phone, camera etc charging

[Sawdusty surfer]

phones can be charged at various places on site and some, such as the Orange tent, will have their own chargers. if you have your own charger you should be able to get just about anything (well, maybe not a 120 amp hour leisure battery ) charged at various alternative energy places in the green fields if nowhere else. in the gf field there is even an array of converted bikes you can pedal to charge your phone.

i posted this in response to another thread with people saying they had aa battery phone chargers that they were going to take.

............or you could always leave your phone switched off for the duration in your car !

[Dukeicon]

I have 3 spare batteries for my phone, and two for my camera, so no need for me to get my phone charged anywhere! This is the easiest way rather than having to queue for hours at the orange charging tent. I think the batteries for both camera and phone cost no more than £15 for the lot! Bargain!

[Madyokel]

There are so many ways to recharge your phone..

Wind up versions are many.

Get them before you go and take them with you.

The Queue at the Orange Chill and charge area was "Pitifull"

Sad so see people at a festival Qing for 300 Mtrs to chargetheir mobiles.

[Alzeefest]

I have 3 spare batteries for my phone, and two for my camera, so no need for me to get my phone charged anywhere! This is the easiest way rather than having to queue for hours at the orange charging tent. I think the batteries for both camera and phone cost no more than £15 for the lot! Bargain!

Edited October 8, 2009 by Alzeefest

[NeilVJ]

I have two spare batteries for my phone. Ebay is the best place for something like that. Just make sure you charge them before you go as almost all arrive uncharged.

The queue for the orange chill n charge tent was mad. It was 24/7 full

[andy_h]

I'm amazed every year at them queues at the Orange tent. Sooo many other more productive things you could be doing.

Surely, when most modern phones last a maximum of 1/2 days on a charge, when you're going to spend 5 days in a field (and you know you'll need to use your phone) it's common sense to buy spare batteries...non?

[Ponyegg]

Unfortunately many new smartphone (iPod, Android, Blackberry) batteries are woefully underpowered. Last year I bought a double capacity battery for my Android G1 plus one of these:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=220489896079

It's a 425mA solar panel and comes with USB and other connectors (my original one only had a USB connector) so can be used to charge other USB powered devices, and it's only a £5 although the guy is charging £8.60 delivery which is a bit much.

During the day I would leave the phone plugged in with the solar panel taped to the outside of my day-sack so it got sunlight wherever I went. During the height of the day it would trickle charge/feed, but more importantly your battery would ensure your battery didn't go down in power. I had GPS on and did a fair bit of surfing and it managed to hold out until I got home on the Monday (we left 6am Wednesday).

This year I'm considering this for our group, a 200W portable power pack, charges via a car 12v cigarette lighter (so could be recharged during the weekend), it spits out 240v and will accommodate normal 3 pin plugs. http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=225153

(Maplin's site is a bit slow at the moment).

Wind-Up Chargers:

I've had very little major success with these, but [perhaps I've just used crap ones.

Spare Batteries:

Is probably your best bet, but I'd still back this up with a solar charger as well.

[Ponyegg]

I'm amazed every year at them queues at the Orange tent. Sooo many other more productive things you could be doing.

[jesterzoo]

Have to say it is all very well having your own spare battery etc, but when all ur mates are so disorganised that their phone runs out by saturday morning, whats the point?

[Langdale Wolf]

Yeah, ebay is the way forward. I also keep the batteries from my old handsets and use them as spares.

3 for the mobile, 3 for the camera. Job done.

I have never and will never use the Orange Tent. What a complete waste of time.

[hope]

Why don't they operate a ticketing system, like when you go to the doctors, deli or DHSS? Grab a number and if it's taking >15mins go grab a pint or bite to eat, at least you could sit down and wait your turn rather than having to stand in line like we're back at school.

Or is this what they do and the queue i s for the ticket? (Never used it myself as the queue always freaks me out)

[Dukeicon]

Where did you get those so cheap, thats a good idea???

[ukslim]

My tip: keep your spare batteries in a ziplock bag.

More ziplock related tips, as they arise.

[jamiejc]

I browsing a site for chargers how about one of these, looks viable?

Linky

[Mel & Claire]

I don't mind the queue for the Chill n Charge, it goes down quite fast. It's once you get inside it's horrible. It's too loud, everyone's on a mission, and it's full of young girls who can't bear not to be on MSN or facebook chat waiting for their phone battery to top up the last 5%, when some of us have phones that have actually died and would be grateful for any charge we can get.

I find it an ironic name. It's quite stressful.

[thelizardking]

if you really need your phone just take a spare battery, i hated the chill and charge, there was no chilling involved, just strenuous waiting.

[Dukeicon]

It's once you get inside it's horrible. It's too loud, everyone's on a mission, and it's full of young girls who can't bear not to be on MSN or facebook chat....

[Laura_Babs]

Glad I have managed to avoid going to the Orange tent to charge. Every year except last year I ran out of battery towards the end (I think). This year I stupidly forgot my normal phone as I rushed out the house but had my work Nokia plus another cheap Nokia, both of which had crazy long battery life. I also bought two spare fully charged batteries with me. Worked fine and I had lots of battery left at the end.

[Kyelo]

The Queue at the Orange Chill and charge area was "Pitifull"

Sad so see people at a festival Qing for 300 Mtrs to chargetheir mobiles.

[Paul ™]

I hate the place, worked doing security for Orange at a few festivals in the past and the place just annoys me

[grumpyhack]

Isn't one of the joys of Glasto to get away from the phone. Why not leave it switched off most of the time but maybe just switch on in short bursts from time to time just to pick up messages and then switch off again?

[NeilVJ]

If your in a big group its pretty much essentiil to keep your phone on all the time (whether you can get a signal is another matter).

Buy extra batteries off ebay, very cheap and loads easier than trying to charge. However if you have an iphone where you can't remove the battery I'd advise investing in a solar powered charger or even a cheap new phone to take.

[Laura_Babs]

If your in a big group its pretty much essentiil to keep your phone on all the time (whether you can get a signal is another matter).

[xlauriex]

www.powerfreakz.com

They do some awesome chargers. At the moment, they're selling portable chargers that you can charge up via the mains & they'll charge most phones from flat to full a good 3 times

And, coming soon, they're releasing a product which is exactly the same but also has a huge solar panel on. Perfect for festivaling!

Edited January 17, 2010 by xlauriex