[pct-l] Solio solar charger question

[Glen Winters]

Laura,
 
I have solved the solar charger problem at a small weight penalty. The solio really just won't cut the mustard sorry. I bought a Sunlinq 12 Watt solar charger (powerfilm makes a 10 Watt model also and they distribute the charger I'm recommending for AAA cells) it regulates the voltage on the 5 Wat and 12 watt models to standard car battery voltage includes a few adapters including female cigarette lighter. If you are charging lithium batteries the 12 Watt is needed. You can easily find 12 volt chargers for the cannon as well as any other lithium dslr battery, a little harder to find for the Olympus brands. Carry one extra battery for your camera so you can charge while walking/ taking breaks. Another advantage is you can also carry a car charger for your cell phone if your bringing one. As far as charging AA/AAA you should really get this specialty charger (PowerFilm® RA-3b Accessory Battery Charger AA/AAA) The reason you need this charger is it will
 charge each cell individually and is a trickle charger. Note: 12 Watts is not enough power for the walmart 12 volt fast charger I think energizer and one other company are sold at walmart etc. The problem with those chargers, besides the fact solar power wont put out enough amps, are they charge pairs of cells and almost every headlight I have seen uses 3 cells.
 
The Sunlinq weighs in at around 7 ounces add an extra camera battery and the 12 volt charger, then cell phone charger and it starts adding up the RA-3b (5.5 Oz) charger plus a few spare batteries and you could be adding 2 lb's added to your gear.
 
If your carrying a dslr and plan on taking lots of photos I really don't see any other option except maybe buying lots of batteries a few extra chargers mail chargers to your planned stops and staying at motels every week so you can recharge your "batteries".
 
I have tested this setup you may not always be able to charge your lithium batteries in 2 hours but if theirs sun 4 to 5 hours a day seems to charge a battery fully.
 
One last comment if your thinking about solar to recharge just AA/AAA then you don't need the 12 Watt solar panel you can probably get by with a 5 to 6 Watt panel. Probably means you don't need to recharge more then 2 or 3 cells per day and AAA cells can only be trickle charged as in 3 to 5 hours so the extra Wattage is a waste without a splitter and another charger. AA cells can be found that will recharge in as little as 15 minutes but not without about 10 lbs of solar cells.
 
Argentina


----- Original Message ----
From: Laura Fox <laura.fox at yale.edu>
To: pct-l at backcountry.net
Sent: Tuesday, April 8, 2008 3:54:42 PM
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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