Originally Posted by
brucewiley
That looks like a good one to start with and reasonably priced, I'll look around for one. Thanks guys! I may still have to find a small 6V solar panel in the future and build up something just for the fun of it.
Bruce
Check Home Depot for a $5 off coupon attached to the Energi-To-Go. I'm not sure if this applies to the USA Home Depots but this is what I've seen at the Canadian Home Depots which I think carry the same promotion. That coupon is /NOT/ restricted to Home Depot. I have seen that Best Buy has that Energi-To-Go product for the cell/usb units for ~$20 CDN while Home Depot has it for ~$25 CDN so if I took that coupon to a Best Buy I can get it for $15 and get a sweeter deal. The extra money saved can go towards bikey gear or pizza!
www.canadiantire.ca -> Top tab look for Auto -> Solar power -> and check out the 6.5W folding solar panels. I have one and plan on giving it a test out this summer. It's small enough to fit into a glove compartment of a car or cargo pockets in pants.
Just need to find me a 4xAA battery charger that works with that FOR A GOOD PRICE and I'm set.
Very light weight solar panel. About the same weight as 3-4 Clif Energy bars.
BTW I'm not affliated to any stores listed above. Just posting some savings cause we all can save something.
The Energi-To-Go from my understanding tlakign to a BB CSR that had some family using it is that if you buy any of those units the tips are interchangeable with another unit. So if you buy two units with different tips but want to zip tie all the tips together and use one unit to save weight/bulk those tips will still work. Get a USB one for the GPS and another one for your cell phone. I don't know if they'll work with NIMH recharabgles as when I spoke with the CSR at BB he only stated his family mainly used disposibles for the emergency usages. I don't see why NIMH won't use but you may end up with less recharges and power retention unless you use the new NIMH LSD batteries. LSD = Low Self Discharge sometimes also called 'pre-charged (by Duracell)', 'Hybrids (by RayoVac)', 'Imodion (sp) (by Maha/PowereX)', 'Eneloops (by Sanyo)'.
No we're not talking trippy 1960's here
. You get about 500-700mAh less with NIMH LSD's vs normal NIMH but LSD's clain is they retain ~65-85% energy in one years time making them long term storage reusables over alkalines.
The balance is if I remember reading this correctly at some sites was if you don't use your cells daily and use them like twice a week or every 3-4 days then LSD's are worth it for you. If you however use NIMH daily then normal NIMH would be better as you can have that exta 500-700mAh. However remember that normal NIMH can self discharge at a rate of 1-3%/day. The future IMHO is moving towards LSD's. Right now LSD's are new on the market so thier capacities are low but if the LSD's are 2500mAh then it's a no brainer which cell to get.
If you'll be out in the sticks I think (if I was in your shoes) I would go with LSD batteries just incase anything happens you can still have some dependable batteries that can hold thier power till rescue comes should anythign bad happen. KNock on wood nothing bad happens *knock knock*.