cheapiano

hi everyone! was wondering if we should be concerned at all about potential power surges frying our camera battery charger at our lodgings in tanzania. we're staying at impala hotel in arusha, kirurumu tented camp at manyara, ngorongoro wildlife lodge, and seronera wildlife lodge.

is the power supply pretty reliable at these places? ie lodges instead of true tented camps?

also, am i right that the plugs should either be the 3 rectangular prong type or possibly the 3 round prong (larger prong on top)?

thanks so much!

NoFlyZone

Power surges can happen anywhere, anytime. And in general, the more remote, the higher the probability of a surge. If you have any concerns you should bring your own supressor.

Plugs are indeed the older 3 round prong and new British large 3 blade rectangular plugs. The older ones are getting fairly rare.

twaffle

I fried all my chargers on day 2 of my last safari. I had them all on a power board and lost the lot. Interesting to see how one copes under the pressure!

cary999

Wow twaffle, bad luck. In 2005 I had a charger fry in camp, but that charger was known to have that problem (LaCrosse BC-900). Since then I have a backup charger. A sort of universal type, it is home made. Only time I've ever used it was Sep 2009 in camp for a lady who forgot her Canon charger. What did you do after yours blew?

regards - tom

cheapiano

wow! ok, glad i asked. please forgive my complete ignorance, but, what's a suppressor, and how expensive are? any good places you know of to get them?

cary999

Here's and explanation by Tripp-Lite, a respected designer/manufacturer of surge suppressors and back-up power supplies - http://tinyurl.com/2edgjdh

The problem I see with having one for travel is that apparently you need different suppressors designed for 120 volt or 230 volt AC supplies. However here is one that is built for 230V but works also on 120V.
http://www.tripplite.com/en/products...xtModelID=1347

Biggest problem I have with it is its size, agreed it is not huge but my camera electronic bag is FULL!!

regards - tom

TigerPhotog

Chuck (from FM, right?),

Carry the british style, 3-pin, rectangular plugs....round ones are rare..as someone mentioned above.

TP

HariS

I'd say, power surges can occur anywhere. Important thing is to just go with the flow and enjoy every minute of your safari. If the charger busts out, don't panic - there will be someone else in your camp or lodge whose charger you could borrow. I just leave my Nikon chargers in the office room of the camp and collect it on departure day...

twaffle

Tom, I suffered for a while. I had a new 7D which in Canon's wisdom has a different battery to the 30/40d series but is the same as the 5dmk2. I've yet to see anyone on safari with the 5d and this was no exception. Fortunately I had taken 3 batteries and they lasted the distance of the safari. I stopped checking the back of the camera to see what I'd taken.
The 40D charger blew as well but Alex Walker spent ages looking through all the left over gear in camp and found a generic charger which we fiddled and got to work. My iphone was charged through someone else's computer (iphones being common now).
My motto is never to put all your chargers on one board and to carry spare batteries.

Good point Hari, but when there are no other visitors in camp the options are limited.

HariS

Spare batteries, absolutely vital - I'd say, more so than endless paraphenalia that makes it look like a "Best buy" or "circuit City" (plug in your local chain store) on wheels....

cary999

Yeah, new camera body, new battery. I take three bodies, each uses different style battery. I wish they all used AA batteries but I guess the energy/watt density is so much greater with Li-Ion type.

The lady who forgot her Canon charger was lucky I was there . Other Canon shooters were no help, the camp itself neither. It was only because I'm a battery "nerd" that I came to her rescue. Can you imagine being on your first safari and having your camera battery dying?!?!

regards - tom

cheapiano

wow! thanks so much, everyone! so, i guess the general consensus is to not worry about the suppressor, but to carry extra batteries to get through the rest of the trip, just in case the charger gets fried? thanks again!

cary999

That would be the safest way. You really need minimum two batteries to begin with. So total required, with no recharging? I'd guess one battery runs me for 2 days. So do math from there?

regards - tom

HariS

Tom, tried the D3 yet? apparently, 7 times more battery life.

cary999

No Hari, I'm not old enough to go FF .
Am looking forward to D400 next year, expect it to be enough better than my D200 to be worth spending the $$$.

What Nikon bodies, and lenses, are you using these days?

regards - tom

HariS

D300 with the F4 200-400 mm.

sandi

Back in '08, I blew out my battery charger first night in NBO..... duh! Didn't check if it was dual voltage which it wasn't and there I was, stuck!

No matter, I did have 3/sets of batteries that were all fully charged before departing home. So used 1/set and then when it was time to recharge, lucked out that the manager at camp I was staying while he didn't have a charger for my particular batteries... performed some sort of miracle and joila! Got these charged and double checked my others and I was set for the next two weeks.

So, absolutely have back-up batteries.

cheapiano

ok, back up batteries it is. and maybe a backup charger too? thanks again!

mowmow

I left with two fully charged batteries and recharged my cell phone and battery successfully a couple of times. I used the razor outlet in the lodges in the bathroom--didn't need an adaptor. Seemed like the electricity was the most reliable during the daylight hours.

At the tent camps, they had generators to charge stuff in the mess tent, but I didn't have to use them. I charged everything at the permanent lodge before we set off for those.

You can get a surge protector that is not too large at any local hardware store that has cords for electronic stuff. Some of the power strips have them built in now. A surge protector doesn't protect from "brown-outs" though, which can cause damage as well. I think generators are more prone to this than permanent power supplies.

cheapiano

ok, i'll look into the surge protectors as well. they seemed pretty big though. have to shop around i guess. thanks so much!