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Solar Battery Chargers

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cbHoo

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Apr 15, 2007, 1:13:09 PM4/15/07
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I would like to recharge AA and AAA batteries used in my GPS, camera and flashlight when out backpacking for a week or more so I don't have to carry extra batteries.  Any experience with the Brunton SolarRoll chargers for backpacking?  Looks like the SolarRoll 4.5 is enough for this -- is this small one effective?  (Most of the on line reviews talk about the large SolarRoll 14 model but I don't want to carry all that weight and I don't need to charge a laptop or my car!!)  If you have done this, what brand of AA/AAA charger have you used that is lightweight and effective?
 
Thanks.

duh

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Apr 15, 2007, 4:08:11 PM4/15/07
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Are you going to be thru-hiking, or have a base camp?

I don't have a recommendation for you, just wondering about the
feasibility of this myself.

There's another product, called the Solio, I think, which charges a
battery pack, which you then use to charge your other units. Not sure
how weight effective that is. Sort of like carrying extra batteries.

AZ Nomad

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Apr 15, 2007, 4:09:05 PM4/15/07
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On Sun, 15 Apr 2007 13:13:09 -0400, cbHoo <cb...@fuse.net> wrote:


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>Content-Type: text/plain;
> charset="iso-8859-1"
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

>I would like to recharge AA and AAA batteries used in my GPS, camera and =
>flashlight when out backpacking for a week or more so I don't have to =
>carry extra batteries. Any experience with the Brunton SolarRoll =

A solar panel that can recharge your batteries in under a week will weigh
more than a brick of batteries.

Go to google groups; this was discussed to death about two months ago.

AZ Nomad

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Apr 15, 2007, 4:10:06 PM4/15/07
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On Sun, 15 Apr 2007 13:13:09 -0400, cbHoo <cb...@fuse.net> wrote:

>I would like to recharge AA and AAA batteries used in my GPS, camera and =
>flashlight when out backpacking for a week or more so I don't have to =
>carry extra batteries. Any experience with the Brunton SolarRoll =
>chargers for backpacking? Looks like the SolarRoll 4.5 is enough for =
for google groups, search rec.photo.digital

Simon

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Apr 15, 2007, 9:05:07 PM4/15/07
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SolarRolls are really designed for use on sailboats or RVs, or at "base
camps." Any backpacking is best served without a recharing system,
either by bringing enough fully-charged rechargeable batteries, or
relying upon disposables, either lithium to save weight, or alkaline to
save money.

HTH,
Simon

John Ramsay

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Apr 15, 2007, 8:22:37 PM4/15/07
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cbHoo wrote:

Get a self-charging flashlight. Weighs about the same as one with
batteries and is one less item to re-charge.

Also handy at home when power is out.

200...@gmail.com

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Apr 16, 2007, 8:51:02 PM4/16/07
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the stuff you want to use your batterys with are high drain devices

i have a little solar charger and it will charge up aas that i use in
a earphone radio and it can keep up also it is pretty good at charging
aas for an led flashlight 3 led (not one that has like 20 or more)

the main problem is that rechargables shouldnt be getting too hot the
paradox is that the charger needs the brightest sahara sun beating
down on it for hours to do any good

bring lots of alkalines and use your items sparingly thats your best
option

duh

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Apr 16, 2007, 9:09:10 PM4/16/07
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Here, ...... , you forgot a few of these.

Michelle P

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Apr 16, 2007, 11:57:12 PM4/16/07
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Try global solar.

www.globalsolar.com
I have one for my truck to keep the batteries charged while I am away.
Michelle Happy customer.

y_p_w

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Apr 18, 2007, 6:08:03 PM4/18/07
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On Apr 16, 5:51 pm, 2000...@gmail.com wrote:
> On Apr 15, 5:22 pm, John Ramsay <jram...@netscape.ca> wrote:
>
>
>
> > cbHoo wrote:
> > > I would like to recharge AA and AAA batteries used in my GPS, camera
> > > and flashlight when out backpacking for a week or more so I don't have
> > > to carry extra batteries. Any experience with the Brunton SolarRoll
> > > chargers for backpacking? Looks like the SolarRoll 4.5 is enough for
> > > this -- is this small one effective? (Most of the on line reviews
> > > talk about the large SolarRoll 14 model but I don't want to carry all
> > > that weight and I don't need to charge a laptop or my car!!) If you
> > > have done this, what brand of AA/AAA charger have you used that is
> > > lightweight and effective?
>
> > > Thanks.
>
> > Get a self-charging flashlight. Weighs about the same as one with
> > batteries and is one less item to re-charge.
>
> > Also handy at home when power is out.
>
> the stuff you want to use your batterys with are high drain devices
>
> i have a little solar charger and it will charge up aas that i use in
> a earphone radio and it can keep up also it is pretty good at charging
> aas for an led flashlight 3 led (not one that has like 20 or more)

An LED headlamp is ideal. I can get at least 100 hours on a set of 3
AAA alkalines with my Petzl Tikka. I can get at least a week's worth
of use on a set of NiMH AAs, carrying alklines as a backup.

> the main problem is that rechargables shouldnt be getting too hot the
> paradox is that the charger needs the brightest sahara sun beating
> down on it for hours to do any good
>
> bring lots of alkalines and use your items sparingly thats your best
> option

Alkalines are horrible in most cameras that take AAs. Many newer
cameras drain less, but even my Canon Powershot S3 IS should be able
to take at least twice as many photos on a charged set of quality NiMH
AAs than a set of alkalines.


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