by **Benner** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 9:42 pm

Benner wrote:Put it this way, my TomTom adaptor has an output of 5v I think, so the voltage is stepped down. In this case, 12v would kill it.

However I have a rechargable torch which has a mains charger with an output of 6v but the car charger has an output of 12v.

Really, to do it you should be matching the voltages of the in car charger with the mains adaptor. By using a mobile phone in car charger, you should be pretty close I'd expect.

Edit: I'd get what Dai has suggested You're completely covered then.

This is why I put this

Think I was unclear before.