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gadgets on the go....? gadgets on the go....?
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Equipment Reviews Post YOUR REVIEWS of ANY Motorcycle, Camping or Travel Equipment and accessories. Tell us what worked and didn't work for you!
Photo by Ellen Delis, Lagunas Ojos del Campo, Antofalla, Catamarca

I haven't been everywhere...
but it's on my list!


Photo by Ellen Delis,
Lagunas Ojos del Campo,
Antofalla, Catamarca



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  #1  
Old 10 Jan 2011
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Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Stafford
Posts: 4
gadgets on the go....?
hi all im about to prep an africa twin for overland adventures and i'd like a few ideas on how to power/charge electrical items on the go.ill have items like gps - phone - on bike camera to record as much as poss + laptop to save all the data on. will two 12v sockets do the job? and by doing this am i likely to damage the electrics? or should i use an invertor?
any info regarding this will be of a great
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  #2  
Old 11 Jan 2011
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Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Between London & Singapore
Posts: 153
Hi,

Not sure you'll need 2 sockets. We're on the road at the moment, and have one socket on one bike only - more than enough, although we're not using GPS.

We've found we've normally been able to find somewhere to charge our kit along the way, but those times when we have days away from civilisation I've got a really simple 12v cigarette style socket which i bought from Hein Gericke for about £10. I bought a small really lightweight mini inverter from Maplin (i think for about £15 or so). I haven't bothered drilling the socket into a fixed position on the bike. It lives under the seat, connected to the battery, and when i need it I run it out and into the tankbag or other bag, connect it to the mini invertor (which lives in a small side pocket of my tank bag) and use it to charge cameras, laptops,ipods and anything else.

As for your GPS, you could just wire that into your bike and forget about it. Certainly, with what we're charging we've never had the slightest issue with the battery and nor do i expect to have one.
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  #3  
Old 11 Jan 2011
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HUBB regular
  
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Ireland
Posts: 39
I got one of these (12V twin cigarette lighter + 2 usb adaptor) 12V Twin Cigarette Socket Adaptor with 2 x USB Charging Sockets : InCar Power Adaptors : Maplin and put it in my tank bag. I cut off the standard 12v plug, passed the wire out through a tiny hole in the pocket which holds the rain cover, and then fitted the bmw plug so I can use it on my bike. Now I can charge my camera, phone, laptop and a portable LED lamp at the same time, no problems. The socket I use switches off when the bike is powered off so no danger of running down the battery. Also, all the "valuable" gear is in the tankbag so its an easy job to bring it all with me when needs be.
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  #4  
Old 11 Jan 2011
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Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Stafford
Posts: 4
gadgets on the go....
cheers guys i have a maplins store locally so will pop in and get some of the above mentioned, have you any thoughts on data storage? i have an archos 604 dvr recorder which i use as an action cam when i head off into the mountains this will be a great item to mount on the bike to get lots of trip footage. it is however only 30 gig is there any way of sending the info home via - an iphone or something similar or can it be connected to a larger hard drive. or am i stuck with taking the note book and transfering data over? what are your views?:confused1: how do you perform the above are there easyier ways?
cheers
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