Camping Gear- Your own solar system...

[AnythingAtAll]

Hey Campers,

Solar power is great, but not everyone can/wants to haul a big panel, big battery and inverter.

Here's something I've been looking into this year and thought I'd share- this is a 5V system only.

Portable solar panels (preferably with higher efficiency panels like Sunpower) are becoming affordable and a folding, portable panel rated 14W to 21W can be found for $28-$50.

5V battery banks, with USB interfaces and capacities of 10,000mAh+ are in the $10-$25 range.

LED lights (bulbs and strings) with USB connectors can be found for $4 to 15 bucks.

Put it all together and you've got something that can charge your battery bank by day, power or recharge your devices and light your night.

I'll find out if it works as well as I think it will this summer...

[BuckeyeDog]

I'd be curious which is the best option to charge a phone. I don't mind stumbling around in the dark, but am sure my kids would want their cell phones charged.
Save me a trip to the library to charge phones.

[takemecamping]

Hey all, this is the one I am purchasing strictly for phone charging.  I haven't used it quite yet, so cant confirm how well.  But a friend of mine sells these products and this was the one he recommended.
http://www.goenerplex.com/products/portable-solar-chargers/kickr-iv

[AnythingAtAll]

I'd be curious which is the best option to charge a phone. I don't mind stumbling around in the dark, but am sure my kids would want their cell phones charged.
Save me a trip to the library to charge phones.

IMO, a decently sized battery bank (check for phone compatibility) that you can charge before you leave, top off with the sun and charge phones multiple times is a really good option.

As for best kinds, I don't know- I trolled Amazon and checked for price and user ratings, ended up with a 14W panel and a 13,000mAh bank for about $45 total.  Portable panels and battery banks keep getting cheaper the longer you wait...but summer's coming.

[completejohn]

I produced a demo/QVC video for a fairly new product that I'm bringing along this year.  It's called the ChargeIt! Jump, and it's basically a card deck sized charge holder for jumping your car.  I've used it a couple of times for starting a dead battery and it really worked well.  It's also got USB ports (and several sizes of phone wires), and they claim it holds a charge for a year.  That should be enough to get me thru the fest.  I'll be charging it on the drive up.

Here it is on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Treasures-ChargeIt-Portable-Packaging/dp/B00O26Y4CS

[Domenica]

I think your idea is good and gonna work it also but if you could use solar inverter which is converts DC to AC very craefully where power is stored in battery whose frequency ranges in 50 Hz to 60 Hz. There are such dufferent tyoes of solar invertere that you can find it here magesolar.com/best-solar-inverter/

[ToddG]

We use a small portable panel about 14x10 inch that has its own battery system. It will charge 3-4 devices during the day, and 1-2 off battery at night. Cost around 60 bucks, I'll have to dig it out to get the brand, but got it at my local backpacking outfitters.

[soling]

I’ve been using a 12v goal zero system to charge all my taping batteries for past several years at TBF with no issues.  We’ve had spectacular sunny skies the last 7 years!  Have a Nomad 20 and Nomad 13 folding panels and a Sherpa 100 battery (all in one controller, inverter, lithium battery). Bought used off eBay.  No issues with TSA when flying in.  Probably more than you need for charging you cell phone.

~s

Ps late with tapes this year but their coming soon

 Listening to: Dierks Bentley Telluride Convention Center 2018-06-18