The Plug 'n Play Solar Battery Charger

Solar battery chargers have been around for decades, but their popularity has increased a lot in just the last two years.  This is partially because of advancements in technology, and partially because of our increased awareness of the need to shift to cleaner renewable energy sources.

Advancements in technology have reduced the sizes and weights of solar panels, while increasing their efficiency.  This makes it possible for small lightweight portable solar chargers to be produced.  Another factor which plays a part in the rapidly expanding field of portable solar power, is the increased amount of electronic gadgets that we carry around.

Twenty years ago, not many people were walking around with cell phones.  Today, most of us carry at least a cell phone, iPod or MP3 player, and a digital camera around with us - either on a daily basis, or during weekends and vacations.

With all these electronic gadgets comes the need for electricity and power.  And thus solar battery chargers have found their niche.

There are several advantages to using portable solar chargers and solar panels.  First of all, they are eco/environment-friendly.  They don't produce harmful waste, and can be used anytime and anywhere that there is daylight.

Many people think that solar chargers can only be used in warm sunny areas.  This is not necessarily true.  Solar panels are more effective in colder temperatures.  As a matter of fact, a solar charger or panel would create more electricity on a clear day in Alaska, than it would in the sun of the Mohave dessert. This is because the temperature of the solar panel influences the effectiveness with which it can convert solar energy into electrical energy.

The above fact, combined with the increased effectiveness of solar panels, has made solar chargers an attractive method of powering or recharging small electronic gadgets.

These days, a small solar battery charger can run your iPod, cell phone, or MP3 Player.  It can recharge your digital camera and it can be used to recharge batteries.

Some solar chargers, such as the Solio Charger, come with internal batteries.  These batteries are automatically charged when the solar charger is exposed to daylight.  This allows you to recharge your cell phone, or other electronic device, from the solar charger, later on.  Solar chargers with built-in batteries usually store sufficient power to recharge your cell phone twice, or to run an MP3 player or iPod for several hours. Your digital camera can also be fully recharged by one of these devices.

Solar chargers are starting to be a part of many standard emergency kits.  They are a reliable source of power, so long as daylight is available.

Solar chargers are a convenient source of power in remote areas, on field trips, or when out hiking and camping.  They can recharge batteries, cell phones, or other gadgets in any location.

In addition to being convenient, solar chargers are  a clean energy source and do not cause pollution or other harmful emissions while creating electricity. They also reduce the need for disposable batteries, and thus reduce the overall volume of harmful chemicals and toxic waste in circulation on the planet.

To select the proper solar battery charger for your needs, see Solar Battery Chargers.
 

Solar Chargers and Recreation

Recent developments in solar technology have now put solar power within the reach of everyone.

Until a few years ago, solar panels were relatively bulky, inefficient, and rather heavy to lug around - and, on top of all this, very expensive. In other words, not very practical for the average person.

Solar Power and solar technology have advanced rapidly in the last few years. It and has come to the point where the use of solar energy is within the reach of the average person.

You can now buy relatively inexpensive lightweight portable solar panels (or portable solar chargers, as they are sometimes called) that will recharge your cell phone, iPod, MP3 player, or any from a host of other small electronic devices. There are even some medium size portable solar chargers that allow you to recharge your laptop batteries. And some even will run your laptop.

In effect, you could move your office to the beach if you wanted to, set up a portable solar panel and power your laptop with solar energy right at the beach. Your boss might however disagree, and, in any case you might want to make sure that your laptop screen is not overly reflective.

In the field of portable solar power, we have two different type of solar chargers. Both of have their uses and advantages.

There are two types of portable solar battery chargers on the market. Both come in different models and sizes.

There is the portable solar battery, which has rechargeable batteries built into the it; and there is the portable solar battery charger that simply comes as a small foldable or flexible solar panel that stores easily.

Solio manufactures the type of portable solar charger which uses internal rechargeable batteries. The advantage of this type of solar charger is that you can let it sit in the sun and collect solar energy, which it uses to recharge the internal batteries, and once the internal batteries are charged, you can hook up your cell phone, iPod, MP3 Player, or whatever electronic device you want to recharge and charge it. You can also operate your device directly form this portable solar charger.

