The In Flight Power Knowledge Compendium
 

After seeing so many threads on in flight power I thought it might be helpful to have a sticky combining our knowledge into one easily accessible place. Watch this space for more to come. It may take time, but it will come!

What I do for in-flight power
 

I use the Kensington 120 Watt AC/DC Power adapter.

http://us.kensington.com/html/6368.html

It has attachments for AC, cigarette lighter, and empower plugs, and is relatively light. Combine this with the seating plans on seatguru.com and you can use in-flight power if it's available.

I've also decided to try the Valence N-charge battery. I'm a little worried because I've read a lot of negative reviews on-line, but I know someone who has it and likes it. I'll post more information once I've tried it.

Have been using this one for the past 7 months with no problems.
Here

Empower included and works fine with BA WT+/Club seats, and unplug the empower attachment and it is a usual in car type power plug.

Also worked fine with AA business class power (car type)

know any empower-plug to mini-USB charger?

(Mini-USB port see this link: http://www.geek.com/hwswrev/pda/wristpda/wristpda10.jpg)

I wanna charge my PDA Phone thru empower, without bringing out my laptop to make an Empower->Laptop->PDA Phone connection.

I have no personal experience with this one, but it seems interesting since it claims to bring in flight power to the masses.

I saw this thing a few weeks ago on engadget.com. It purports to use the audio jack on any seat to charge a USB device.

Apparently, you plug it in, crank the volume on the audio, and it trickle charges for 5 minutes. Then, it charges your device for one minute!

http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/15/i...ive-you-juice/

Yes, the Kensington charger I linked to above supports this, with the "M15" tip, which you have to order separately. One caveat: Though it charges my Motorola RAZR phone, it turns the phone on and leaves the backlight on the whole time while charging. It also prevents the phone from ringing while charging. Kensington is aware of the problem and working on a better tip. Allegedly the tip works fine with other mini-USB devices such as the blackberry.

Road warrior's guide to power information resources
 

Some places to go to see what you need to stay powered...

Most FTers know about SeatGuru for some airlines' cabin configurations, including which seats have electric power and the type of outlet - but they have recently added the very helpful "The Ultimate Guide to In-Seat Laptop Power Ports" as well. SeatGuru includes helpful hints like:

"Will there be enough power for my device (how many watts can it handle)?

Most airplane power systems are limited to approximately 75 Watts of power draw per seat. This means that your new 17" laptop, with the power-hungry processor, might not get enough juice to operate. Sometimes the laptop will know not to charge the battery and will just operate via the power, but other times the laptop won't work at all, or will work for a short period of time before tripping the power circuit. You can try taking your battery out all together, or buy a smaller laptop.

Will my battery charge while I'm plugged in?
Don't count on it. Again, because of the limited amount of power draw per seat, it is possible that your laptop won't get enough power to both operate and charge. Some airlines, like Continental Airlines, specifically state that battery charging is not allowed and ask you to remove your rechargeable battery from your device."


Other helpful Road Warrior gound-level power sites for when you have arrived include:

Electricity Around the World tells you what voltage and frequency (Hertz, or cycles per second,) are used around the world, both single phase and three-phase (and how many wires,) as well as what plugs are in use. This site even lists - and illustrates - some of the more arcane plugs in use, and describes items like transformers, adaptors and converters.

Even tips are included here, like: "Trick to know the local voltage - In case you forget to check what the local voltage is in the country you’re going to: here’s a small trick. Just take a look at the glass of an ordinary light bulb or stop at a supermarket and note what is printed on a light bulb packet!"

Steve Kropla's "Help For World Travelers" site is another excellent resource, which includes a World Electric Power Guide and Table of Electrical Systems used worldwide" and a very abbreviated list of "Sources for Telephone/Electrical Travel Accessories." Steve includes information on world telephony (including a world phone plugs table and guide, country codes plus international and national prefixes, a country finder in which you enter the phone number to determine country of origin, Internet roaming, world television standards and more.

Voltage Valet sells adapters, transformers, converters and the like, and has a handy page that lists what plugs you will need for various countries, as well as the most likely voltage and frequency used.


What I use to stay powered is my iGo Juice, from iGo. It plugs in anywhere with the right adaptor, has worked for me in autos, various 'planes and on the ground from Japan (100 V / 50 Hz) to Australia, Indonesia... and it can, with the proper plug tips, power DVD players, iPods, and even charge my Nokia (at home) or Sony Ericsson (global 4 band GSM) cell phone while it is powering my laptop. In May and June (2006) I also lent it to two different people who had fried their Kensington devices so they could edit video and charge their laptop batteries.

Has anyone found adapter tips for the IBM/Lenovo T60/X60 laptops?
They're different from the T43/X40 tips--both the voltage and physical design of the tip is different.

Dell Latitude D600
 

I cant fine a compatitable adapter for my dell. I tried the Kensington and it said it works with the D series, but didnt. And I actually had teh same problem with the adapter I bought from Dell direct. Anyone know of an adapter that would work?

I had an iGo that worked with my D600.

Just by way of experience - I use an Apple Powerbook G4 with a 17" screen. I've used it from DFW to/from LGW on AA 777's, and DFW to CDG on AA 767's. The computer charged itself and we watched movies. No problems.

The 777 seems to have power in every row. The 767 does not - you have to work out a seat that has it.

I've also used the same machine on AA 737's and on AA MD-80's.

It works better if the people sitting ahead of us either both sit up, or both recline. If one sits up and one reclines, we have to watch at an angle.

And I discovered on our most recent trip that the PB fits nicely in the external pocket of my rollaboard, which means I don't have to carry it. Nice!

I have had good luck with the Valence batteries. I have two for a very power hungry 17" on Int'l flights.

For my Toshiba or Thinkpad, I purchased a targus unit where it plugs into the EmPower, and then I plug my regular adaptor into that like I would be plugging it into the wall.

So far as I can tell, Targus doesn't have tips that fit the new connectors on the Thinkpad X60/T60/Z60 models. But I just learned that iGo does claim to have a tip S31 that fits.

And now I've learned that Targus has a tip APT 31:
http://www.targus.com/us/product_details.asp?sku=APT31