Charging Battery Packs Overseas (Gotta Love Engineers!)

“And my list of countries? It wasn’t to show “my passport is bigger than yours” ”

I know..I just chimed in for the fun of it:)

But now I had to check….and mine is at least 1/8 ” wider at least compared to my daughter’s  old one?

I like your setup btw.

Mark, Valerie made a typo on the word “if” — she way saying that *if* the battery pack had this info on it then she would know, but nothing like this appears on the battery pack. As Jim said, the battery pack is 5V input so needs the voltage stepped down to that before entering the battery pack, which is what the wall charger does:

“First, I insert one gold and one silver wire into one of cord’s female receptacles, and jam those wire ends in place with my cord’s male plug (the dark-green plug plugged into the dark-green receptacle above).”

David, btw, I don’t like your setup, I think that it is highly inadvisable. The prime danger is not from electrocution to the user, rather, from slightly loose wires causing a fire, which is a danger to everyone in the building. Really, don’t go there.

“If a connection is not mechanically tight and of low resistance, it can start to undergo a progressive failure. The process often has the quality of an unstable, positive-feedback loop. High resistance creates localized heating, heating increases oxidation and creep, the connection becomes less tight, and further heating occurs, until high temperatures are attained. At a certain stage, a poor connection can become a glowing connection which shows very high temperatures. At that point, nearby combustibles may be subject to ignition. The process generally appears to be one of ohmic heating albeit with a highly complex resistive element (but as indicted below, there is some possibility that arcing also plays a role in glowing connections).”

Dang it, JR was right — it WAS a typo!  I meant to say “IF” the Anker had something printed about AC power — but no reference to AC is there…  Ack! Flying fingers… How are typos so easily skipped over?! (That’s a rhetorical question, BTW)

@davidinkenai — mmmmm, that olive oil stove idea sounds deee-licious!  Yeah, AZ sells Everclear, but that stuff tastes beyond harsh to me!

@discopants — actually, we’re trekking the Huayhuash Circuit.  It’s near Huaraz, supposed to be fairly remote, less crowded, and includes passing the foot of Siula Grande, Peru’s 2nd highest peak, made famous by Joe Simpson’s horrible climbing accident (“Touching the Void”).  The Inka Trail just sounds too crowded for me; I’ll do Machu Picchu as a day trip from Cusco (wouldn’t want to miss it).  We’ll also have a guide and arriero (mule driver), but we found a small, local family that does all the work themselves, and 100% of our money will go to the family themselves (not to some guide company in the US).  We thought of doing it ourselves, but there are bandits in the area (see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upZJpGrppJA&list=WL&index=8&t=2s), logistics would be complicated, and it is also good to support the local economy.

We’re salivating already about Lima food, and plan to indulge ourselves as much as time, appetite, and budget will allow (some of the top places are beyond my $$$$$$, but there are many affordable options).

“While condoms can be stretched to fit over your head, don’t do it for long.”

I thought that was the whole purpose of condoms? I’ve had such a sheltered life…

“I meant to say “IF” the Anker had something printed about AC power — but no reference to AC is there…”

The smart folks can correct me if I’m wrong (hell, they can correct me if I’m right), but I don’t think any of the mobile battery packs have that on them — it’s the plug that goes into the wall that’s 110v/240v compatible, the plug then steps it down to 5W or 10W, whatever, for the battery pack. So any of the global kits that have a plug with a, well, plug on one side and a USB connector on the other should work.

“And my list of countries? It wasn’t to show “my passport is bigger than yours” ”

I’ll bet my passport is bigger than yours. Since I’m nearly blind, I got the large-type passport. Size of a 8.5×11.5 notebook. They use different stamps too. Hell of a time getting it in my pocket.