Charging the SL battery whilst backpacking - is there a solution?

[sewing_machine]

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Many thanks Ernst, I have a Lifepower on order and it seems a genius solution, and one that not many know about, so thank you for helping. I will report back with some images!
 

Pete 

[mikemgb]

Mike, 

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I don't think there is enough room to fit an extra battery in the 280SL. This is a car that always does long distance rough road rallies. It has done a number of Peking to Paris, Safari Classics, Himalayan, Transamerica, Carrera Panamerica, Cape Town to Cairo rallies etc. It carries a lot of spares like drive shafts, crown wheel and pinion, lots of bearings, gasket sets, a front and a rear wheel hub etc, plus all the tools to fit them, so space is at a premium. It has a full triangulated roll cage inside as well, so not much room there either. Phones we can charge from a 12V USB, so it is really only camera batteries for my SL and my brother's Nikons. I was thinking of this inverter https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ring-RINV120-Compact-Inverter-laptops/dp/B002XDERD8/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1470149219&sr=8-4&keywords=Ring+inverter which we would only run during the day anyway. We could easily run two camera battery chargers off it at one time. We lent the 280SL to a friend to do the Scottish Malts in 2014. We told him to turn off the master switch every night to power down the navigation equipment but he kept forgetting. I have had quite enough of push starting that car! This is the car in question at the Skye stop on the Scottish Malts. 

 

Wilson

 

That is a beautiful car. I have a similar inverter, I chose a 200w one with twin outlets, I mounted it on a shelf I installed under the passenger side dash, it's perfect for anything we may need.

 

We're fortunate we don't need navigation aids, our rallies are all run with paper maps, no electronic aids allowed. We have yet to run any of the known international rallies, although we would both like to.

 

Here's a couple of shots of ours taken on a 27 hour lap of lake Michigan a couple of years ago, we had to self-recover from the sand trap but we carry enough equipment to do that.

 

 

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[sewing_machine]

If size and weight are more important than cost ( you want it to be small and light for backpacking right ), I would modify the Leica charger and jumper out a connection for external DC.

As the battery that's being charger is a two cell li-ion type, it a reasonable assumption the actual charge circuit can run off 12v directly.

You can then use a 12v regulated solar panel.

 

If only I was clever enough to (a) understand this and ( do it!!

 

Pete

[sdw]

Was reading this realizing it's several years old now — we have a Nitecore charger (thanks for nothing, Leica) but no double charger like the S, no fast charger, no USB charger, no car charger... for a 'pro' camera system the lack of accessories is concerning. 

[FlashGordonPhotography]

Was reading this realizing it's several years old now — we have a Nitecore charger (thanks for nothing, Leica) but no double charger like the S, no fast charger, no USB charger, no car charger... for a 'pro' camera system the lack of accessories is concerning. 

 

I love my Nitecore chargers. It's all I travel with for the SL. I have the CL/Q one as well. Connects to a wall multiport charger, cheap battery pack or car plug. As I have 3 of them my needs for a Leica solution have evaporated.

 

Gordon

[Chuck Albertson]

I love my Nitecore chargers. It's all I travel with for the SL. I have the CL/Q one as well. Connects to a wall multiport charger, cheap battery pack or car plug. As I have 3 of them my needs for a Leica solution have evaporated.

 

Gordon

 

I use a Nightcore charger with a Goal Zero 28-watt solar panel. In bright sunlight, the combo charges an SL batt in two hours. You can also daisy-chain a battery pack to charge it at the same time. The panel weighs about three pounds, which is a lot for backpacking. Their smaller 14-watt panel might be better.

[Joeri]

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I'd buy one or two extra batteries and make sure you shut the camera off every time after taking a shot. That will be much lighter than any solar-power solution. With the M9, I brought three batteries in total for 2 weeks hikes. More than enough. Make sure you keep the batteries warm (ish).

[antigallican]

I'd buy one or two extra batteries and make sure you shut the camera off every time after taking a shot. That will be much lighter than any solar-power solution. With the M9, I brought three batteries in total for 2 weeks hikes. More than enough. Make sure you keep the batteries warm (ish).

 

Trouble is Joeri SL batteries (I own 3) are more than £100 each. Ouch!

[sdw]

If you can buy a $10000+ mirrorless with $4000+ lenses, what's $185 for a battery?

 

I wish we'd have at least a choice of some third-party batteries too, but c'est la vie. 

[Peter Branch]

I love my Nitecore chargers. It's all I travel with for the SL. I have the CL/Q one as well. Connects to a wall multiport charger, cheap battery pack or car plug. As I have 3 of them my needs for a Leica solution have evaporated.

 

Gordon

 

I've just bought a Nitecore charger for my SL batteries.  Fantastic service here in the UK, it arrived in less than 24 hours with no postage charge.

 

My initial observation is that it charges much faster than the Leica unit - about half the time.

Also it seems to switch off slightly earlier so the battery is slightly less fully charged - probably no bad thing in practice.

 

Seems to be a great bit of kit and less than 1/3 the price of the Leica unit.  

[wlaidlaw]

I now only buy Nitecore rechargeable lithium torch batteries (18650 etc) and their RCR123A batteries for my Leica Motor-M. Unlike many rechargeable lithium cells from other makers, they don't seem to die or over discharge. Their smart charger is also an excellent bit of kit. 

 

Wilson

[AlanJW]

I have used Unipal charger with M240 and Sony. It works well and I use it as second charger. It seems to be universal enough so it should work for SL.

I have used Unipal on SL battery.  If I remember right the battery had to be stood up to make contact properly, but it charged fine, and I saw no deterioration (but had no way to measure either that either).  And I also have a Nitecore, which charges off of a USB port.  There are lots of portable batteries that will provide power for that.