[pct-l] solar charges?

[Brian Lewis]

David asked: "If your using AAA's for your light and you have a MP3, phone
or Blackberry, and/or a GPS is it practical and lighter to recharge and buy
new batteries in town every 4 or 5 days or use a solar charger? Are solar
charges useful or more of a burden? Would you use rechargeable AAA's?"

Hi David.  IMO the trade-offs depend on multiple factors, so it's not easy
--- or perhaps just "not too useful" --- to give a reply assuming things
that might not be true for you.  Are you thru-hiking, section hiking, or out
for a couple of days?  How many devices do you have with how many unique
battery types? Do you already have all the devices you plan to carry, or can
you select one or more to share a common battery type? Do you plan to carry
charging cords anyway?  Is a bounce box part of the mix for you?  If not
thru-hiking, what part of the PCT are you on?  (Solar charger is a lot more
useful in SoCal than in the Pacific NW).      How much do you use your
various devices and how power hungry are they?  Do you stop and stay at a
motel every chance you get (where you can plug devices into wall current) or
do you stay more at campgrounds and the like?

I was happy I had a Solio charger with me this year through California; I
think I stopped carrying mine at the OR/WA border, but I might have been
better off mailing it home earlier.  I think it's only useful if somehow
attached to the (~top of the) pack, unless your hiking style sees you
stopped for significant time during each day.   I didn't get, nor did I
expect fully charged devices each day from my solar charger, but while I was
still somewhat on a "power budget", the solar charger allowed me to go
longer between opportunities to use wall current to recharge my smartphone
battery (and spare).

I would use rechargeable batteries (AAA or whatever) if doing a week long or
shorter trip.  For longer (unsupported) trips I'd be inclined to go another
route.

If you're asking in the context of doing a very long trip, my suggestion on
this as well as for a number of other things is to take your best guess and
then schedule one or more longish shakedown hikes and try out various things
to see what feels best for you.   Thru-hikers that do the trip about the
same time in the same year end up disagreeing about what is "best" on
various issues after they're done.


Brian Lewis
http://postholer.com/brianle