USB Battery Chargers (Products that are just useful)

[dwswager]

Came across this article while Googling tonight.

For $12.99, I take the risk.  Will test it out before leaving my Nikon MH-25 charger at home.



Too bad it is not USB Type C which allows up to 20V@5A and the more typical 5V@3A, this is limited to USB Battery Charging with Type A of 5V 2.4A.  So it outputs 7.4V@800mA (x 2) compared to the Nikon MH-25 7.4V@1.2A.  Hence 2/3rds the output amperage per battery so a little longer charging time.  But can charge from car or external battery powerbank.

[Dan Wells]

This is odd - most of the common dslr and mirrorless battery types are 7.2-7.4 volts - substantially higher than usb's nominal 5 volts... They must be up-regulating voltage, which can't be terribly efficient. Usb-c can put out 12 volts (and 20 volts?), but regular usb can't... Do these chargers get hot? I'd think the up- regulation hardware might very well? Interesting because most portable solar panels output 5 volts over usb, so this gives a way of charging camera batteries with solar chargers intended for phones.

[davidgp]

I bought one like the one in the in the right of your picture in the right, but from a different brand and for Sony batteries... The batteries from Sony are tiny, but I think it takes the charger between one hour to two to charge them... I suppose that for the nikons, the I assume are bigger batteries, it will take longer time... But anyway, it is quite handy since it is really tiny charger, to charge two batteries at the same time, specially using something like an use usb external power pack.

Since I only have been one week with it, time will tell if it is reliable or not.



http://dgpfotografia.com

[dwswager]

This is odd - most of the common dslr and mirrorless battery types are 7.2-7.4 volts - substantially higher than usb's nominal 5 volts... They must be up-regulating voltage, which can't be terribly efficient. Usb-c can put out 12 volts (and 20 volts?), but regular usb can't... Do these chargers get hot? I'd think the up- regulation hardware might very well? Interesting because most portable solar panels output 5 volts over usb, so this gives a way of charging camera batteries with solar chargers intended for phones.

I have not noticed heat issues.  It takes about 25% or so longer to charge 2 batteries at once than the Nikon charger takes to charge 1 assuming you have a good charging block.  It splits the 2.4amps of normal charging power into 2 1.2amp streams.  I charged all my batteries for 10 days while in Spain with this thing.

BTW, this would be better with type C that could provide up to 20V and 5amp, but would probably be best at 5V/3A that is typical for lower profile Type C devices.