Please forgive me if this is a stupid question, but I truly have no idea. Are car chargers and electrical systems standardized worldwide? I will hire a car while in Namibia and would like to recharge my accessories from the car cigarette lighter.

Will I be able to plug in my ipod, camera battery charger and other items and have them work? Are the plugs compatible with US plugs? Thanks for any help.

seyfun:
I am not sure but I do not believe that the chargers are universal (I think that the batteries will be producing (12 volts though) I think that some have contacts only on one side, others on two sides. My traveling companion had a cig charger for his Sat phone and it did not fit. We had an inverter that did fit--I purchased it at Circuit City. It also had cables to hook it directly to the battery which gives you another option.

We used a small inverter in Mongolia without any problem at all. We used it to play and charge our PSD. I tend to think that all, or most, cigarette lighters are standard.
This does remind me, however, of a question I've had. Do the vehicles in the camps in Botswana and South Africa have cigarette lights which can be used to chartge batteries during the game drives -- in case of a shortage of opportunity or resources to recharge while in camp?

I am given to understand that some older Land Rovers and heavy-duty trucks have 24 volt electrical system. Modern standard is 12 volt.

The plug sizes should be standard. If you're renting a fairly modern car (i.e. manufactured in last 20-30 years), then you should be fine.

If they give you a Land Rover that comes with a hand crank, you might have problems.

Not a stuped question, very good question. Answer is - not exactly, but close enough. I googled the question and found this information at- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_cigarette_lighter
There can be a very slight difference in the size of the car cigar lighter receptacle of less than 1mm (1 millimeter) in diameter. The total overall diameter being close to 20mm. I do not see this as a problem considering the "springy" construction of the adapter plug. The voltage polarity seems to be standard whether American or European.
I'm trying to think of a very simple and easy way to check out the car receptacle to be certain it is ok and working. ( A pocket VOM is the answer for techies). It is always possible the receptacle has blown a fuse and is dead. Also, I have on occasion seen cars without a cigar lighter, but, not sure how rare/common this is.
regards - tom

Hello,

Regardless of whether or not the chargers fit or work, I wouldn't count on being able to use car chargers unless you check with your operator first, i.e. Wilderness Safaris does not allow the use of car chargers in its vehicles.

Cheers,
Julian

Interesting Tom. That could explain why our adaptor wouldn't stay in our lighter receptical while on safari. Everytime we hit a bump (which was quite often)the charger would come flying out, thus making it virtually useless.
Sherry

cybor - Some of the adapter plugs I've seen are rather poorly designed/made. It is easy to make a plug that LOOKS ok and I feel many of those were designed/made having never been tested in real life use. Did you have this problem with most all vehicles?
jasher - I think I understand the prohibition on the use of chargers. They do not want to risk disabling the vehicle. But this could be easily prevented by a protect circuit in the vehicle's system. Maybe they don't want the hassle of clients arguing over the use of the outlet? Ways around this also. Maybe they don't want the hassle if the client claims the vehicle harmed their equipment? Maybe they just don't want anything but the clients money
regard - tom

Hello,

To be honest, I've never had a need for a car charger in Southern Africa -- I've always been able to do my battery charging in camp. Since you spend a lot of time on the road in East Africa, car chargers may be more important there.

Cheers,
Julian