Solar Battery Chargers

I see these things available locally for around $40 bucks. They claim to be
able to recharge cell phones and laptops. They also say they're good for
trickle-charging vehicle batteries.

My thinking is that a solar charger would be great for Sun N Fun and
Oshkosh -- places where my cell phone (and walkie-talkies, and laptop)
batteries routinely die after a few days. It also looks like something I
could use to keep my motorcycle battery charged over the winter.

Anyone purchase one of these? Do they work as advertised? How long does
it take to charge? Do they require direct sunlight?

Thanks in advance!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

I was looking at those in the Northern Tool & Equipment catalog and noticed
that there's also a controller avialable so you don't over charge your
batteries, some of the panels say that the controller is required.
--
Jim Burns III

Remove "nospam" to reply

I was looking at those in the Northern Tool & Equipment catalog and
noticed
that there's also a controller avialable so you don't over charge your
batteries, some of the panels say that the controller is required.

The $40 version has a circuit built-in that supposedly prevents
over-charging or "voltage back-flow" (or whatever you call that...).
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Solar panel can easily deliver too much voltage to your device. Whenever
power a device with a panel you always want to use a charge manager. Yes
they do work but keep in mind how much sun you really are getting. Just
because sunrise is at 7 and set at 6 it does not mean you have a full 11
hours of sun. Typically in the Midwest (I am at the same latitude as you
Jay) you get about 4-6 hours of useful sun/day. So you need to get a panel
that can charge the battery in that amount of time. There is more too if you
expect to keep the device on you need to not only charge the battery but
also to have enough power for the device.

Scott

--
------------------------------------------------------------------
Scott F. Migaldi, K9PO
MI-150972
PP-ASEL-IA

Are you a PADI Instructor or DM? Then join the PADI
Instructor Yahoo Group at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PADI-Instructors/join
-----------------------------------
Catch the wave!
www.hamwave.com


**"A long time ago being crazy meant something, nowadays everyone is
crazy" -- Charles Manson**
-------------------------------------
"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:5fSYb.340846$I06.3554232@attbi_s01...
I was looking at those in the Northern Tool & Equipment catalog and
noticed
that there's also a controller avialable so you don't over charge your
batteries, some of the panels say that the controller is required.

The $40 version has a circuit built-in that supposedly prevents
over-charging or "voltage back-flow" (or whatever you call that...).
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay Honeck wrote:
I see these things available locally for around $40 bucks. They claim to be
able to recharge cell phones and laptops. They also say they're good for
trickle-charging vehicle batteries.
My thinking is that a solar charger would be great for Sun N Fun and
Oshkosh -- places where my cell phone (and walkie-talkies, and laptop)
batteries routinely die after a few days. It also looks like something I
could use to keep my motorcycle battery charged over the winter.
Anyone purchase one of these? Do they work as advertised? How long does
it take to charge? Do they require direct sunlight?

Solar panels can produce voltage, but it is current that charges the
batteries.
Typical charging current is 0.1 c (1/10th the rated cell capacity).
If you have a 2000mA AA NiMH battery, you need a charging current of
20mA at a voltage of 1.5Vdc.

Is the charger a constant current of constant voltage?
It must be regulated one way or the other to prevent "overcharging" (ie-
frying the battery).

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:hLRYb.340701$I06.3552733@attbi_s01...
I see these things available locally for around $40 bucks. They claim to
be
able to recharge cell phones and laptops. They also say they're good for
trickle-charging vehicle batteries.

My thinking is that a solar charger would be great for Sun N Fun and
Oshkosh -- places where my cell phone (and walkie-talkies, and laptop)
batteries routinely die after a few days. It also looks like something I
could use to keep my motorcycle battery charged over the winter.

Anyone purchase one of these? Do they work as advertised? How long does
it take to charge? Do they require direct sunlight?


