ldmarsh

I sometimes travel to a remote cabin in the cariboo of British Columbia,Canada. There is no electricity or cel service.
I am sometimes there for 5-6 days and am shooting every day. I have several batteries but sometimes run out and need to have the ability to charge on some sort of a remote system. I have a charger in my vehicle but it needs to be running to charge. Anyone with any ideas or experience would be appreciated. As I live in Canada, some U>S> products that may include some sort of battery are not available for shipping

radiojohn

Some of the Kastar chargers on eBay now plug into a USB port as opposed to a wall socket. IF they have one for your battery and IF it uses USB and IF you got a a high capacity power "brick" battery used to recharge cell phones, etc., you might have a solution. There are power brick batteries that have solar panels on them, but they need to sit in the direct sun for a long time. Probably a bit of math needed to compare the draw of the charger and how much juice the feeder battery holds.

Gilkar

I use a charge storage device, I do not know the correct name for this kind of device, but the answer from radiojohn describes what I am talking about. I pre charge it and it holds enough electricity to recharge my camera battery when it runs out. The devices are not too expensive and are primarily used to recharge a phone battery when it runs out. It usually takes several hours to recharge a camera battery. The "brick" device I use is charged with a normal usb charger and when I need to recharge my camera battery I plug a usb cord into the output side of this precharged "brick" and connect it to the 3rd party charger. There are quite a few 3rd party chargers on the market. I bought mine at my local camera store and made sure it would work. Mine uses only + and - poles which can be positioned to contact the camera battery's + and - poles. Hope this helps.

stanikon Loc: Deep in the Heart of Texas

There are some small solar chargers out there. Don't know if they will charge a camera battery or not but would be worth a look.

lreisner Loc: Union,NJ

There are two solutions that I can think of. A couple of heavy duty powrr banks. I have one that I travel with that can charge my camera three or four times. Check at a sportings good store like REI or on line for a solar charger. They are not cheap . They come in various sizes. I have seen them in REI. I do not know if REI is in Canada.

BigDaddy Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

If it were me I would get something like this:
https://www.harborfreight.com/630-peak-amp-portable-jump-starter-and-power-pack-58979.html
Not recommending this particular brand, but I'd want something that could start my car if needed and something that would work with all my stuff. I only listed this one because it popped up and is cheap.

tradio Loc: Oxford, Ohio

solar?

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

There are many possibilities... solar chargers, auxiliary battery packs made especially for the purpose and more.

Something you might consider is an automotive battery backup/jump starter. Many of these can be used with a USB cable and/or a "cigar lighter" type connector, which would allow you to use that charger you've already gott at any time and independent from the car itself. Some also can be connected to the car for recharging while driving.

A big advantage to one of these automotive auxiliary batteries is that it can also serve to start your car if it's battery gets run down.

There are a two primary types of these "jump starters":

1. "Old school" type are rather large and heavy, using a lead acid battery (same type as the car itself, although smaller such as might be used in a motorcycle or computer battery backup system). This type usually cannot be charged in the car, requires 110 volt household current, but charges up in a few hours time. All I've ever seen have had both USB and cigar lighter sockets and most have a fairly long lasting charge. I've used one for many years, at times as a backup power supply for my phone or a laptop when their batteries have run low. I don't have a car charger for my camera batteries, so have never used it to charge them, but I see no reason it wouldn't work well for that too. Of course it also has a set of jumper cables that can be used to start my car, should I run the battery down by leaving a light on or whatever. It's come in quite handy a few times!

2. Newer type are much smaller and lighter, using a lithium battery. Most I've seen charge via a USB port, but only provide auxiliary power out via a cigar lighter type socket. I haven't used one of these personally, though I've been tempted to replace the heavy old one I've got now. My main concern with them would be how fast they charge. But if you can simply leave them hooked up and charging itself while driving the car (via a USB port or the cigar lighter), it might be a non-issue.

Prices on these things vary wildly, mostly depending upon capacity and/or peak amps. Often they are rated the size of car engine they can start and, in some cases, the number of jumps possible with a full charge. Larger capacity units tend to be more expensive. For example, I've found many well under $100 US that have 650 to 1000 amps. But others with as high as 3000 amps can cost up to $250.