Since the solar energy collected is stored within the internal battery, you can use it any time of day whenever and wherever. An additional advantage of this type of solar battery charger is that it is usually also possible to charge it from regular wall sockets (and sometimes even from the cigarette lighter socket in your car). So you are not dependent just on the sun. Technically, we would call such a solar device a hybrid solar charger, as you are able to charge it from more than one source of energy.

The other type of solar charger, is simply a small portable solar panel that can either be folded, or rolled up. This tends to be more powerful than the previously mentioned type of solar charger, and is also lighter to carry around. Due to the higher power output, these can be used to power or recharge larger electronic devices (such as laptops, radios, small TVs, and coolers).

This also makes it an ideal accessory for a beach party or a picnic. A small portable solar charger would be enough to power a cooler to keep your food fresh or to keep the beers cold. I am sure we will even see some coolers coming out shortly which have built in solar panels to operate them. The solar panel would most likely not need to be larger than the lid itself, and could be incorporated onto the cooler.

Such solar panels in even in small sizes provide enough solar energy to power Ipods, MP3s and cell phones and lots of other small devices. If you are spending the day on the beach, this would most likely cover all your electrical needs.

You may find further information on the types of solar chargers available at solar charger grid.

The Solio Solar Battery Charger

The Solio Charger

Brunton Solar Battery Chargers

As technology develops, solar battery chargers become more efficient and easier to use.

A new technological development is the creation of thin film solar panels. These are made from special metals, which are highly efficient in converting solar power into electricity.

Thus, it is now possible to create a wide range of truly portable light-weight solar panels.

Brunton Solar Battery Chargers

One leading company in the field of portable chargers is ASC Scientific.  This company has developed a product line called the Brunton Solaris.

Brunton Solaris solar battery chargers are foldable, light-weight, and easily transported. When they are folded, they require no more space than a notepad of sheet of letter-sized paper.

Despite the deceptively small size of the Brunton Solaris, it is capable of recharging and powering a wide range of small electrical devices, including laptop computers.

The Brunton Solaris 26, for instance, is capable of recharging the average laptop in 4 to 6 hours. Whereas it will not independently run a laptop, it can be plugged in while you are using your laptop, thus slowing down the drain on your battery and extending your battery working time.

In order to connect a Brunton Solaris 26 solar charger, to power or recharge your laptop, you will need to purchase a 12v (12 volt) cigarette lighter adapter that has been made specifically for your type of laptop. You can usually obtain this at the same place where purchased your laptop, or you can order it from the manufacturer of your laptop. The Brunton Solaris 26 comes supplied with a female cigarette lighter adapter, which then connects to the one attached to your laptop.

The laptop cigarette lighter adapter supplied by the laptop manufacturer will then convert the electricity supplied by the solar panel into the right strength needed for your laptop.

Solar Controllers

When using solar panels to recharge batteries, it is important to understand that batteries can be overcharged - resulting in damage to them. To solve this problem you need what’s called a Solar Controller. This is basically a small device that prevents the batteries from overcharging and getting damaged. It also prevents electricity from flowing back from the battery into the solar panels, which could harm the panels themselves. If you have a solar controller connected between the battery and the solar panel, you will not have to worry about overcharging. It will keep your batteries in a fully charged state as long as it is connected. This is ideal for vehicles or boats which are out of use for a temporary time period, as it will prevent their batteries from going flat. Any device using a 12 volt battery can thus be kept at maximum charge while out of use.

Brunton SolarRoll 14

A final product that deserves mentioning is the Brunton SolarRoll 14. This is truly on of the most portable, lightweight, and yet rugged solar panels on the market so far.

It produces enough electricity to power a satellite phone, digital camera, iPod, MP3 player and many other electronic devices. What’s more, it's weather-proof and water-proof. It rolls up into a small tube, and weighs only 17 oz (half a kilogram).