You know, I don't think they even bother to advertise those things here in
the Puget Sound region. :-)

Jay Honeck wrote:
I see these things available locally for around $40 bucks. They claim to be
able to recharge cell phones and laptops. They also say they're good for
trickle-charging vehicle batteries.

My thinking is that a solar charger would be great for Sun N Fun and
Oshkosh -- places where my cell phone (and walkie-talkies, and laptop)
batteries routinely die after a few days. It also looks like something I
could use to keep my motorcycle battery charged over the winter.

I have one of these things that I occasionally use on a spare car that
we have (during periods of inactivity). I can't really tell how much
of a difference it makes, but I figured it couldn't hurt. I remember
running some little tests on it, after I bought it. It appears that in
bright sunlight, without any load, it would put out 12 or 13 volts,
but that second you put a small load across it (fairly high resistor),
the voltage would droop to almost nothing. I can't remember if I tried
to measure the current or not. I'd say this would be fine to leave on
your motorcycle over the winter, but I wouldn't bet on it charging your
cell phone, walkie-talkies, or laptop over the course of a few days.

--- Jay


--
__!__
Jay and Teresa Masino ___(_)___
http://www2.ari.net/jmasino/ ! ! !

http://www.oceancityairport.com/
http://www.oc-adolfos.com/

I'm from Buffalo, NY. What's a "solar charger"? And what's this
"sunlight" everybody
keeps talking about?

Jay Honeck wrote:

I see these things available locally for around $40 bucks. They claim to be
able to recharge cell phones and laptops. They also say they're good for
trickle-charging vehicle batteries.

My thinking is that a solar charger would be great for Sun N Fun and
Oshkosh -- places where my cell phone (and walkie-talkies, and laptop)
batteries routinely die after a few days. It also looks like something I
could use to keep my motorcycle battery charged over the winter.

Anyone purchase one of these? Do they work as advertised? How long does
it take to charge? Do they require direct sunlight?

Thanks in advance!

I'd say this would be fine to leave on
your motorcycle over the winter, but I wouldn't bet on it charging your
cell phone, walkie-talkies, or laptop over the course of a few days.

Well, I bought the danged thing. It claims to be able to charge my cell
phone or walkie-talkie batteries in 5 hours, my lap top battery in 6 - 8
hours, and ni-cad rechargeable batteries, too. (It's got built-in slots for
AA rechargeable batteries.)

It's a handsome, well-made unit, with internal storage for the various
cords, cost $40, and seems to have all the bases covered. It claims to have
built-in circuitry to prevent over-charging, and it comes with a plethora of
plugs to fit virtually any device.

It even comes with the cord and cigar lighter plug so that you can keep your
car battery (or, in my case, motorcycle battery) charged over the winter.
It also has a built-in cigar lighter outlet, so you can plug your car
cell-phone cord directly into the unit.

Interestingly it claims to put out enough juice to power the cell phone
unassisted. Since the battery on my newest cell phone lasts over 3 days
without charging, I should be covered for most any fly-in.

We'll see how it works. Thanks for all the input!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:hLRYb.340701$I06.3552733@attbi_s01...
I see these things available locally for around $40 bucks. They claim to
be
able to recharge cell phones and laptops. They also say they're good for
trickle-charging vehicle batteries.

My thinking is that a solar charger would be great for Sun N Fun and
Oshkosh -- places where my cell phone (and walkie-talkies, and laptop)
batteries routinely die after a few days. It also looks like something I
could use to keep my motorcycle battery charged over the winter.

Anyone purchase one of these? Do they work as advertised? How long does
it take to charge? Do they require direct sunlight?

Thanks in advance!

We'd kept one on the dash of our Pawnee at the banner tow place I worked
(starter and battery, but no alternator). It sat outside all day, and
really only used the battery once or twice a day. We'd still have to bring
the charging cart out once every two weeks or so to charge the battery back
up though.

Don't know how often we'd have to without the solar panel, probibly the same
:-)