Solar Charger
ngap
walking or at camp at night.
I am looking at using one of the standard cheap 12 V battery chargers on
the market like the Inca super charger or similar.
Wondering what wattage solar cells you used and their format.
Rollable or rectangle or other.
to...@altavista.com
Have to be real good solar cells to charge at camp overnight !
Terryc
Do you want to go back and read exactly what you have written?
The rest of us will go have a quiet laugh.
<solar panel at night {:-)>
From everything I have read, it is a tradeoff between the weight and
inconvenience of the solar panel and the power you can usefully scavenge
during the day. Basically a waste of time from al the reports i've read.
Basically, what ever you can mount on the top of your pack.
Best bet is just to buy a pile of disposible batteries.
Phil Wyatt
sc...@yahoo.com
provide much more energy than going solar. Even if you did mount it on
your pack, unless you were walking in direct sunlight the whole time,
it wouldn't be ideal.
Phil Wyatt
hanging around for "the ideal shot" then a solar panel might be better. A
photographer colleague had one of these panels on a recent remote trip and
used it to charge batteries for a digital camera (Nikon SLR). I suspect they
are not much good whilst you are on the move but at lunch and other stops
they could be useful.... or if base camping.
Better than these I suspect! Hopeless unless you are walking south with no
scrub! (in Tassie!)...now theres a thought ...maybe we can sell them to
Overland track walkers now they have to walk North/south.....but that means
they will take their Ipods and mobile phones!
Mike N
section about a backpack with built in solar panels, supposedly capable of
charging cameras, MP3 players and (heaven forbid) mobile phones. It was made
by Voltaic, but the web link the paper gave was incorrect, but if you want
to do a Google you might get lucky.
"ngap" <gordno...@nospamar.com.au> wrote in message
news:el5upo$c5u$1...@news-02.connect.com.au...
ngap
> ngap wrote:
>> Has anyone here made a battery charger for a digital camera while
>> walking or at camp at night.
>>
>> I am looking at using one of the standard cheap 12 V battery chargers
>> on the market like the Inca super charger or similar.
>>
>> Wondering what wattage solar cells you used and their format.
>> Rollable or rectangle or other.
>
> Do you want to go back and read exactly what you have written?
> The rest of us will go have a quiet laugh.
> <solar panel at night {:-)>
I can see why the laugh. Really meant after arriving at camp for the
night. But then the newer solar cells are good enough to pick up the
reflected light from the moon on most nights or under cloud cover. Pity
they are not on the market yet.
>
> From everything I have read, it is a tradeoff between the weight and
> inconvenience of the solar panel and the power you can usefully scavenge
> during the day. Basically a waste of time from al the reports i've read.
>
> Basically, what ever you can mount on the top of your pack.
>
> Best bet is just to buy a pile of disposible batteries.
Camera doesn't take disposables.
ngap
There basically what I was looking at but worried about which wattage to
buy.
ngap
> One of last sunday's papers had a couple of paragraphs in their travel
> section about a backpack with built in solar panels, supposedly capable of
> charging cameras, MP3 players and (heaven forbid) mobile phones. It was made
> by Voltaic, but the web link the paper gave was incorrect, but if you want
> to do a Google you might get lucky.
Thanks for the answer. There are a number of what I would call stupid
solutions available including a jacket of solar cells.
Big Bear
> I can see why the laugh. Really meant after arriving at camp for the
> night. But then the newer solar cells are good enough to pick up the
> reflected light from the moon on most nights or under cloud cover. Pity
> they are not on the market yet.
They must be bloody marvellous then, but I think they will be a total
waste of $$$, weight and effort, unless there is some fundamental
breakthrough in physics that I missed.
Basic PV; using 160watt for example
1) a 160watt PV only gives 160 watts when panel is perpendicular to the
sun's ray and there is no reducing factors ( cloud, moisture in air,
dust in air, not low to horizon, etc). So, it isn't going to be too
flash in evening
> Camera doesn't take disposables.
Buy a disposable that is big enough to recharge your camera and just
keep it plugged in when not in use. If it is only trickled recharged,
then you will get max life out of the big disposible.
Anyway, what voltage and amp-hours does your camera require?
how long does a charge last?
<whatever happened to thos hand generators you could get years ago?>
Big Bear
> Better than these I suspect! Hopeless unless you are walking south with no
> scrub! (in Tassie!)...now theres a thought ...maybe we can sell them to
> Overland track walkers now they have to walk North/south.....but that means
> they will take their Ipods and mobile phones!
If you want a real laugh, then you need to read the log of bicyle riders
who take all these gadgets (camera, mobile phone, cd player, radio, even
cd & ham radios) on trips with a solar panel. Even those who have a
bob-style trailer that can carry a roll out panel all day, basically end
up with only a miniscule amount of power being collected each day.
