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By admin, April 19, 2010 7:05 am

Solar chargers for mobile phones and ipods?

I’m going camping for a month soon and wondering if anybody could recommend a good solar mobile/ipod charger to buy.
I was thinking of this…..

I have used a different model but first let me comment on the two you are interested in:

The Solio can recharge its’ 1600mAh battery at 155mA which mean that it will take about 10 hours in direct sunlight to recharge when fully depleted.

The Freeloader can recharge its’ smaller 1000mAh battery at 120mA in about 8 hours but it has about 38% less capacity.

The battery capacity is what it can store when nothing is attached to it. Some or all of this stored energy can later be transferred to the device.

What that all means:
Check your mobile phone battery for the mAh capacity then divide by the output of the solar cell – that is how long it will take in hours of direct sunlight to recharge it.

This is the one I have used in the past and found it to be perfect for my needs – I borrowed it from a friend:

http://www.earthtechproducts.com/p7.html

Pros:
It has nearly 3 times the solar panel output 320mA so things will recharge quicker.
It is much lighter only about 85g vs. 450g for the Freeloader.

Cons:
No internal battery so when it is not attached to anything it is not gathering power for later use.

Generally look for “Rated output in Direct Sunlight” then use that number to determine how many hours on a sunny day it will take to recharge what you are attaching to it. If the unit has an internal battery you can use the same math to determine how much it can store.

This is a good site to look up the capacity of your iPod since you can’t open it to check the battery like your cell phone or GPS.

http://www.ipodbatteryfaq.com/

Hope that helps!

LG 400 Prepaid Flip Cell Phone with 300 Minutes

Solar Charger Unit for Mobile Phone, Camera, PDA, PSP, MP3 , or Anything Chargeable via USB Charge your mobile phone, camera, PDA, PSP, MP3 , or anything chargeable via USB using this amazing solar charger. Place it in the sun or through Mini USB to charge the internal battery and take it to go anywhere….

New 6V,200mA Portable Travelling Solar Charger for Cell Phones, GPS, DC, MP3/4, Kindle, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Blackberry, HTC DROID, LG Voyager, Motorola CLIQ Android Phone, Motorola DROID, Palm Centro Phone, T-Mobile $28.36 If you are a frequent traveler, we highly recommend this powerful solar charger. The unit is qualified for recharging your cell phone, digital camera, portable multimedia player, GPS, and other digital devices. Besides, you will like the practical design which allows for multiple placement options. It can be clipped on the bag, attached on the vehicle window glass, or put on the ground with bracke…

Solar Charger or USB Connection Charger for Mobile Cell Phones, MP3 / MP4 Players, GPS, and Digital Cameras $59.99 The EA-G02 can be charged in the sun or with USB connection on a computer. It is light weight, portable and easy to use. This device has a built in smart chip to help prevent overload and short circuits. Use with mobile phones, MP3 players, GPS, or Digital Cameras….

Solar or USB Connection Charger for Mobile Cell Phones, MP3 / MP4 Players, GPS Units, Digital Cameras, or eReaders $99.99 The EA-G04 can be charged in the sun or with USB connection on a computer. It is heavy duty, portable and easy to use. This device has a built in smart chip to help prevent overload and short circuits. Use with mobile phones, MP3/MP4 players, GPS, Digital Cameras, and more….