The Surface 2 has a weird power connector. That makes it difficult to charge it from a battery power pack. This blog outlines creating one from a  DC 12V 36W Car Charger Adapter for a Surface 2. Building it wasn’t too difficult.  This means I can now use my Surface 2 on long journeys without need to access main power to charge it. Cost about $A40 apart from the Surface and Power Bank.

 

The Issue

The Surface 2 has a wired power connector so can’t directly use laptop battery power banks when travelling.

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Solution

You can purchase an adapter wit the above socket to charge your Surface 2 from a vehicle 12V (cigarette lighter) socket, Its not hard to adapter the Surface 2 adapter to connect to a Power Bank.

 

My Components:

  1. Surface 2 (RT Version but could/should work with Pro??)
  2. Car DC Adapter Charger for Microsoft surface2 / RT / Surface Pro.
           My source BatteryExpert.com.au  SKU BE-MS-12V3.6A DC
  3. Kogan Universal 20,000mAh Power Bank for Laptops, Tablets & Phones
  4. Car 12V Socket (aka Cigarette Lighter socket)
  5.        My source: Jaycar.com.au  SKU PS2004
  6. DC Plug suitable for the Power Bank output.
  7. 2 Core Wire

 

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The Car DC Adapter

 

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    The Power Bank

     

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    My adapter

     

     

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  1. The Complete Charging System

 

Construction Detail

The only thing to make sure of is that +V on the lighter socket goes to the centre of the DC plug.
I did a static test on the connector before attaching to my surface:
I had another 12V Car adapter that has a DC plug on the other end (for running a TV in my car!). I connected this into my 12V socket with that plugged into the Power Bank which was turned on and set to 12V. A multimeter showed that the adapter was correct because the inner part of the extra adapter’s plug was +12V wrt to the outside.

 

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Disclaimer: No responsibility taken for any reverse polarity when connecting to your Surface 2.  You must check and recheck the polarity before connecting. Make a number of alternative checks, powered and with a multimeter on Ohms for connectivity.