[pct-l] portable batteries and solar panels

[Jeffrey Olson]

I used an Solar Monkey Adventurer for nine days on the Oregon Desert 
Trail last spring.  It includes a 3500 mAh battery as well as solar 
panel.  It weighs about nine ounces, not bad for the battery and 
charger.  Check out the customer reviews at the bottom of the Amazon page.

https://www.amazon.com/Powertraveller-Solarmonkey-Adventurer-SMA-U-003-Rechargeable/dp/B007ZN9B9Q

It was easy to strap to the top of my pack, and as I was hiking north, I 
strapped it to face south.  The hinge was stiff enough to hold the 
charger open.  I charged my phone each night and the battery during the 
day.  I made sure that every time I stopped and took the pack off, I 
angled the charger on the ground to face the sun.  This adds another 
element to hiking - the "fiddling" part.

The only app I used during the day was GaiaGps.  Everything else was 
turned off.  AT night I'd listen to podcasts for an hour or two before 
falling asleep.

There were a couple days of cloud cover and the charger didn't do well.  
When it was sunny I could fully charge the battery.  This was in early 
April.  I think that the closer to the summer solstice you are, the more 
efficient the charger would be.

Jeff



On 4/27/2017 8:26 AM, Herb Stroh wrote:
> I use a 6000mAh USB Battery SunTactics, weighs about 4.5 ounces. I get 3+ recharges of an IPhone with it. I have never drained it even on a two week trip. But I am only charging a phone.
>
> I know people have success with solar chargers, but I don't want to fiddle with them during my hiking day. With a battery, I just plug in the phone as I set up camp and disconnect before going to sleep.
>
> Herb
>


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