Inverter needed

Yep good idea.
You can buy Cig lighter sockets already wired with alligator clips from most Auto spares shops.

Believe it or not, car chargers are not available for some Apple products. Some daft means of protecting patent/copyright of the magnetically attached power cord. It’s possible they have become available more recently (I haven’t checked), but that’s the reason I’ve used an inverter together with a 240v charger.

I have 12v USB chargers for iPhone and iPad, no probs.
Bought one of those cup holder charger units from Supercheap, plugs into ciggy socket, and the unit has 2 x ciggy outlets and 2 USB outlets, one high and other normal rating.

Stephen,

120vAC is just as lethal as 240vAC, so the 120v ones are no safer than the 240v variety.

Using an inverter may be practical in many cases, but the "efficiency" rate drops, as the inverter itself consumes extra power.


Glenn,

When charging the devices whilst driving, efficiency is not really a factor, as the alternator is putting in far more current than the devices and inverter together, consume.

From a battery supply source while at camp, a 150 watt inverter, suitable for most items, will draw minimal current for the duration of the charging process. Just be aware of the total power (wattage) requirements of all the devices you wish to charge, to avoid flattening the supply battery.

Personally, I have a 300 watt pure sine wave inverter, which covers anything I am likely to require charging, using the device's AC power pack. I use this primarily for my camera charger to recharge the spare battery, usually while on the move.
For any device, (phone, etc.) that uses a USB cable to power and recharge it, a simple USB adapter, plugged into the vehicle's cigarette socket is the most efficient and effective. You can buy dual port USB adapters to run more than a single device concurrently.

Like others I simply use 12V USB chargers for my iThingies and it all works very well.

I would caution against AC in the car if you don't absolutely need it. I used to use it extensively but after my second close call at electrocuting myself and a near miss with someone else's child one day, decided it was (a) unnecessarily dangerous, (b) not foolproof enough to be safe enough, (c) not an efficient use of scarce battery power when the alternator was not charging and (d) there are much better and far cheaper options with 12V DC.

I used to run a laptop in the car and found a DC charger was much cheaper than an inverter and worked really well with the engine switched off.

Good luck with your decision.

All true but if as has been said that there are no 12volt chargers options available for the particular products he wants to charge then what do you do?

I was never able to find a 12volt charger for my SLR camera hence the inverter. 120volt AC at 100 watts is certainly safer that the same power rating at double the voltage. Yes even a significantly lower AC voltage can be lethal but if I had to choose because I didn't have a choice in the mater then, it would be safer and it would be more efficient.

The USB charger that I linked to in Reply #4 has 3.1 amp capacity. We have two and load them up with never a problem. Recommended.

Cheers

I suspect you are only thinking of iPads, iPods, & iPhones.