1 Charger 2 Devices

As I was preparing to leave for a backpacking trip in Europe/Iceland I gathered the chargers for my cell phone and Camera + all the spare batteries for each. I was surprised at the similarity of the batteries. I had been struggling to keep my pack weight down since I had planned on hiking 200 miles with all on my back and I was suddenly inspired with the following idea. 

It was obvious I could use the much smaller and lighter switching type cell phone charger if it had a connector for my camera since the batteries had very similar ratings. Then I could leave the huge transformer type camera charger at home eliminating almost a pound of weight.

Gateway DC-T50

Audiovox  9155 GPX 

Camera

• Weight 14.5 Oz.
• AC 120v 60Hz 14 Watt
• Out = DC 5v 800ma

• Weight 3 Oz.
• AC 120v 60Hz 5.8 Watt
• Out = DC 5v 750ma

This is the two chargers side by side for comparison. The left one weights almost a pound and is big hunk of iron type transformer. The one on the right is for my cell phone and is a switching type wall wart. ++ the cell charger has a folding feature on the AC side which allows the power prongs to fold flat making it easier to pack.

Camera = 3.7v 950mah    Phone = 3.6v 750mah

So I went to my local Radio Shack and bought a 274-1532 DC Power Plug (4.0mm O.D. X 1.7mm ID) to fit the camera. I then cut the cord on the cell charger at the end where it plugs into the phone 4" back.

I cut another 4" piece of cord off the loose end to use for the new plug for the camera and attached the DC power plug from Radio Shack. Digging through my junk box I found this small black cabinet 1.5" X2" X 0.5" to use as a connection box.

    

Below is a close up of the connections.

 

And below is the new unit connected to the camera and the cell phone.
IMPORTANT: Remember you can only charge one device at a time..... the rating on the wall wart is not adequate to charge both at once!

    

Modification made while in Iceland
(aka  "Field Expediency" )

My trip included 2 cruise ships + several land trips and I used the 110v available on the ships to run the single combined charger to charge all the batteries I carry for both the cell phone and camera. Then when I was off the ship I used the spare batteries for power.  Two questions probably pop into everyone's mind.... Why take a cell phone? ...And how were you going to use the charger on the 1 month leg in Iceland (220v 50Hz.)?

1. I carry my cell phone when I travel abroad to have for use when I land stateside. Also it is used as an alarm clock when traveling even though there is no "Cell Service" available you can use the alarm function of the phone thus eliminating the need to carry a travel alarm.

2. My plan for Iceland was to use the fully charged 3 spare batteries for my camera and not have to charge any until I got back stateside. Well that didn't work! ....I took so many pictures after only 1 week all 3 batteries were dead. 

So there I was in Akureyri, Iceland.... 3 dead camera batteries and no one with a 220 to 110 voltage inverter I could borrow. My charger (above) was 110v only and of course had the wrong power side type of plug.  So I was walking past a Cell Phone Store and saw a box in the front window which read.... "Recycle your used cell phones and chargers here.". So I went in and asked the clerk if I could take one of the 220V 50Hz chargers units from the recycling box. (Two great things about Iceland.... Everyone speaks English and the locals go out of their way to be helpful) . This was not a problem, they told me to go ahead and take any charger I wanted.

A quick look through the box and I found a Motorola Charger rated 5.0V and 550ma:

So the only "Tools"  I had with me was my multipurpose Coleman Camping Tool..... I used the Phillips cross head driver to open the junction box then the straight knife bade to cut and strip the wires and did a jury rig on the wiring by twisting them together and came up with this:

  

The assembled unit looked like this.

On my return I dismantled the 220v unit and put back the 110v switching supply and re-soldered the connections inside the junction box. But I see the label on the 220v unit says it works 100-220 Volts 50/60 Hz. If I had an adapter for round pin type Euro plugs to the USA type flat prongs..... I could have one charger that would work almost anyplace in the world!  Hmnnnnn...... yet another project......