[pct-l] Solio solar charger question

[AsABat]

The Solio puts out 3 volts DC. The wall charger requires 120 volts AC.
As is, you can't use the charger as you'd need an inverter to convert
the 3VDC to 120VAC. 

Some ideas:

1. If the cord on the charger has a plug so it can be removed, you may
be able to use the charger without the wall plug, just plugging the
solio directly into the charger without the wall plug cord.

2. See if a different charger is available for the camera, maybe one
that plugs into a car 12 volt socket.

3. Find a way to wire the Solio to the charger anyway. This might take
some creative reengineering.

4. Find a way to connect the Solio directly to the battery. Since one of
the functions of the charger is to stop the charging when the battery is
full, this could result in overcharging unless you remove the battery
when it is "full" - how you would know this I'm not sure. 

5. Get a new camera that uses nonproprietary batteries and/or can be
charged from USB.

I'm not real technically oriented, so do not actually follow any of my
instructions and blow up your camera <grin, but hopefully others have
some better ideas.

AsABat

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Laura Fox [mailto:laura.fox at yale.edu]
> Sent: Tuesday, April 08, 2008 3:55 PM
> To: pct-l at backcountry.net
> Subject: [pct-l] Solio solar charger question
> 
> Hey, I was wondering if anybody on here knows how (if...) I can
> charge my camera battery using a Solio hybrid solar charger (http://
> www.solio.com/charger/explore-solio/solio-hybrid-1000.php)
> considering that my camera battery has a charger that must be plugged
> into a regular two-pronged wall socket.  I have a Canon camera with a
> proprietary battery and a wall charger.  The battery can't be charged
> by plugging the camera into a USB port, it can only be charged by
> removing the battery from the camera and using the wall charger.  It
> would be great if I could just somehow plug that wall charger into
> the Solio.  The Solio seems to have all these wacky connectors you
> can buy to plug in all kinds of cell phones, but no connector that
> lets you use it like a regular old two-pronged wall outlet.  This
> seems odd to me.  Anybody on here happen to know whether I'm missing
> something?
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