Solar Charger for iPhone, recomendations

[PracticalMac]

Recommendations for a SOLAR charger to use it iPhone/iPad etc?

I have this one which is excellent for its price ($25) to charge AA batteries and has USB out as bonus, but it has limitations.

Something that is compact (Solio NOT, it is a bulky unit) and can do more then 50% charge for iPhone.


I read a suggestion of a 12v panel connected to a car-to-usb power adapter, sounds like that will work fine.

 

[Ksizzle9]

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I have a great reccomendation about solar chargers: DON'T BUY ONE! they all suck

 

[PracticalMac]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A5274d Safari/7534.48.3)

I have a great reccomendation about solar chargers: DON'T BUY ONE! they all suck

They wont replace 110v, or even a good old charged battery, but I want one for "the just in case" event.

2 links, first is of what I typed earlier:
Panel to USB adapter (best use car USB charger)

and rugged panel:
"Restore" panel with USB

 

[Kyotoma]

Unless it's certified for use with your iPhone, I would suggest you proceed with extreme caution in using these devices. If something were to go wrong and it is not certified to use with your iPhone, it tends to void your warranty.

 

[PracticalMac]

Unless it's certified for use with your iPhone, I would suggest you proceed with extreme caution in using these devices. If something were to go wrong and it is not certified to use with your iPhone, it tends to void your warranty.

Well, I doubt any solar charger is certified for any device (if I am wrong, someone please tell me).

Now, technically, if you have a 12v panel connected to a certified car type 12v-USB adapter (like Griffin) then that would be OK.


Here is two sources of mail order:
Amazon catalog.

NexTag catalog

 

[PracticalMac]

Another reason I really like this solar charger I mention in the first post is it can take normal AA batteries and use it to charge my stuff.

I loaded 4 Alkaline batteries into the charger and fully charged my phone, so I have a very versatile device (if course should not charge Alkaline (you can do a little, but not long)).

 

[PracticalMac]

I got the Guide Adventure kit from Goal Zero.

The Solar panel really delivers the juice! Easily provides the power needed for iPhone, even under partly clouded skies. Panel has built in regulated 5V and 12V outs, and an unregulated out (about 6V) to charge the Guide 10 4x AA batter pack (charges that in 4 hours).

You can load a pack of Alkaline AA's into the pack and charge the iPhone too.

Panel will also charge iPad 3, IF the iPad is shut down.

They have a Costco traveling roadshow that has an excellent deal on this set, $130, a great bargain.


I have it for a worse case situation (ie. hurricanes) or camping, but otherwise I keep it in a partly sunny window and charge AA's for my iMac mouse , keyboards.

 

[Hayduke60]

A while back I built an Adafruit Mintyboost. It uses two double A batteries. You can hear the batteries scream as they die while charging an iPhone. The kit is cheap and really fun to build. It fits into an Altoids tin. So it fits into your pocket real easy like. I also bought Adafruits solar lipo charger kit. It charges a lipo battery by plugging a solar panel into it. It wires into the Mintyboost. I fit both the Minty and the solar lipo charger into an old tobacco tin. I bought a Voltaic systems solar panel that plugs right in. And it all works great. In the year I have used it I have had no problems with charging my iPhone, any of my iPods or my camera. It straps to my back pack and charges the lipo in the tobacco tin. I plug my iPhone into the usb port located in the end of my tobacco tin and it charges my phone in nothing flat. I can get one and a half charges out of my 2700 mah battery. That battery take about 2 hours to charge in good sunlight. If you are not one to make your own stuff Voltaic systems make a really nice charger for phones and such. Kinda spendy but it all works great and will last a lifetime.

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Here's a link to the Mintyboost. I would shy away from the Solio as it doesn't work as well as they say it does. But that's just me.

 

[PracticalMac]

Anyone else try this? (Previously mentioned solar device)