DIY mobile multi-charger

charger_topside.jpg
Mark and Juliette McLean bicycled their way from Liverpool to Australia. The trip took almost 2 1/2 years to complete and they traveled over 24,000 km. During the trip Mark charged his laptop and batteries via his bicycle. It is a great solution for his mobile power needs.

To keep the lights on and the camera going I have a multi-purpose battery charger. This contains around 24Wh of energy storage in eleven NiMh AA cells and circuitry to charge my laptop, satellite phone, mobile phone, camera battery and a PP3 for Ju's Dog Dazer. It can also power a white LED tent light that sheds just about enough light to cook by. A cunning design means that some of the AA cells can be removed from the internal battery stack and exchanged with flat ones from a torch or whatever.

Make you own Multi-Charger


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Posted by: The Oracle on March 20, 2008 at 5:12 AM

Wow...if I'm biking 24,000km, the *last* thing I want to do is sap power from my bike to charge batteries.

Even worse is charging batteries I use to charge other batteries, losing a lot of energy through efficiency.


Posted by: Marc de Vinck on March 20, 2008 at 8:09 AM

@ The Oracle
Good point. Maybe solar panels, but that would still add weight and not generate as much power? Then again, if you can bike that far, maybe a little resistance is nothing to worry about?


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