iphone/ipad charger for use on planes

[ClaudiaSchiffer]

Hi Geeks

I am doing a solo flight with 2 kids from Oz to the UK and am aiming to take my phone (obv) and ipad for entertainment purposes. Since travel time is 26 hours +, I'll need to charge it up on the plane.

I seem to remember that you can get a charger that sticks in the plane seat thingy. I looked in the apple store but could only find a charger for the laptop. Do they exist?

Anyone got a link? Pref from an Oz site but if I have a brand name I can google stockists here.

Thanks dudes.

I've just phoned Apple and they said that they didn't do one for the iphone but suggested that planes have usb ports nowadays. Is this true? Anyone got any experience of this?

We're flying Malaysian Air if that makes a difference.

What you want is one of these:

USB Battery

I have two similar to this and they always go on long journeys with me.

To put it into context the battery I linked is a 9200mAh. The ipad2 has a 6400mAh battery and the iphone 4/4S is 1430mAh. So you'd be able to charge the ipad2 from 0% back to 100% and still have enough juice to pretty much fully recharge the iphone twice.

They are a godsend for anything which you can charge from a USB port so you can even charge your Nintendo's, Sony PSP's/Blackberry's etc. As long as you can get a USB cable for it, it will work. Possibly the only exception is the new Ipad (3) which has such a ridiculously sized battery that the above won't be enough to charge it to full and would take too long anyway.

Oh yes, lastly they do take quite a while to recharge from flat so best leaving it overnight and not a couple of hours before you are due to fly.

Awesome thanks niceguy (apt name).

Can I use it to charge the iphone/pad whilst the kids are playing on it?

If you want one to charge from the seat socket, you need to check with the airline what the power supply is on the plane for your flight - if any. eg when we flew BA to Antigua, you needed an "EM Power" adapter for the plane we'd be on. However, the sockets weren't available in Economy IIRC, just Premium and First

Thanks SoupDragon, I ended up phoning the airline and they said that you could use the USB connector on the A380 but it wouldn't charge the device - you can't drain any power from the aircraft, which makes sense I suppose. Don't want it dropping out of the sky.

And we're sadly traveling economy much as I'd love to be in Biz or first.

That's a stupid response from the airline and I suspect the person advising you has no clue. The USB socket to conform to standards will be able to provide 500mA (0.5A). Otherwise [b]any[/b] device you plug in won't get any power and therefore wouldn't work! So it HAS to supply some power.

Anyway that would be enough to charge your iphone but it will not charge an ipad since that requires a 1A supply.

To answer your question Claudia, yes you can charge the iphone/ipad whilst the kids are playing. I do it all the time.

You don't need to suspect, Niceguy, they just don't have a clue

There'd be no point having any USB sockets on the plane if they were correct!

Worth knowing they don't bother with offering them in Economy (the only place I've flown, though I did once walk up the spiral staircase into the cockpit on a 747, 30+ years ago)

It may have been just the plane I was on WRT no power in economy (and it was 2 years ago - I didn't check this year).

I agree - if you couldn't draw any power then there would be no point putting sockets in :)

Thanks geeks

I'm going to order one of those USB batteries nice guy recommended. Hopefully it arrives in Oz before we leave for the UK.

Oh soddit, they don't deliver to Australia.

What about this?

Hasn't realised you were already in AU.

How about this? eBay

Oh, forgot to say. The one you linked will only charge your iphone one and a bit times. Probably won't even charge the ipad.

I'd say if you have a USB socket then don't worry about the iphones. It's the ipad that will need charging. That said, an ipad will last 8 hours so unless your kids are going to be glued on it for most of the trip, you should be ok.

and those immortal words "switch it off and let it [and you] have a rest" might help :)

Good point networkguy, they will watch the telly, colour in, read, stare out the window, get hysterical and hopefully sleep too

And thanks amicissimma, will check out seatguru

Hope you saw link in post at 09:50 where Niceguy found a similar device on www.ebay.com.au

Don't forget the phenergan