What is the biggest worry of a travelling executive? Running out of battery with no wall outlet around right? While you can't completely get rid of this problem, but you can avoid such situations. For instance you can extend the battery backup of gadgets such as MP3 players, mobile phones, notebooks etc. from 10 mins to a couple of hours. Another way is to carry travel chargers and adapters while you are traveling. Travel chargers would charge your device via various means, whereas a travel adapter would let you plug your existing device into various types of sockets. Read on to get the simple tips and tricks to maximize batteries and also get an idea of the various travel adapters and chargers available.

Phones
1. Display: Keep the display brightness at the lowest. This saves on the battery by a big margin.
2. Alerts : Turn on the ring/ activity notification to just “Ring Once profile”. Turn off the vibration alert too.
3. Services: Many phones come with dual-mode services. As UMTS service is not available here, switch the network mode to GSM only in netwok settings.
4. Themes & Effects: Deactivate various themes and animation effects on the phone.
5. Connectivity: Turn of WiFi, GPS and Bluetooth when not in use; the phone automatically keeps searching for other devices and this drains the battery.

Tips for Laptops
1. Display: Keep the brightness level of the LCD display at a workable minimum. Full brightness looks great but also reduces battery life.
2. Wireless Connectivity: Keep the WiFi and Bluetooth services off. WiFi continuously searches for a signal if it is unable to find one, thus draining the battery.
3. External Components: If possible, do not plug in extra USB components. A USB device draws power from the laptop itself. Same goes for running off CD/DVD directly from the optical drive.
4. HDD: Switch off indexing options by going to properties of your hard drive. Also, regularly defragment the hard drive. These two steps reduce the spinning of hard drive to a minimum, thus saving on battery.
5. Temperature: Keep a check on your laptop's temperature using software like HWmonitor. A laptop operates more efficiently when it is properly cooled down. You could even get a passive laptop cooler (stand) for as little as Rs 300.
6. Background Services: Keep the background services to a bare minimum. Use Task manager to shut off any service that is not in use. The services can be identified through their name easily. In case you cannot identify any names, then we suggest that you skip this step.

Portable media players/MP3 players
1. Battery: Don't discharge the battery completely or let it run dead. Even if you are not using it very frequently, charge it once every month so that does not loose ability to hold charge.
2. Display: Reduce screen brightness. The brighter the screen, the more battery it will consume. Reduce it to a level which does not strain your eyes or hurt battery life.
3. Connectivity: If you are using a PMP with WiFi/ Bluetooth, ensure that they are turned off when not needed. Otherwise, the device keeps hunting for a signal and discharges the battery.
4. Navigation: Avoid fast forwarding songs. Every time you do this, the screen backight gets activated, and hence reduces battery life. It also makes the device work harder.
5. Keypad: Use the 'hold' switch to prevent the device from getting activated unintentionally while inside a pocket or bag.

Camera
1. Viewfinder: Turn off the LCD and try using the viewfinder to snap the images. The LCD drains a lot of power and turning it off can make your camera last longer than normal.
2. LCD Display: If you really have to use the LCD, turn down the brightness. This reduces battery drain without affecting images.
3. Sleep Timer: Set the sleep timer/power save at the lowest. This will put the camera in a sleep mode faster, which consumes very little battery, if not used for the preset duration of time.
4. Flash: Avoid using the flash in daylight or in a brightly-lit environment. Set the flash mode to off and only switch it on when you need a fill in light.
5. Battery: Don't overcharge it by plugging it in every day even though the battery may not really need charging. Don't undercharge it by letting it run dead and thus causing it to lose the capability to hold charge quicker than over a gradual period.

Travel Accessories
1.Swiss Military Travel Adapter (Rs 590): It features a 3-in-1 travel plug set which is compatible with plugs across 150 countries. This compact adapter is a boon for people who travel a lot on international routes as there is always a problem of connecting gadgets with different power pin design.

2.Targus All in One Universal Plug Adaptor (Rs1,400): This lightweight travel adapter includes power plugs for North America, Australia, Europe, UK and Asia pacific. It has a universal face plate with red safety shutters that work with any standard country plug.

3.Belkin Power Adapter (Price on Request): With an automatic voltage adjust feature, the Belkin Travel Power Adapter provides safe recharging for laptops and other portable media devices like iPods. It can draw power from most common sources, including AC wall sockets and DC power from a car charger.

 4.Ideaforge Mechanical charger (Rs 450): This little thing is a mechanical charger for phones. It comes with 4 sets of pins for various phones and even supports phones with USB connectors. To charge a device, you can roll it along a flat surface or use the crank. About a minute of cranking it should give you about 2 to 3 minutes of talk time. You can also keep cranking while talking.