We have been asked several times about options for charging your electric toothbrush from a 12V DC supply as available in cars, caravans, RV’s, boats, yachts, etc. for when you are travelling or living off-grid. You can read the various options in the article below.
The USB toothbrush charging option
One option is to use a USB powered toothbrush charger. You can then use an in-car USB adapter to convert 12V DC from the lighter socket to a 5V USB connection to power the toothbrush charger:
There are various 3rd-party USB powered chargers for both Philips Sonicare and Braun Oral-B toothbrushes available through the links below, though we have no experience in how reliable they are or how well they work:
Please note that as an eBay partner we may receive a small commission if you make a purchase. This does not change the price you pay.
- USB toothbrush chargers on eBay UK
- USB toothbrush chargers on eBay.com
- USB toothbrush chargers on eBay Australia
The second option is to use an official charging travel case from either Braun (for Oral-B toothbrushes) or from Philips (for Sonicare models), as described below.
Braun Oral-B charging case
These charging cases are supplied with some of the Genius range of toothbrushes and allow your toothbrush to be charged while stored in the case. They are available in black, white or white/rose gold, with part numbers 81574166 (black), 81574167 (white) and 81621558 (white/rose gold). These are available through the links below the photo. Many Oral-B electric toothbrushes will fit into these cases as the Genius brushes are quite large (total length of toothbrush without brush-head is approx. 204mm).
- Braun Oral-B charging cases on eBay UK
- Braun Oral-B charging cases on eBay.com
- Braun Oral-B charging cases on eBay Australia
The charging case uses a separate mains power supply, which has a rated output of 12v DC at 400mA (click to enlarge photo of power adapter):
After buying the case you can wire it up to your 12V supply for toothbrush charging. You will need to find a suitable connector, or cut the connector off the official charger, or solder wires internally/externally to the input socket. Below is a photo showing the polarity of the input plug. Click to enlarge the photo:
Please let us know in the comments section if you can measure the diameter of the connector pins. Perhaps a trimmed down female Tamiya type connector would fit? Or simply get the mains adapter at the same time as the charging case and chop the cable in half to use the plug and wire it into your vehicle. An in-line fuse of around 500mA would be a good idea too.
Philips Sonicare charging case
Sonicare charging travel cases are available in various colours. These are powered by USB.
See our separate Sonicare Charging Case page here.
The cases appear to have a standard USB-mini input socket so a standard ‘USB to USB mini’ cable should fit the case if it is not supplied with one.
Let us know in the comments section below how you get on, or if you have any other solutions for 12V toothbrush charging!
It drives me crazy that Oral B doesn’t offer USB charging even in their premium Genius brushes. I want to be able to charge my brush via USB when I travel internationally. Why the hell would I need to charge my phone from the brush storage case? It’s 2019 and others have figured this out. Completely absurd. Get with the times Oral B!
Oral-B now make the Type 3755 charger that is also supplied with their Genius X toothbrush. This is powered by a low-voltage DC adaptor and will fit most other Oral-B toothbrushes.
Ok live in Australia… how do I get said USB charger
Using the eBay links above you should be able to find a seller who delivers to Australia.
The connector for the travel case is the same as for braun electrical razor kits it seems
I have the older style braun charger (the donut shaped charger). Do you know of anyone who has cut the transformer off and wired it to a USB plug? Any tips?
Definitely do not want to brick my tooth brush but it would be great option and save me from having to buy a new tooth brush just so I can charge it from my camper van when on the road. Thanks!
Do you mean the Type 3731 charger? The voltage converter in the plug on these will be outputting low-voltage AC, so you can’t replace this with a USB-style DC power supply. Your only realistic option for running the 3731 charger off 12V DC is to use a 12V DC to 110V or 230V AC inverter and plug the 3731 charger into that.
I did this.on my new 3772 and the 1st two times bit got the green light and charged then third time no light no charge. Why?
Do you mean that you are plugging the Braun charger into the AC outlet of a DC-to-AC inverter?
You can find charging cables for Braun razors online, a USB connector on one side and an output Braun-shaped connector, on the other. Maybe this connector would fit. The voltage and amperage seem right.
It makes sense for oral-b to use the same standards as braun razors – which also would mean they will not abandon it very soon.
Yes it would seem to make sense for Braun to use the same chargers for their shavers and toothbrushes. However, the toothbrushes need to be fully waterproof so they use inductive charging. The shavers use plug-in electrical connectors that are not waterproof.
I’ve bought one of those cheap eBay usb chargers, it works perfectly in my campervan. Problem solved.
Hi Ian ,
With the eBay usb charger, Does one still need to plug to power point. We need one that can be charged by our caravan battery. For free camping.
Thanks
As long as the USB outlet in your caravan is active when not hooked up to on-site power then the charger will work.
The triangular braun shaver plug and oral-b plug are interchangable. I use the same charger cable for the shaver, toothbrush, and travel case.
The output of the wall charger is 12v, and the USB specification is 5v. With the voltage mismatch, I would be surprised if connecting the two would work at all.
The charging case coverts the 12V from the wall charger to a 5V USB output.