Solar Panel Battery Chargers

[ra2bach]

ok thanks. I asked this question out of ignorance but on a hunch.

so... what does chaining them actually do - increase the size of things you can charge, or charge faster???

[jack crab]

Charge faster. One panel will charge in one day. Two panels, half day.

[uwe1]

I'm actually pretty sure you can daisy chain the nomads.

EDIT: Directly from Goal Zero,

I spoke to the rep selling the products and what he said was that you cannot connect two Nomads together. The whole point would be to carry two lightweight Nomads to increase the charging speed, but he said it wasn't possible. Now that may have changed since the 6-8 months when I purchased mine.

Now I believe it is possible to chain the Nomads to a Boulder as the last in the chain.... The rep could be wrong but it's what he told me.

[uwe1]

ok thanks. I asked this question out of ignorance but on a hunch.

so... what does chaining them actually do - increase the size of things you can charge, or charge faster???

According to the rep I spoke to, One of the problems the Nomad system had was directly charging iPhones as the iPhone charger requires a certain minimum current before it charges.

He recommended charging the battery pack, and using that to charge the phone.

The larger panels allow the batteries to recharge faster. For example, the Escape battery pack, fully drained, will only partially recharge in one day with one Boulder panel. It will recharge in one day with two Boulder panels.

[Gatorbait]

I agree,
You really do need a battery to be in the mix for stabilizing the charging.
I suggest if people are interested in solar to do a little research and build one yourself.....a more powerful set-up for the same money as some of the pre-made packages.

I built a small 12v charging system out of a six pack/hydrotherapy cooler. It won't win any beauty awards, but will get the job done:
It has a 30 watt, 12V foldable panel, 18 A/H battery, both Volt and Amp meters, and can run a Yaesu FT-60 and charge 12 AA batteries. All this for less than the cost of the Goal Zero Nomad 13 off of Amazon ($160) :

It all folds up into the cooler for transport and storage.
Cheers,

[Robryan]

After doing some research I found this to be about the lightest portable system for my needs the bottom two items would probably do what you want. 52 watt foldable solar panel (Solaris 52) and (impel )145 watt lithium polymer battery. Very close to a system the army uses.

[Southern Cross]

I own and love my little Brunton Solarport. It's nice and compact, durable, folds, has its own cigarette lighter adapter port and battery charging station. I've abused the hell out of it in a bunch of my "go bags". It still works like a charm. I think this model has been replaced but I'm sure there still out there. Hell the newer versions may be better.



If I were in the market today though I would go with one of the Goal Zero Nomad 7 series. They have tons of options and I like the ability to slap it on your pack while hiking. I wish they would make the battery packs lighter. I know that's not really an option but most solar units function best when paired with a battery but those suckers way more than your pack.

[ra2bach]

what is the biggest application for these - can you charge your car battery? run a radio at the beach? lights at a campsite? or are they just to keep your cellphone/GPS alive?..

[EzGoingKev]

Hey guys thanks for all the replies.

I originally thought was that if I needed to recharge something I would use adapters and connect it directly to the battery charger/laptop/cell phone etc. and let it sit until it was charged.

Now I see the best way is to get some type of cell and and recharge the battery off of that.

One thing I noticed is that these companies are selling larger stationary setups that you would use at home. They seem to be pretty expensive.

I was wondering about using some gel type car batteries and an inverter?

[fyrediver]

I regularly listen to The Survival Podcast (TSP) and an expert on power that's been a repeat guest on the show is Steven Harris. He recommends having an inverter(s) so you can power most of your home stuff with marine or car batteries and use your car as your generator to recharge your battery bank. I'm working on building the system but am not there yet.

http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/ep...lackout-part-2

http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/ep...ms-part-1-of-2

http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/ep...ms-part-2-of-2

He's also got a solar power website but I don't know if it gets into the small systems.

These links go to his sites

http://www.battery1234.com/
http://www.solar1234.com/