Getting more life out of your batteries while on a trip (part 2)

Getting more life out of your batteries while on a trip (part 2)

Today we’re continuing our tips on getting more life out of your batteries while on a trip and while we focused more on smartphones and gaming devices last time, today we’ll look into cameras and notebooks.

Saving your camera’s battery

Nowadays most if not all digital cameras feature a LCD screen and this is by far the largest power consumer on your camera. If you can turn it off altogether it would be idea, use the optical viewfinder to take the photos and don’t spend too much time looking through photos.

Besides using the viewfinder you can also turn down the screen brightness because dimmer screens will eat up less power.

Another great way of sparing your camera’s battery is to use a memory card reader to download the photos to your computer.

Saving your notebook’s or tablet’s power

Similarly as a hot day will make travelers drag their feet slowly through the heat, cold weather helps electronic devices run more efficiently, because it stops battery-hungry features such as fans from starting up.

The idea would be to keep laptops cool with airflow beneath them and keep all electronics out of the sun. Keep in mind that a power outlet may not be available any time soon so don’t make your devices work harder than they need to. This means that you should keep watching videos to a minimum and close any background apps that are not essential. You may not realize they’re there in the first place because when at home you can always plug in when you’re battery is dying, but thinks like iTunes or Skype can really eat up a lot of your battery.

You should also turn off syncing feature, wi-fi and data as well if you’re not using them.

Spare batteries

While this may not be always possible, nor really cheap – when it comes to smartphones, laptops and cameras – but packing one or more battery spares for your most important devices can prove a great time saver.

George

George