Kubalister
> I can see why the laugh. Really meant after arriving at camp for the
> night. But then the newer solar cells are good enough to pick up the
> reflected light from the moon on most nights or under cloud cover.
That is one of the craziest things I've ever read. When you consider
that the average illuminance from the sun at ground level on a cloudless
day is around 30,000 lux and up to 100,000 lux at peak intensity
compared to the <1 lux illuminance from a full moon then it should be
VERY obvious that moonlight ain't going to be of any use to a solar
cell. (That's FIVE orders of magnitude difference with a FULL moon!!!!)
The huge difference is explained by the reflectivity ratio of the moon
surface being less than 4% and it's a diffuse reflector that occupies
only a tiny fraction of the sky so most of the reflected light is
reflected in directions other than the earth.
> Pity they are not on the market yet.
And for good reason - no one can defy the laws of physics yet!
lu...@escalade.com.au
lithium Ion battery) and AAs (for GPS, digi still camera and torch) and
a gelcell 4.5Ahour battery for an HF radio for long trips. I evaluated
the weight of batteries I'd need to take without solar versus weight
with solar and for my trip it was better to take the solar. I took a
Uni_solar 10.3 watt flexible panel.
http://www.uni-solar.com/uploadedFiles/europe_flexible_chargers-english_sell_sheet_h.pdf
It weighed about 900g. It comes with a 12 volt ciga=rette style plug. I
was away for 17 days and this panel easily charged all my batteries for
all purposes. Although admittedly I was in a fairly sunny part of the
world - http://www.escalade.com.au/simp_mn.html
I tied it on to my load so it faced the best direction for the sun at
each stage of the walk/day. highly recommended for long walks where
battery power is important.
Lucas
Roger Caffin
Nice trip! Congrats!
> with solar and for my trip it was better to take the solar. I took a
> Uni_solar 10.3 watt flexible panel.
Pricing?
Cheers
Roger Caffin
Kubalister
The Flexcell SunPack is a more versatile panel for walkers that can be
rolled up into a compact package:
http://www.flexcell.com/outdoor-and-camping.php?langue=en
It can be bought online from this place (with pricing details):
http://www.hotofftheshelf.com.au/solar.shtml
Roger Caffin
> rolled up into a compact package:
Hum - $275 for a 7W unit. Wonder how many batteries I could buy for the same
dollars, and how many batteries it would take to match the weight?
Methinks the technology is not quite mature enough, yet.
Cheers
Roger Caffin
lu...@escalade.com.au
this site has details for a local distributor
http://www.uni-solar.com.au/
i ended up borrowing one from a friend but i think when I rang the
Aussie distributor they were about the A$300 or A$400 mark? there's
info on the web I think about US suppliers and US prices (maybe cheaper
to buy direct?).
Lucas
ngap
Thanks it seems I would need the higher wattage which puts it out of the
frame economically at the moment. That was why I was checking.
ngap
Yes but it is also about double the price for the same wattage.
ngap
That was my biggest concern, which is why I was asking. The foldable
panels are about 150-170 for 6.5 W
ngap
> cheers Roger.
> this site has details for a local distributor
> http://www.uni-solar.com.au/
> i ended up borrowing one from a friend but i think when I rang the
> Aussie distributor they were about the A$300 or A$400 mark? there's
> info on the web I think about US suppliers and US prices (maybe cheaper
> to buy direct?).
> Lucas
>
In one case when I was looking the US price was the same as the
Australian price but one was in US dollars and the other Australian. It
was a case where buying in Australia may be cheaper.
Roger Caffin
> i ended up borrowing one from a friend but i think when I rang the
> Aussie distributor they were about the A$300 or A$400 mark? there's
That's equivalent to an awful lot of batteries by price, and a fair number
by weight.
Do you think the weight was worth while?
Cheers
Roger Caffin
lu...@escalade.com.au
worthwhile from a weight perspective. Just the HF radio alone requires
a battery of either 4.5Ah or 7Ah and the panel was roughly the weight
of the difference so taking the panel (approx 900g) allowed me to take
the smaller battery and it also gave me the ability to charge my other
gizmos. and then I didn't need to buy and carry an extra video battery,
or lots more AAs. So yes, for me it was but for general bushwalking I
wouldn't bother. And of course I didn't have to buy the panel so the
price was right :-)
Big Bear
> I tied it on to my load so it faced the best direction for the sun at
> each stage of the walk/day. highly recommended for long walks where
> battery power is important.
If trek carts make a comeback, then I'll consider it. {:-)
did you really need the big frame?
Or could it be reduced in depth?
Basically, I've given up on PV, unless the fabled 40% efficent tri-state
panel is real, and are now looking at the lighest diesel battery
charger I can get (probably have to build it), but them I'm not planning
or carrying it on my back either.