Charging your phone or tablet while camping off-grid

[pyolet]

Yup, that's the one I have....HF puts it on sale every once in a while, especially to the "Inside Track Club".

The Amazon version looks like a better unit, as the panels are flexible and it has two USB ports.

I've been surprised at the quality and output of the HF version and am satisfied or wouldn't recommend it. W.

Originally Posted by RV8JD

Looks like this one, "5 Watt Foldable Solar Panel Charger":

http://www.harborfreight.com/5-watt-...ger-60449.html

[AltonD]

If you can spare the weight:

I had a prematurely replaced RV battery sitting on the work bench. Charged it up before the trip, bought a cigarette lighter adapter from ORielies with pigtails. When I left, to come home, it was down to 11.9 volts charging an iPhone and an iPad for four days. Never plugged in as well.

[sglynn]

Originally Posted by pyolet

Just got back from AirVenture and got a kick out of watching the novice campers fight over a bank of outlets to charge their phones and tablets. It was a power cord apocalypse!!!

I never once plugged into A/C. Here's how I camp off grid.

Went to Harbor Freight and bought a $25 solar USB charger, and to Batteries Plus and bought a $60 Rayovac power cube (which even has a flashlight). The power cube charged an iphone6 3 times and iPad mini twice before needing a charge. Plugged the cube into the solar charger and it recharged in a day. You can do this indefinitely.



Hope this helps next Oshkosh. Woody.

Thanks for posting this. I see the Harbor Freight solar charger is 5 watts. Some on Amazon exceed 20 watts, but cost more. Does the wattage really improve charging or is it a gimmic? Also when you read reviews on these solar chargers there is 2% - 4% that rate them low as a #1 and state they don't work. 95% say they work great but are they the paid reviewers? Hard to tell the truth. I guess knowing will cost $50.

[ALagonia]

Originally Posted by pyolet

Yup, that's the one I have....HF puts it on sale every once in a while, especially to the "Inside Track Club".

The Amazon version looks like a better unit, as the panels are flexible and it has two USB ports.

I've been surprised at the quality and output of the HF version and am satisfied or wouldn't recommend it. W.

Will this charge an iPad? Do you still recommend it?
Thanks

Looking for a solar charger that I can use for my iPad and iPhone. Don?t want to spend a ton since I will only use it maybe once per year. Looking for something to bring to OSH with me.

[fl-mike]

In my experience, the solar chargers really don't work that well. Just not enough panel power, and you really want to top off at night anyway.
Buy a few (light) USB battery gizmos cheap, and use those to charge at night. You can always recharge those at the kiosks during the day, and might not even feel that bad leaving them unattended.

I have a decent sized solar powered battery backup thing, and it mostly just drew down the battery, even though I left it on the HS all day to "charge".

[ALagonia]

Originally Posted by fl-mike

In my experience, the solar chargers really don't work that well. Just not enough panel power, and you really want to top off at night anyway.
Buy a few (light) USB battery gizmos cheap, and use those to charge at night. You can always recharge those at the kiosks during the day, and might not even feel that bad leaving them unattended.

I have a decent sized solar powered battery backup thing, and it mostly just drew down the battery, even though I left it on the HS all day to "charge".

Thank you. That is what I as afraid of.