Cable for charger for K-3 battery

Hi everyone,

I live in Spain and we are currently on lock-down, unable to leave the house unless strictly necessary. We got out of Madrid just before this started so that we could be in my parents-in-laws' house with more space and help to look after our daughter while there are no nurseries.

I'm not able to locate the cable for the (third party) charger for my K-3. I have one more full battery. I have the grip but not with the insert for AA batteries, only the standard Li-Ion. My question is - is the cable that leads to the charger a standard one? Physically it appears to be, and I have one from a small TV that physically fits and the little green LED on the charger lights up when plugged in, but I'm concerned about charging the battery and have it damaged, or worse yet, be a fire risk. I'm pretty sure any current/voltage conversion is done in the body of the charger, not in the cable, but if anyone can confirm that'd be great.

Many thanks

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Pentax hybrid user - Digital K3, film 645 and 35mm SLR and Pentax (&other) lenses adapted to Fuji X and Panasonic L digital
Fan of DA limited and old manual lenses

The only issue I can see is the rating of the fuse in the plug. However, I doubt that there are many of us who take proper note of whether the 13A fuses in our mains plug should sometimes be 3A. What the rating should be for the charger is probably 3A or 5A. The consequence of using a 13A fuse is probably not very much, but in the unlikely event of a serious fault the fuse might not blow.

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Best regards, John

Yes, the voltage conversion, current regulation etc is done within the unit. A cable can't do that!

The fuse in the mains plug is - in the UK, at least - only there to protect the cable.

Assuming the same as the K-5 charger, any 'figure of 8' cable (it has a fancy IEC designation nobody can remember) will be fine. As John mentioned, any fuse may be more than 3 amps but this is unlikely as this is good for 700 watts and only things like kettles, irons, hair dryers and toasters generally have 13A fuses (even then it's unlikely to be a problem).

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PPG Flickr

It is a C7 cable. Every house must have one lying around - they are used for loads of electrical appliances - typically radios, DVDs etc

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K3ii, K-5, K-x, DA150-450mm, DA16-85WR, DA16-45, DA18-55WR, DA18-135WR, DA35 F2.4, M100mm F4 Macro, DA55-300mm, FA50mm 1.4, AF360 Flash, AF540 Flash

Yes, standard figure of 8 cable which comes with many household appliances..e.g. radio.. I have actually bought some from Amazon (european and US) which obviate the need for plug adaptors.

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AKA Welshwizard/PWynneJ
Assorted Pentax/Nikon/Mamiya stuff

If you are getting mail order deliveries another option, which I have for the K70 and K1ii batteries, is to get a 3rd party USB charger. I find them very good and useful when travelling as you can charge the batteries in the car. I presume you have a PC with you so you could link the charger to that ? Probably not much difference in price to a mains lead ?

Good luck
Peter

Thanks everyone.

Photographic opportunities are extremely limited but being able to do something is already contributing to maintaining my sanity.

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Pentax hybrid user - Digital K3, film 645 and 35mm SLR and Pentax (&other) lenses adapted to Fuji X and Panasonic L digital
Fan of DA limited and old manual lenses

FWIW regarding fuses in plugs, Jonathan-Mac is in Spain - and the plugs there, and pretty much everywhere else in Europe (except some ex-British colonies/protectorates), don't have fuses, so he can use any cable with a "figure of 8" coupler that he can find

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K-3 II, K-3 and a K-70 from SRS (having now relegated the K-30 /"K-50" to a backup body), & some Sigma and Pentax lenses (and a lot of old 35mm gear!)

Yeah, here in NZ and Australia, our plugs are much smaller than the UK, and don't have fuses in the plug at all.
Not saying that's better or worse, just it's different.

Example here would be:




Usually the only thing to check is the frequency and voltage on the bottom of the charger, to confirm it's suitable for your location.