Chargeing on the Road
 

I am riding a F650gs twin, and want to be able to charge a laptop (macbook pro) iphone & Camera. Has anybody got any ideas on how to do this. I have approached a couple of auto electrians but they were not to keen when I said the word motorbike.
Thanks
Paul

Just wire up an external socket to the battery and plug in what you need. Any cigarette lighter type socket that comes with the piece of equipment should plug in and charge just fine. I did this for my MP3 player and Cannon camera battery, no probs at all.

As long as you don't have a canbus system, you should have no issues whatsoever for a non tech type. If it has a Canbus, there are other things that need to be taken into consideration. I am not a BMW chap, so I don't know

All you need to do is get a shop to wire a FUSED socket for a cigarette lighter somewhere where it is usefull. Then buy a 12V car charger, for your computer, either one specifically for your computer, or a universal multi voltage type(which are usually cheaper) and switch it to whatever your laptop needs.

You can aslo get a car charger for your iPhone, that is easy, so it will use the same socket.

The camera battery, you don't say what type that is. If it is a specific type of battery, you would be best to use the house charger(with adaptor) and charge it in motel rooms, etc. You don't mention what countries you will be in, but get adaptors for them. Most camera battery chargers can take what ever wall voltage is available, get the electrician to check that though, it should have voltage range 110V-250Vac and 50-60hz on it somewhere, if it says that, use it anywhere.

If the camera just takes normal AA, or AAA then just use a standard house battery charger. You can get 12V chargers that will fit the Cig lighter and you can also get 12V multi camera battery chargers from the net, so all is possible.

Cheers
TS

Hey Paul,

If you are travelling the standard route down from Cairo, there are plenty of opportunities to charge your electronics at your place of accomodation for the evening. Battery life on most gadgets is typically plenty long to keep you going until you get to the next place with a power source of some kind, even over a night or two. If you are a die hard free camper and plan on sleeping away from civilization for multiple nights in a row, only then will it become an issue. I only plug in to power the GPS, you can buy a basic adapter to convert the BMW power plug to a standard cigarette lighter.

Charger
 

I used one of these for both camera and camcorder batteries. Absolutely fine, no moving parts and just needed 2 trays to cater for each battery type. £7 delivered!

7dayshop.com - Online Store

Check out all of the adapters and you can buy spare batteries at the same time (also used and abused without problem by me in Africa).

No worries re-charging things like that from the built in socket (assuming the 650 has it, my 800 deos).

Just be aware that the built in socket runs from the canbus, and will switch off five minutes after the ignition. To be honest you're asking for a flat battery if you start charging things with the engine off anyway.

Maplin (for one) do an adaptor for converting from the small built in socket to the more normal car sized one.

Dave,
Yes it does have a built-in socket, But I was thinking I would hardwire another one as well.
Paul

Camera and iPhone can be easily charged but the Macbook Pro is an issue.

The Macbook needs 16.5 volts DC, so it's not possible to directly charge it from a 12 volt socket. You'll need to get a special third party DC-to-DC converter which has a MagSafe output connector (Apple doesn't make one), then adapt the input to a Powerlet.

E.g.,:

Mikegyver All-in-one

PWR+ Car Charger for Apple Mac MagSafe 60W Power Adapter MacBook MA538LL/A MA538LL/B MA538LL Mac Book Mag Safe Computer Battery Charger Dc Laptop Adapter Power Cord: Amazon.ca: Electronics

Amazon.com: Laptop Car Auto Charger for Apple Macbook Magsafe A1184, MA538LL/A, MA538LL/B…


The standard Powerlet socket is only rated at 5 amps so new wiring is recommended.

Charging
 

Thanks for your info.....it is food for thought !
I think I will just charge it along the way at Hotels etc. I just hope there are plenty on the way. I can charge the Cameras & Phone thru the adapter, BMW has one that is already built in.

Thanks
Paul

Paul, i had a look at some charges at battery world or battery land that has all the adapters to chargr just about anything, Locky.

For € 49 you can get this Instrument cover with two different size fused cigar plugs for BMW F 800/650 (Twin) GS

Part no.: 01-048-0431-0

It should be installed directly to battery through the fuses as there is Can-Bus on F 650GS/F800GSpot.

Niklas

Everyday on a 15 day tour, straight from battery with engine off, charged 2x Iphones, 1 x ipod, 2x scala Q2's.. No problem, only a 500ma draw.. mind you I was carrying a length of heavy duty cable to jump start just in case ;)... Only thing i never charged with out the engine running was the batteries for my video camera as that had a heavier amp draw... that was on a versys 650 with a batter thats 3 years old... I cant see it being a problem if you have a decent battery and you know the alternator output is good.