Solar Charging Systems

[bikerHen]

Alimey, thanks for mentioning the power monkey. It was one of the ones I was looking closely at last summer. I forgot about it. Sounds like you use one? You must like it if you have given it as a gift! Can you tell me more about what you charge with it and how it works? Thanks, bikerHen

[TxDoc]

Try one of the Xantrex systems. I have never tried the small ones but used to have the huge home emergency one with the large solar panels, and it kept house appliances going during several tropical storms. Too bad that it did not survive hurricane Ike
They are very reliable and the internal batteries last forever, so I would trust their small portable systems too. You can use the solar panels or charge from the grid if you are near a working power supply, they charge fast and are really powerful.

[Ana]

We just received some solio chargers with our new cell phones last month. They charge the phone fine (when used from the outlet) but I haven't tried the solar charging component yet I will keep you posted. What sorts of problems did you have with yours?

Good luck on your search.

[KnottedYet]

This looks pretty cool: https://powertraveller.com/iwantsome...nkey-explorer/

I need a Stokemonkey, a PowerMonkey, and a Monkeylectric for my bike... What's with all the things using "monkey" in their name?

[bikerHen]

We just received some solio chargers with our new cell phones last month. They charge the phone fine (when used from the outlet) but I haven't tried the solar charging component yet I will keep you posted. What sorts of problems did you have with yours?

Good luck on your search.

I charged it with full sunlight. I tried charging my Garmin. After a very short time it showed my Garmin fully charged, but it wasn't charged at all. Tried it a couple of different time, charged it up in the sunlight some more, tried charging my phone but it just didn't seem to have enough power to charge anything. So took it back. I was really hoping it would work. How to keep my phone and garmin charged are my biggest question for touring. I'll have to check out the Xantrex systems. I did take a quick look at the Hymini. I like the idea of the wind generator on a bike. I'm not known for my lighting fast speeds but I guess even my 10-15 mph touring speed would create a little bit of a breeze. bikerHen

[Cataboo]

If you need flashlights - they do have a fairly nice set of solar flashlights at costco. They are 2 for $20.

They weigh 4 ounces and they're these ones:
http://www.hybridlite.com/Default.asp?Redirected=Y


I use 'em while touring in my kayak - leave them strapped to the front deck at night and have them while I'm camping at night.


I've been avoiding solar chargers for now... I figure the longer I avoid buying them, the longer the technology will have to mature. There's a company that is working on making flexible paper thin solar cells, I can't remember the name.

Obviously, while I'm kayaking, weight & space isn't as big a deal as it is while backpacking or touring on a bike... but I have 2 batteries for my cell phone, and I've got a little thingie that I can pop a couple AA batteries into and charge my phone from the AA. My GPS uses AA batteries. I buy several hong kong cheapies batteries from ebay for my digital cameras and charge all fo those and just take along spare charged batteries. The rest of my headlamps or anything like that take AA, but i use those solar flashlights as much as possible. So I just take spare AA batteries with me.