Solar charging

[contadino]

I'd be inclined to get a little roll-up for fold-up solar panel and charge when you're stationary (i.e. fishing or stopped for lunch) My experience with PV charging is that you make do with the charge you can get. I have a solar battery charger that cost a fiver from Maplins years ago. Everyone dismissed it as useless/inefficient/flimsy, but I haven't charged a battery any other way in maybe 7 or 8 years.

Something like this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/PortaPow-Ra...&qid=1432890302&sr=8-3&keywords=solar+charger

If you do a bit of research you may be able to find one that can have one module open with the others closed/in shade, and it'll still produce a bit of charge strapped onto your panniers. We had some backpackers come to stay a few summers back and they had one they strapped to the top of their backpacks. With just one of 3 panels working they were keeping a phone charged and playing music from that phone most of each evening.

 

[yello]

As my solar charger is a cheap Maplins one, maybe I'll have to dig it out and give it another go.

I've a 3 week jaunt down to Albi coming up later this year so that'd be a good retest.

 

[mjr]

We spent more time discharging it using the dynamo than charging it sadly because the power tried to balance itself out with the battery cache any dynamo usually has, or with the dynamo itself!

I can believe it. There's some dud dynamo charging kit out there, just like with solar kit. Check reviews before you buy and test before you leave, if you can.

There'll be no power sockets. This is a wild-camping only trip.

I think I've found public power sockets in waiting areas at large stations and so on... annoyingly, the only one I can place in my memory for sure is Taunton! I think there were some in Barcelona but I forget which station.

As my solar charger is a cheap Maplins one, maybe I'll have to dig it out and give it another go.

Its cache battery will probably have died like the one on my N93HR did and no replacement is quite the right size I must finish repackaging the resulting Frankenstein mess into some shrink wrap so it can travel again and do some good...

 

[mjr]

I must finish repackaging the resulting Frankenstein mess into some shrink wrap so it can travel again and do some good...

Or not. One of the bucket shops in town (bargain buys UK, if you have it) was selling a very light 2.6Ah battery with a large solar panel and USB in/out for £7 so the N93HR is off to the small electricals recycling bin soon. I'll let you know if it's any good.

 

[yello]

Just dug mine out of the attic. It's this one, a FreeLoader. Judging by the comments, many others weren't impressed either - though some were. Maybe I got a dud one, or perhaps it's a poor/old design. Who knows.

 

[mjr]

Caveat: maybe with judicious use of both kindle and phone (i.e. only on when needed), and a fully loaded battery on departure, you might get away with it. Not sure I'd want to rely on it though.

If it's an e-ink kindle, the battery does last quite a long time if you turn wireless off when not in use. I'd probably carry one of those AA-to-USB converters as an emergency phone charger too, though.

 

[Tigerbiten]

I'm on day 50 of this years tour and so far I've not used any mains power.
But I do have a 20 watt solar panel on top of my trailer.
It feeds my PowerMonkey cache battery via an ework voltage regulator.
It will even charge the battery in overcast conditions.
I use it to keep my Kindle, Android tablet and a couple of AA batteries charged up.
So far the lowest my cache battery has got is just under half.
So solar does work well if you have the right setup.

 

[Low Roller]

I have tried loads of different solar systems in hot places and dynamo driven systems. Bangs for bucks, just buy AA batteries at Lidl. Charge up and chuck 'em.My grandkids just hate me for destroying the environment. So what. I'll soon be feeding worms. ;-))

 

[flyingfifi]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PINK-3000...102?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item51d19375ee
iv got this item for my tour in june

 

[mjr]

Or not. One of the bucket shops in town (bargain buys UK, if you have it) was selling a very light 2.6Ah battery with a large solar panel and USB in/out for £7 so the N93HR is off to the small electricals recycling bin soon. I'll let you know if it's any good.

Nope. It's got some sort of defect that means the internal battery doesn't seem to be charging. I'll exchange it tomorrow.

It'll charge the phone directly in strong sun but the lack of cache battery means passing clouds stop the charging. Android 4 (CM10 actually) switches the screen on with each start or stop and that more than negates the stop/start charging - anyone know how to tell it to keep the screen off unless a button is pressed?

 

[rualexander]

I've got one of these from Goal Zero http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/goal-zero-guide-10-plus-mobile-kit-p200348 it's good enough for what you want to do with it I think and the Go Outdoors current price is fairly good, the price does tend to go up and down a fair bit if you wait too long.
In good sunlight it can put about 20% into my phone battery per hour.
It has a direct USB output and also a separate output to charge the AA battery unit.

 

[Jefferson Meriwether]

I'd be inclined to get a little roll-up for fold-up solar panel and charge when you're stationary (i.e. fishing or stopped for lunch) My experience with PV charging is that you make do with the charge you can get. I have a solar battery charger that cost a fiver from Maplins years ago. Everyone dismissed it as useless/inefficient/flimsy, but I haven't charged a battery any other way in maybe 7 or 8 years.

Something like this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/PortaPow-Ra...&qid=1432890302&sr=8-3&keywords=solar+charger

If you do a bit of research you may be able to find one that can have one module open with the others closed/in shade, and it'll still produce a bit of charge strapped onto your panniers. We had some backpackers come to stay a few summers back and they had one they strapped to the top of their backpacks. With just one of 3 panels working they were keeping a phone charged and playing music from that phone most of each evening.

Thanks for the link contadino. I saw that solar charge had a fair few good reviews so I've taken the plunge and ordered one. So that's at least one of us on the tour with a solar charger Smithy. I'll most likely be using mine mainly when we're camped rather than when we're on the move.