Approaching soon is that time of the year when we all take a break and plan a vacation, a trip to the favourite holiday destination. I can?t think of anything more rejuvenating and refreshing than a road trip with a few essentials. But when it comes to these few essentials, we all carry a lot of electronic gadgets like cellphones, iPods, portable DVD players, digital still and video cameras, and laptops to stay amused and connected. And all these gadgets run on batteries and batteries have a funny way of running out of juice when least expected. To save you from running out of battery power while you are on the move, Belkin has unveiled its Power on the go ? ?AC Anywhere? with USB charging.
The light-weight Belkin device is small enough (147mm x 80mm x 50mm) to be tucked away in the dashboard glove compartment when not required. With charcoal grey colour body and silver bezels on either sides, AC Anywhere is made of durable plastic. It has a cable at one end that plugs into the car?s cigarette lighter, while on the other bezel, it has a three-pin mains socket, an on/off switch along with two LEDs for ?power? and ?status?. The three-pin power socket can accept plugs of all size and shapes. It converts the 12 volts DC from your car?s battery to 220 volts AC that can be used to charge all your gadgets with standard AC travel chargers?with just one little caveat that they should be rated to draw 200 watts or less current.
Simply plug the unit into the car?s cigarette lighter socket (12-volt DC) while the car?s engine is running (to avoid putting unnecessary load and draining the car battery) and the AC Anywhere converts your vehicle?s battery power to 220 volts AC at a frequency of 50Hz (+/-3Hz), the common household current rating in India and many other countries.
The AC Anywhere inverter also features a fuse protection along with an audible alarm that sounds if the vehicle battery voltage drops to 10.6 volts DC and shuts off at 9.8V DC.
Another thoughtful feature that Belkin has juggled in the AC Anywhere is a USB socket for certain devices that need to be connected to the USB port of a PC or Laptop for charging.
Running out of power is a thing of the past, at least while you are in your car driving and has a Belkin AC Anywhere charger tucked away in your glove compartment.