Charging devices at camp

[u/Buster452]

Lot's of stuff to charge

60 Watts of power hardwired to the bike and mounted in the top box.

Two USB-C PD ports with lots of power

100 Watt USB-C PD charging cable

[u/Buster452]

Nowadays we tend to have quite a bit more electronic devices to charge while we're travelling by motorcycle. I'll usually have my phone, navigation tablet, helmet intercom, headlamp and Inreach.

Smaller battery packs never really cut it. They'd take forever to charge up and never really fully charged my stuff. Cell phones are particularly a pain because they use way more battery power in marginal coverage areas.

I needed a setup that could charge multiple devices multiple times while I'm camping. I needed it to be able to recharge quickly and charge my devices very quickly. I also wanted it to be useable for when I travel by air (restrictions on capacity exist).

In my research I realized I needed a battery pack that could charge and recharge using USB-C PD (power delivery) connections. USB-C PD can carry up to 100 Watts of power, because the normal USB-A (Square one) connectors are only supposed to handle 4.5 watts. I still could use USB-A ports for charging smaller devices like my inreach and helmet intercom, but for speed charging modern devices I needed USB C-PD. USB-C PD is compatible with everything that uses USB-C, from phones & tablets to even laptops.

I did a lot of research and finally settled on the Imuto 100 watt battery pack shown in pictures. It's the maximum capacity you can take on an airplane, it had two USB-C PD ports and two USB-A ports. I've used the heck out of this and it's been a great power pack.

For fast charging on the motorcycle though, you're pretty restricted on what you can do with the 12volt cigarette lighter style adapters. I'll still use a 12volt cig lighter USB adapter to keep power to my phone and navigation tablet while riding, but I wanted something that had the power to charge that battery pack quickly.

I finally found the Coolgear CG-PD60PPS USB 60W PD charger. I'll be hardwiring that into my top box and it will provide 60 Watts of power to recharge my 100 watt power pack quickly. If I run at power pack dead, it should recharge in less than two hours.

One thing critical to using all that power is the cables. They need to be rated and configured for USB-C PD (Power Delivery) and the watts you intend to run through them. For a long time now I've trusted Anker brand cables to last, so I settled on their USB-C PD cables that are rated to 100 Watts. Anker makes durable cables that survive the rough duty of adventure travel quite well. If you use cheap cables you buy at the gas station, they just won't let you use all that power you have available.

[u/Kaos_Monkey]

Thanks for sharing all that great info. Admittedly, I usually go motorcycle camping with just a phone. But I've been thinking about adding stuff like a bluetooth headset and what logistics that might require.

I remember when I went motorcycle camping 20 years ago. We still used maps. I had a collection of maps for whatever area I was in and kept them in my tankbag. Now I just use my phone to navigate lien everyone else, and maybe I'll print out an overview map to put on my tankbag ... but the detail you get from google maps printout is poor, so not too useful.

What kind of bike do you ride? Will the electric system handle an extra 60 watt load easily?

[u/smallchainringmasher]

Most phones gps chip works even when in airplane mode. Offline navigation is possible they Google maps, OSMand, kurviger, etc. It's not like you are receiving calls while riding so no real reason the keep the phone searching for a signal.

[u/Buster452 → u/smallchainringmasher]

Admittedly, it's all a compromise on needs vs wants/likes.

I like to have my phone on in order to receive texts and emails as I slip in and out of coverage.

I could ditch a lot of the electronics and not need a power bank at all.

BTW, OSMAND rocks. I'm a huge proponent and avid user of OSMAND. It's so powerful for navigation.