Solar Chargers are a great way to power your phone/electronics in the woods. This charger has 2 ports, so you can power two devices at the same time. It’s extremely portable and folds out to reveal 4 solar panels. Just lay the panels in direct sunlight and watch as your devices start to recover battery life.
Anker® 14W Portable Solar Charger
Works for an iPhone even in a polar vortex -UPDATE 3/18/14- [Just because your iPhone/iPad/etc. says “Not Charging” when you plug this in doesn’t actually mean it’s not charging or not compatible. It just means it’s not charging as fast as usual, but it probably is still trickle charging, which is fine. If you plug into this solar panel and get no response whatsoever, that’s when I’d be concerned about not charging.]For the price and output, this solar charger is unmatched. A lot of solar chargers require direct sunlight to charge an iPhone any significant amount. Standard iPhone wall chargers use 5 Watts. This solar charger can give you that much even on a bad day, and much more than that on sunny summer afternoon.On the other hand, iPad Air wall chargers are 10 W, so you’ll certainly need some good sunlight to achieve that much with this panel. But I was able to trickle-charge an iPad Air with about 3 W lying on the floor next to a window that was letting in low winter sunlight. I estimate 3 W because…
The “gateway” Panel So you’re thinking about trying solar energy? Get a little thrill by charging off the grid? This 14 watt portable panel is an entry level device often referred to as a “gateway” panel. Sure you’ll get free solar energy, and yes, you will lower your carbon footprint. But be careful because the satisfaction of off grid charging can become a steady habit.You’ll start off with this little 14 watt panel and it will feel great. Then you decide you need a battery pack to store all the solar energy that’s wasting when your phone isn’t charging. That’ll be fun for a while. You might even make some crazy vow to charge your cell phone off solar energy only. But that won’t satisfy you forever.Next thing you know you’re getting the Instaspark 27 watt portable panel. Charging your cell phone and 12 volt devices off the grid and it’s one heck of a ride. Spending less time with family and friends as you surf the web learning everything you can about solar energy…
Great value and build quality This is the best direct-charge panel I’ve seen for anything near this price. It isn’t the most lightweight or compact unit out there, but it’s reasonable at both and does a very good job charging for the size. The panels are well protected and the package is built to last.The charger has two 2 Amp, 5V ports- however the total output is 2 Amps. So you can charge two devices at 1 Amp or one at 2. Aside from a few tablets, there’s not many out there that can handle more than 2 anyway- most phones use 1 Amp input. The panel does not have a built-in battery, but you can just hook one up. I’ve used it with the Astro E5 and it works fine.I was able to charge a smartphone from dead to 100% in about 4.5 hours, with the panel unattended in somewhat direct sunlight on a partly cloudy day. The phone in question was a HTC One V with a 1,500 mAh battery. This is great performance, considerably better than several 7W panels I’ve tried. I should also note that this is able to…