This is a solar panel that you can take anywhere. Its also possible to link more than one of them together (also called "daisy-chaining"), although in this case you should use a solar controller in order to safeguard the batteries from overcharging.

You may find more information on similar solar battery chargers and portable solar power devices at:

Solar Battery Chargers

Solar Chargers

Solar Battery Chargers: How Many Watts?

Solar Battery Chargers - Watts?  Volts?  Which one do I Buy?!

If you have looked for a portable

solar battery charger

, you have possibly gotten confused when you encountered the various types of solar chargers available, as well as the technical specs (which can seem indecipherable if you're not an electronics engineer).

Without going into an entire tutorial, I can give some basic data which can help you understand enough to determine which portable solar charger device you need.

You may want to look at the device which you are planning to charge, and find out what watt rating it has (pun is accidental).

A "watt" is a measurement of how much electrical power is produced or used by a device.

To find out how many watts you need for your device, look at the adapter of the device, which you use to charge it from a power outlet.

Look at the "output" rating of the adapter.  It should tell you how many watts the adapter generates.  If it doesn't contain this information, it should contain the ratings for amperes (amps) and volts.  (If you don't know what amperes and volts are, please see the Solar Chargers Glossary.)

To find out the watts rating of your device, simply multiply the amps times the volts.  The following is the equation:

Amperes x Volts = Watts

In theory, if your solar power supply has the same watt rating as the item you wish to charge, it should charge it and run it at the same speed as the wall socket.  However, there are several variables that come into play when one is dealing with solar power - the strength of the sun, the lattitude of the location, the amount of dust or cloud obscuring the light, impurities of metals in the electrical wires, etc.

If the solar charger produces less watts than the output rating of your device's adapter, you can still use it.  It will just take longer to charge.  If your solar power supply has more watts  than the item you wish to charge, it will probably improve the charging speed.

Keep in mind that electronic devices do not always use the same amount of power.  For example, a laptop which uses 60 watts may need 60 watts when it is running at maximum power usage, and charging its battery at the same time as you are using it.  But this does not mean that it always needs 60 watts, or that you can only charge it with a 60 watt charger.  A charger with less wattage may take longer than a wall socket, but it can still charge the laptop.  Get a solar charger with a watt rating which is as close to your equipment's rating as possible.  In other words, don't get a charger for an MP3 player and expect it to be useful in charging your laptop.

Bigger solar panels usually supply more wattage, and will power your devices more quickly.  But "bigger" usually also means "heavier" and "more expensive."  So you will have to decide what is the most important.  A rule of thumb is to get the biggest charger that you can afford, taking into account the weight and cost. 

Solar Battery Chargers in a Digital Age

Solar Battery Chargers

Solar Battery Chargers are used to charge your batteries when you are not connected to the power grids and do not have access to another form of electricity.  (In other words, when you don't have a wall socket to plug into.)

The way a Solar Charger works is simple.  You connect it to some type of battery and you then allow the solar charger to sit in the sun.  The solar panel of the battery charger collects energy from the sun and converts this into electricity. The electricity thus produced is then used to charge a battery, and that battery can later be used to run your equuipment.

Now, there are many different types of solar battery chargers, as well as different types of batteries you might want to charge. Some solar chargers are more powerful than others.  As all solar battery chargers use some type of solar panel, the amount of power they generate generally depends on the size of the panels.  Solar panels are made up of individual solar cells.  Solar cells are the units which create electricity out of sunlight.  The more solar cells there are on a solar panel, the more electricity they create.  So you will generally find that bigger solar panels produced more energy, and smaller solar panels produce less.

Some solar battery chargers work with simple AA batteries, like those that you would use to run a flashlight.  Some work with special batteries, which can in turn be used to charge other equipment like cell phones (mobile phones), iPods, MP3 players, cameras, etc.  Some charge the batteries of your equipment, such as the battery in your laptop computer.

Thus, the type of solar battery charger that a person would use depends in a large degree upon what the solar charger will be used for.

You might ask why one uses a solar charger to charge a battery, instead of just directly running one's equipment from a solar panel.

