Recommend Solar Charger for AA and AAA batteries?

[delosholly]

Does anyone have a recommendation for a good solar charger for these small battery types?

I tried to search to see if this has already been covered and must not have been using the best search terms. My online searching provided a lot of 'best' claims, so wanted to find some personal accounts of these units.

Thanks,
Del

[Harvey51]

I used to charge batteries while camping with a fold up 12 watt solar panel. I used some scrap battery holders and clip leads to put 6 or 8 AA or AAA's in series with the panel.

One time I converted a 120 volt 4 cell charger to 12 V by wiring the four cell connectors in series with a 6 volt light bulb. Not automatic - I had to remember to stop the charging after a reasonable time.

I love that 12/120 charger on Amazon.com. Wish it was on Amazon.ca.

[Gdetrailer]

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
WARNING! THREAD NAP ALERT

STRONG regulated cigar lighter charger needed to recharge phartsmone, Nook
, and lithium GPS simultaneously. Any suggestions? I need to have a recharge done before I die waiting...

Hmm..

I will take that "challenge"..

12V cig lighter to FOUR 2.4A USB charging ports..



LINK FOR ABOVE

At a whopping cost of $7.99!

The reason your devices charge so slow is they "adapt" to the charging current available..

Standard computer USB ports are designed to supply a max of 500 MA (.5A) at 5V, most 12V plug in chargers supply 1.1A at 5V..

But, pretty much all smart phones and tablets are designed for fastest charging with a 2.1A or better at 5V power supply..

I have never tried the device brand above but it most likely will fix you up..

If you like "built in" look something like this might be of interest?



Although this one only has one 1.1A and one 2.1A ports..

In this link

Another built in ..



For $8.25 HERE

If you don't want your charger hugging the 12V cig port you can get this..



Which is four 2.4A USB charging ports with a short cord that plugs into the cig outlet for $13.99..

Link to above

[MEXICOWANDERER]

WARNING! THREAD NAP ALERT

STRONG regulated cigar lighter charger needed to recharge phartsmone, Nook
, and lithium GPS simultaneously. Any suggestions? I need to have a recharge done before I die waiting...

[Gdetrailer]

jimh425 wrote:

Gdetrailer wrote:
Why bother with solar OR an inverter..

To be able to run other things AC such as phone charger etc.

Umm.. you do realize that 12V "cell phone" chargers are DIRT CHEAP and use NEXT TO NOTHING as far as power draw?

Using an inverter to power a 120V cell phone charger simply is a waste of 12V power. The inverter will draw MANY more times of the power it takes to charge a cell phone..

Modern day cell phones also tend to universally use a 5V DC "USB" port for charging.. That means you can buy a cheap cig lighter USB charger and use a simple computer USB cable to charge your phone.

We keep a cig lighter USB charger in every vehicle we have, they can cost as little as $3 for a 1A up to $6 for a dual 2A USB charger..

Each time you add a conversion into the process you WASTE power.. The idea of boondocking or off the grid type experience it is all about CONSERVATION.. You want to eliminate as many conversions as possible..

12V to 120V then 120V back to 5V is a huge waste of energy when a simple 12V to 5V plug in charger can get the job done just as well but much less wasted energy..

[zcookiemonstar]

If you want something cheap look at solar landscape lighting. A lot of them come with a separate solar panel that will hold multiple batteries and the lights plug into it.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

It takes a FOOT SQUARE of panel to even remotely approach the recharge ability of a decent 120 or 12 volt charger. And then it needs special 2 step regulation to insure correct charging of Lithium. Pro mountain climbers are starting to use these 400-dollar panels.

[Reddog1]

delosholly wrote:
I am confused why this was moved to another forum since there is another solar question on the TC forum that has not been moved. Anyways, no problem.

When a thread is unique to TCs, or primarily applies to TCs, it typically would not be moved. Sometimes a thread can fit several Forums. It is up to the Moderator to determine which thread would provide the most input. If there were only one Forum for all subject mater, a given subject could get lost pretty quick.

This thread topic is very general, and nothing to suggest it was specific to TCs. Hopefully, this will help clear your confusion.

Wayne
Moderator

[delosholly]

Thanks for all the replies. I will take all into consideration.
I am confused why this was moved to another forum since there is another solar question on the TC forum that has not been moved. Anyways, no problem.

[landyacht318]

Unless this is for a portable system, for hiking or bike riding where weight and backwoods electrical generation are a prime consideration, Then consider adding a solar panel to your vehicles 12v System, and using a 12v charger which can cover a wide range of batteries.

My Nitecore I4v2 can do AA or AAA NIMH and 14500 or 18650 Li ion cells, and can work off of a 12v input.

Hardly the best charger available but under 20$ and can cover all my cylindrical battery needs.

For portable USB power, they have many packs which take 18650 cells

I use a single cell USB charger under 4$ that takes an 18650 cell. I have over a dozen I salvaged from old laptop batteries. These cells are not high capacity cells, but they have usable capacity left, and I have some quality 3400mah Panasonic cells I bought which are worth more than 2 laptop extracted cells in capacity.

[CJW8]

X2 for Goal Zero

[Photomike]

I have gone down this road a couple of times for different reasons and here is what I found:

A) Needed a way when bicycling long distances to charge a cell phone and some camera batteries. Found a really nice system that you could put the panel (about 8 inches by 12 inches) behind your seat on top of your tent or sleeping bag to do it. Only issue was it was SLOW and EXPENSIVE. They also make a similar one for hiking.

B) Needed a way to charge camera batteries, cell phone and computer when driving. Found a nice 75W inverter that plugs into the lighter for this. Then I inherited a 300W and mounted that in the front of the truck so I can plug all my chargers in when driving (not at the same time). I now use the 75W in the camper when I need to charge something small like my cell phone and do the rest when driving.

C) Wanted to charge some RC batteries when parked and found a nice setup a guy built with a smaller solar panel. Biggest drawback was the time it took, was great for maintaining but slow for charging.


If you are moving during the day I would go with the inverter in the cab. If not I would put a larger panel on the roof that would give you lots of power instead of the smaller ones and then just use your standard chargers from home.

[jimh406]

Gdetrailer wrote:
Why bother with solar OR an inverter..

To be able to run other things AC such as phone charger etc.

[JiminDenver]

While I flew RC planes we used 12v quick chargers that could do 4 or 8 at a time.

[time2roll]

Put 100 watts solar on the RV and let the OEM charger do the work.
For back country use... just bring spare primary batteries.