Originally Posted by
rm -rf
Have you bought the solar panel already?
How fast does it recharge your tablet? On a nexus 7, it'll show recharge time on the battery status display, but the counter resets when it hits a full charge. And it shows which functions are using the most power. You can select "airplane mode" when you aren't using wifi or bluetooth, and that will save some power.
Are you planning to recharge while riding by having the solar panel on top of your rack? That won't be an optimal angle to the sun, so it's output will probably be considerably lower than the stated maximum watts.
I have the Hotshot 2w tail light, and run it on single blink, at about 2 blinks per second. I normally recharge it after two evening rides, 5-6 hours. I haven't timed it, but it charges up fast when plugged into my laptop, in maybe 45-60 minutes.
I have my solar panel already. I tried once to see what I would get plugging in my Nexus 7 into the panel and let it charge all day. The tablet was powered down when I did this and of course protected from the sun, but it didn't do that hot! It charged something like 20% of the battery. When I charge the little batteries mentioned at the top, they would get a full charge. Then I transfer the power to the tablet. The battery from GoalZero charges about 45-46%. The other two batteries would transfer 54-55%. It's way better using the panel to charge these batteries and do a transfer.
I have an app on it that does alot of the powering down of features. Sorry, but I don't tablet with me right now. The tablet pretty much stays running in various modes and last all day. I'm pretty sure I'll be powering this down as needed when in use.
I'm thinking that I'd be able to somewhat manage with my panel and an occasional AC charge on my travels.
I did get a response back from GoalZero. I just asked about the three lines on the pic I posted. The USB line is rather obvious. It's the other two lines that I'm a bit clueless on. He responded as such;
Thank you for contacting Goal Zero! We appreciate your support!
In one of your emails you are referring to a nomad 3.5 in another you are referring to a nomad 7. Either way the two ports you are referring to are there to chain solar panels and to charge our guide 10 battery packs using the super charge cable. If you are referring to the nomad 3.5 the specs are Solar Port (for Guide 10): 6-6.5V, 0.5A max (3.0 W), not regulated. If you are referring to the nomad 7 the specs are Mini Solar Port (2.5mm): 6.5V, up to 1.1A (7W max). these specs work both ways input and output so for the chain input and guide 10 output.
Hope this answers your question!
The thing states that it is a Nomad 3.5, but looking on their site and it looks like it is a Nomad 7. What I'm thinking I could do is add to this setup to get more amperage.