Well, this becomes a bit obvious if you think it through.  If your equipment could only be powered by a solar panel, how would you operate it indoors, on a rainy day, or at night?

Secondly, imagine trying to charge your cell phone directly.  You would have to leave the phone outside with the solar panel in the sun.  The sun's heat might damage your cell phone.  Or it could start to rain, or you might be inside when you receive a phone call but your phone is outside charging in the sunlight.

Furthermore, the amount of solar power you get from the sun could vary under different conditions.  A cloud could pass overhead and your stream of power would falter.  It is not a stable source of electricity and it is far more stable to use a battery which has already been changed by solar energy and which can provide a steady stream of electricity to your equipment.

It would be far more workable if you could charge a seperate battery outside in the sun, and then use that battery to charge your other equipment.

There are a variety of solar battery chargers and other portable solar power devices available on the market today.  In order to decide on which one you need for your purposes, you will need to understand the different types available and their uses.  It also helps to have a basic understanding of solar energy and how it works.  Further information and answers to common questions can be found at Solar Chargers and Portable Solar Power Devices.

- by Anna Stone

Find more information on Solar Chargers and Solar Energy.

Choosing a Portable Solar Charger

How to Choose a Solar Charger for Portable Equipment

Today’s electronic age provides thousands of new opportunities for people of all walks of life.

This includes writers, travelers, photographers, backpackers, and even mountaineers who may be far away from a power supply when they need to use their digital cameras or other electronic equipment.  Along with the new possibilities and horizons brought about by the digital age, come certain challenges. 

One of these challenges is – “how can I charge my electronics when I’m deep in the wilderness?”

One method of meeting this challenge is the use of  a portable solar charger.

But if you are looking for a portable solar power, you might feel confused about all of the different shapes, sizes, versions, and ratings of the various items available.

You might want to know how long it will take for a solar cell to charge your camera or batteries.  Or whether or not your power supply will allow you to run and charge your laptop at the same time. 

Which solar -powered charger is correct for you, and how much money do you really need to spend? 

To make the predictions and estimations necessary, and to choose the correct device to suit your needs, it will probably be helpful to have a little bit of knowledge concerning electricity.

Here is a common question:

What is a Watt and How Many Watts do You Need in a Solar Charger?

First of all – what is a watt?  (Pun accidental!)

A watt is a unit of electrical power, equal to the power produced by an electric current which has one ampere and one volt.  (See this solar power glossary if you don’t understand what amperes and volts are – don’t worry, I’ve explained them as simply as possible!)

A watt-hour is a unit of electrical energy, equal to the energy of one watt operating for one hour.

A milliwatt (symbol mW) is one thousandth of a watt.  A milliwatt-hour is equal to the energy of one milliwatt operating for one hour.

A fully charged battery contains a certain number of watt-hours or milliwatt hours.

Solar Battery Chargers

exist on the market today, which use the power of the sun to charge a battery in the sun, during the day.  The battery can then be used (day or night rain or sun) to run or charge your other electrical equipment.

Now, lets say you have a solar panel which you can use to charge a backup battery, and you can use that backup battery to charge your equipment.  You want to know how long the backup battery will last, when you are using it to run one of your devices.

You can make an estimation of this, if you can find out how many watt-hours or milliwatt hours the fully-charged backup battery contains, and if you can find out approximately how many watts or milliwatts your equipment uses per hour.

Let’s take the example of a laptop computer.

1.  With your battery fully charged, turn on the laptop, and then unplug it.  Look at the power meter to find out how many hours your battery will last.  (You might want to test the accuracy of this data, by using the laptop on only battery power and seeing how long it runs.)

Let’s say that you can run your laptop for 8 hours on battery power.   (Remember the amount of hours it runs will probably vary, depending on your power settings for the laptop and what you are doing with it.  But you can try to find an average.)

2.  Now turn the laptop off and take the battery out.  Look at the data written on the back of the battery, and try to find out how many watt-hours or milliwatt-hours that battery contains. 

In our example, it contains 80 watt-hours.  Divide that number by the number of hours you found in Step 1 above.

