Catch the Sun! Store the power!
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I seem to have developed a bit of a fetish for batteries.
Any one that knows me or reads this blog knows that I love my gadgets. I have specifically designed all of my kit to either be charged by solar (the Goal Zero Guide 7) or via USB.
On an every day basis I use the Plox Box. Which replaced one of the 2 Guide 10 Plus battery pack. It was only replaced because I needed more power for my iPhone 5 and USB Wi-Fi. I still used the Guide 10 Plus packs as a solar regulator when items cannot take a direct solar charge due to irregular power delivery
I have divided the kit for the purpose of this post into: Tools, Writing, Charging & Cables, Medical & Boo Boo, Wifi and Apple connectors.
In the past I have written before about the kit that I use for overseas travel, such as my iPad Mini in a waterproof LifeProof case along my iPhone 5 also in a LifeProof case.
I know looking at the picture above, it looks like a lot. I assure you, I use almost everything inside this case at least weekly.
So I will run through my different sub groups so you can see what I have:
Tools:
So what I have in this section is:
- A tiny Gerber Multitool. I use the straight blade to open boxes and I really like the spring opening pliers
- Stanley pocket screwdriver set – I like the former factor giving me 4 different heads (2 different sized phillips head, and 2 blade) all in a hard plastic pen body
- Small water tight container that contains some spare cash and a pair of needle nose tweezers
Writing:
Nothing is worse than needing to take a note, or leave a note such as in the recent case of our trip to Horse Gully Hut - I left an emergency note on our car’s dashboard so people knew were to look for us.
In my daily kit is the following writing items:
- The last item is a just a generic metal body black ink pen – looks less tactical.
Medical / Boo Boo kit
Firstly, I am sorry for this blurry picture, in this kit is enough things to just make me feel better, rather than cure the ills of the world.
It contains:
Tissues
Panadol x 2 tabs
An alcohol wipe
Gastro stop type pills or mouth dissolvable buttons
The only thing missing from this group is a bandaid that is normally folded inside the container
Now for the most used group of my kit
Charging & Connections
I am an apple boy, not a fanboy but an apple boy – The OS does what I need.
By gosh does the iPhone and iPad mini chew the juice! Hungry little things.
The above includes:
A YellowStone short iPhone 5 lightning charger
Pebble Smart watch magnetic charger
Fitbit force usb charger
Small “BlueLounge Kii’ that I have shaved down to fit through the charging port of the LifeProof Fre case.
Griffin short usb connection cables – Mini, Micro and large apple connector
Plox 6000mAh usb external battery with inbuilt micro us charger
Belkin extension usb cable
USB power adapter from the iPhone 5s it’s small and easy to carry.
LifeProof Fre 3.5mm audio adapter so I can use headphones with the waterproof case on (the apple EarPods work without using any adapter)
Apple and Wifi converters plus USB and EarPods
Now this group is one that is not used as often, but when it does – it’s a real saver.
The first is the white USB stick - this is a Huawei E355s-2 - one of the most versatile HSPA+ modems I have ever seen. I picked this one up outright from Celcom in Malaysia. I pop a sim in, plug it into anything with a USB port - the battery above, the wall charger above etc and it creates a mini wifi network.
I am a massive Amaysim fan here in Australia, in essence they are a 4G reseller of the Optus network. I have 2 accounts with them - my phone is on the 49 unlimited plan - unlimited calls and sms (in AU) with 9gig oData. The USB stick uses their $99 for 10gig (lasts 365 days or until 10 gig used).
I can not rate them highly enough.
Also above you can see the following
Apple micro USB to Lightning converter
30pin SD card reader
With three items above I can easily convert any USB micro cable to a lightning charger, I know people will be saying ‘but there is a lightning SD card reader’ yes - but it is longer - on a short cable. I like the compact nature of these 2 items.
EarPods - these fit inside the LifeProof Fre case without a converter
Sandisk 4gig USB stick with tiny micro light - cheap and nasty - about $5.
EDIT: Update March 2015
I have removed some items, either because they no longer work, or are no longer needed.
- I have upgraded my phone to the iPhone 6 plus, with the Lifeproof Nuud case. Every Lightning cable other than the Apple provided one no longer fits inside the charging port so I have ordered a short genuine Apple cable (30cm)
- The BlueLounge Kii is gone - see above
- Fitbit Force replaced with the Fitbit Charge HR and matching cable
- Plain metal black pen stopped working so was binned and not replaced
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