Here is a link to a large number of these selling on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=automotive+jump+starter+battery&crid=3VVG0QPIQOQFB&sprefix=automotive+jump+starter+battery%2Caps%2C326&ref=nb_sb_noss

Here's an example of the larger, heavier lead acid battery type:

https://www.amazon.com/Schumacher-SJ1332-Jump-Starter/dp/B07892JQ1Q/ref=sr_1_28_sspa?crid=3VVG0QPIQOQFB&keywords=automotive+jump+starter+battery&qid=1641228904&sprefix=automotive+jump+starter+battery%2Caps%2C326&sr=8-28-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyMzZTMU9YSVpHRjJMJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNzY4NjgyMVIwMDRHS1I3RjlWWSZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNTI2OTY3MldWRzBSVzBETEFOUSZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX210ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

Below is an example of the newer, more compact type that uses a lithium battery:

https://www.amazon.com/NOCO-GB40-UltraSafe-Lithium-Starter/dp/B015TKUPIC/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=3VVG0QPIQOQFB&keywords=automotive+jump+starter+battery&qid=1641228163&sprefix=automotive+jump+starter+battery%2Caps%2C326&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFXQ0JIOVhJQjAwOVQmZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTAzMDYxNzQxTUc0OEJVMzFCQ1hQJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTAyMzQ1NTgxSUYyVVhNMlBBVldBJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

I am not necessarily recommending either of the above (I recognize the Schumacher brand, but not the other). Neither is one that I've used personally. I'm just linking to these as examples of each type.

A lot of these appear to be made in China... But who cares if they work! I recommend carefully researching any particular one you might consider. Look for reviews online.

BebuLamar

Since you have a car with you I think you have room for a small generator and a gas can.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

I have purchased several of these devices for Best Bu- up herein CANADA. They have a wide variety of portable chargers, power banks and hand-cranked units. You can select by amperage and charging rate requirements. I have used someof these for the camera, flash, phone and communication (transceivers) device batteries.
Check out this link:

https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/category/power-banks/33407

I have also noticed a device sold by Amazon:

https://www.amazon.ca/External-42000mAh

Drbobcameraguy Loc: Eaton Ohio

Take an extra fully charged car battery with you. Take an inverter to hook up to the extra car 12v battery. Then you can charge your batteries with your normal chargers. If the extra car battery runs low hook it to your truck or car with jumper cables and charge it for 30 minutes to an hour. An extra 5 gallons of gas should be plenty to recharge the extra car battery several times. To charge your camera batteries.

pmorin Loc: Huntington Beach, Palm Springs

Many have mentioned power banks and battery boosters. Those are good choices for short excursions but need to be recharged from an alternate power source. Solar has been mentioned too so I’ll say that I have a Jackery solar charger that’s 1500 watts of power. About $3000. I bought it to have a battery backup for the times our main power goes out, which is often in Palm Springs. A less expensive choice is this 300 watt unit at about $320 and it comes with a 60 watt solar panel to keep the battery charged. You could run a tv on it if you wanted. It wont take up much space in the vehicle and looks to be very light in weight, I’d guess no more than 20#.

https://www.amazon.com/ALLWEI-Portable-Station-Generator-Regulated/dp/B09P4PP5RM

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

For $120-$200, you can buy a small 100 watt solar panel, or for $400-$1,000, you can buy a small 1KW portable generator such as a Honda.

KenProspero

Depending on how you're getting to BC -- you may need to consider what the airline requirements.

I'm linking to a CNN article that summarizes the rules for lithium batteries -- though I'd double check myself before purchasing.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/17/cnn-underscored/tsa-approved-battery-packs/index.html

GAS496 Loc: Arizona

How about a response from a guy that needs no batteries to take a photograph? Take fewer images. I was at a week long Death Valley workshop last month with nine digital shooters. I shoot 8x10 large format that has spring activated shutters and use an analog light meter. As a comparison I came home with eight sheets of film and four glass plates to develop, they each shot hundreds of images.

I know to each his own. I enjoy the slow contemplative process that allows me to get into the moment and feel an image. Just suggesting that you try this when shooting digitally. It definitely would help solve your battery issues.