80 divided by 8 equals 10. 

So we estimate that the laptop uses approximately 10 watts per hour.

3.  Now find out how many milliwatt hours your solar battery backup contains, when it is fully charged (these backup batteries are often used in conjunction with solar battery chargers).  You can usually find this in the specs of the item, where it is advertised (if you haven’t purchased it yet).

In this example, let’s say the fully charged backup battery contains 60 watt hours.

Your laptop uses approximately 10 watts per hour.

    60 divided by 10 = 6.

Theoretical conclusion – if you charge your laptop from a fully-charged solar backup battery, it will run for approximately 6 hours. 

But there are several other factors which influence this.  This includes the settings of your laptop, what your laptop is being used for and how hard it has to work, how old your battery is, the temperature in which your battery has been stored, and probably some other factors only understood by God.

4.  Now, not to thoroughly confuse you, but what if you don’t have a solar backup battery, but you have a solar charger for your laptop?  And what if you want to know how much “sun time” you will need, to run your laptop for a certain period? 

It’s impossible to say exactly, there are variables.

The amount of power generated by the solar device depends on the intensity of the sun, how much impediment there is to the sun, and the length of exposure to the sun. 

The charger will create more power in the middle of the afternoon, than it will at other times of the day. 

Your solar charger will create more power when it is closer to the equator, than it will in far northern or southern regions of Earth. 

Your charger will also create more power on a clear day than it will in cloudy, misty, or dusty conditions.

But if you want to make an estimation, try the following.

Find out how many watts your solar-powered device produces under full sun.

Then look at the power adapter of the equipment that you want to charge.  Under the output rating, it should state a certain number of watts.  If it doesn’t give the watts, it should give the amperes (amps) and the volts.

Multiply the amps times the volts, and you will get the watts:

    Amps x Volts = Watts

We will say, for example, that the output rating is 60 watts. 

Remember, that’s the maximum amount of power that your device will use.  It does not mean that it will always use that amount of power.

When the laptop is turned on, and when it is operating and charging the battery at the same time, it uses more power than it does when it has less work to do.  It may have power-saving options which allow it to use less power.  It will also probably use less power if it is only charging the battery but is not turned on (or if it is turned on but the battery is already full).

To estimate how long it will take to charge your battery (under full sun) use the data on the output rating of your adapter. 

If the output rating is 60 watts, and your solar charger gives 15 watts, you could estimate that it will take the solar charger 4 times longer to charge your battery, than it would take to charge it from a wall socket.

So… if charging your battery takes two hours from the wall socket, then charging it from your solar charger under the same conditions (and under full-sun) would take 8 hours. 

Remember that full-sun (if it occurs) only occurs in the afternoon, and it does not usually continue for an 8-hour stretch (unless maybe you are in the Sahara).  Furthermore there are atmospheric conditions (such as dust or haze) and other factors (such as latitude) which influence the strength of the sun.  So you will have to make allowances for this.

And… the ultimate test?  Get your solar panels and your equipment, go up on a mountain top, and see what happens.  (Or, maybe you can try it in your backyard first.) 

Solar energy is still a pioneer field! 

It shouldn't be, because it has been around for so long.  But some people would prefer to complicate their lives by destroying the atmosphere and running up big electrical bills.  So solar energy hasn't taken off as fast as it should have.

The information above is to help you choose which portable solar device will best suit your needs.  Once you have obtained it, experimentation will tell you in the end, what results you can achieve.

And - who knows, portable solar power devices may some day become much more powerful.  Solar energy may someday be an element of a better future for all of us, and a key to a cleaner world. 

Future development may make it efficient enough to replace the use of fossil fuels, which are creating the pollution that is so damaging to this planet.  Some individuals on this earth may not want this to happen (if they are making a lot of money from fossil fuels). 

But the sooner we all understand solar power, the sooner we can effect a change.

P.S.  If you feel utterly confused right now, try sketching this all out on paper.  If you ever need to choose a portable solar power device to suit your needs, this information may be very important for you.   If you still feel confused after sketching it out, contact me and I will try to make my article clearer!