This car charger doubles as an emergency device - ZDNet

Nitecore VCL10 car charger.

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET

I'm usually precise bully astatine reviewing and highlighting products that I find useful, but sometimes things autumn done the gaps.

One specified merchandise is the Nitecore VCL10 car charger. I've had this for a fewer years, and I've overlooked it due to the fact that it lives successful my car, and I ever hide to bring it indoors.

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"Not different car charger!" I perceive you say. After all, I bash similar my car chargers.

But this is simply a car charger that I support successful my car little for charging -- though it's a decent capable charger -- but much due to the fact that it's a large information instrumentality to person erstwhile I'm retired and about.

Before I research what's peculiar astir the Nitecore VCL10, let's look astatine what it offers arsenic a USB charger. 

Nitecore VCL10 tech specs

• Port: 1 x USB-A
• Input:
  DC 12V 2.5A (Max)
  
• Output:
  DC 5V 2.4A (Max)
  Quick Charge 3.0: DC 3.6V-12V 2.4A (Max)
  Quick Charge 2.0: DC 5V/9V/12V 2.4A (Max)
  
• Color: Black
• Dimensions: 78.5 x 24.5 x 23 mm
• Construction: Polycarbonate
• Weight: 44.5 g
• Impact Resistance: 1 meter
• Certifications: RoHS, CE, FCC and CEC
• Safety features: Overvoltage, undervoltage, overcurrent, and short-circuit protection, and transformer nonaccomplishment compensation (TLC) voltage smoothing

OK, truthful a beauteous decent single-port USB charger.

But wait, there's more!

On 1 extremity of the VCL10 are achromatic and reddish LED informing lights.

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A azygous fastener is utilized to power betwixt the achromatic enactment airy and strobing reddish information light.

Red strobe airy successful action.

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET

Built into the VCL10 is simply a photodiode airy detector that tin consciousness the alteration successful ambient lighting and change the flash of the reddish informing airy from 1 Hz (1 flash per second) to 10 Hz (10 flashes per second) if an approaching conveyance is detected.  

The caput tin beryllium tilted by a 90° space to let you to purpose the airy wherever you want, and there's besides a magnet to let it to beryllium attached to a car's bodywork.

Handy LED light.

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET

The achromatic airy has an output powerfulness of 25 lumens, giving it a 7-meter beam, and has a runtime of astir 3 hours, portion the reddish strobe is rated astatine 350 mW (which is beauteous bright), and has a 20-hour run-time.

And the large happening is that due to the fact that the VCL10 lives successful the car's 12V accessory port, it's ever charged up acceptable for use.

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But wait, there's adjacent more!

On the different extremity of the VCL10 is simply a tungsten alloy exigency solid breaker, which could beryllium utilized to manner an flight oregon assistance rescue idiosyncratic other who mightiness beryllium trapped successful a vehicle.

The pointy end!

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET

Granted, this isn't thing you're going to request often -- oregon astir apt astatine each -- but amended to person it and not request it, than request it and not person it.

The Nitecore VCL10 is simply a large in-car information tool.

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET

And due to the fact that it lives successful your car's 12V accessory port, it's ever adjacent to manus and improbable to get flung astir the conveyance successful the lawsuit of a crash.

You tin bargain the Nitecore VCL10 connected its own, or, you tin buy it with a rechargeable LED headlamp, giving you the cleanable in-car information kit to woody with breakdowns oregon level tires.