Solar charger for phone
 

I only want to carry one electronic device, use it for navagation, web, phone....so I will be using my phone. Using it for daily use and rides I only get 5-6 hours when running navigation, I want to add a solar charger on the handlebar bag to keep it constantly chargerd. Has anyone done this? What charger, I see them anywhere from $10, to $300 for what looks like very similar items. Same USB outputs 1000 to 3000mAh. I would think 1500mAh should be more then sufficent, but want one that will last, and actually puts out the power speced.

A solar charger that'll fit on a bar bag won't keep a smart phone continually charged. Take one much bigger than that and a lot of sunlight. Your best, most practical bet, is a hub generator. Or a rechargeable ancillary battery pack that you can plug in somewhere at night and then use to boost your phone during the day.

I guess the Brunton in the link might do the job when AC recharged. It is basically a rechargeable battery pack.

Maybe what we need is this, referenced in the current solar charging thread. Powerful, and priced right.

Remember that when there is no signal most phones use a lot of power searching for one. So turn off at least the cell part of the phone.

Personally I find that using paper maps (possibly augmented by a quick check with the phone's GPS only if needed) is a good way to go. That way you can leave the phone off except when actually needing it to make a call, read/send email or text messages, or to do a quick journal update.

If you must have it on and using the GPS the whole time, then what Cyclebum said pretty much nails it.

When touring with another, who's using a 'smart' phone, it is very irritating that he keeps it turned off so much. I'll call about something only to get nothing. I have a simple flip phone that's on all the time as power consumption is very low. There's IS more than one good reason to have a phone that works 24/7. An emergency at home is the best.

I will also be doing it for a fund raiser from my old school and they wanted to track it so I plan to use runkeeper or the like.

Battery less navigation .. map and compass.

There is a good article at CGOAB about solar charging, however, I don't think you will get an answer you want. Maybe a comprise such as the Garmin External Battery pack might be an option.

http://www.aushiker.com/wordpress/wp.../IMG_20661.jpg

Andrew

Last summer we used a small GoalZero solar charger, it worked well keeping our phones charged. If you have an Apple device caution as they seem to be fussy about their power source. We also had an iPod, which would not recharge from the goalzero,s USB port.- however did work when we plugged into the 12 volt a 12v to USB adapter.

Ill be doing my first week long tour next summer and was wondering about my phone. Do most tours keep a portable generator or some way to charge phones? Or is there a small personal way to do it?

Hendricks97, most of us plug our phone into an AC outlet as needed. Not like touring in deepest Africa or Outer Mongollia. All these discussions about solar chargers are mostly just to satisfy our fantasies about being 'independent.' Kinda fun though.

I've never had a problem finding the AC source in restaurants, campgrounds, motels, etc. The op has a wish to keep his 'smart' phone powered up all day. The simplist way to do this is with a rechargable external battery pack.

? You sure it won't keep a smart phone charged? A friend of mine has something similar to this: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Accessory-...apter/17803218 and it keeps his smart phone running. He goes camping for a week and has to stay in touch with his work, plus goofs on the internet, and the battery in the phone last all week and remains almost if not fully charged. I use something similar and keeps my phone charged to when I go camping or weekend touring. I even tried to see if it would throw a charge back into the Cygolite Mitycross 480 by running down the light till the middle amber indicator came on, left it outside all day charging, when I turned the light on charge indicator was green, so it threw enough charge into the light to keep the charge level up and shut off the charger. Not sure how much more of a solar charging capability one needs. Sure it won't keep a laptop going, or if your constantly using the Smart phone, but you're not going to be constantly using the smart phone while riding! Or at least you shouldn't be using it while riding.

I find that those small solio chargers are good enough to get my phone running at 40% charge if the battery actually does manage to die (droid). And I've only really had to use it twice so far.

I don't keep the phone on constantly and only use it to check in every so often, and only really leave it on when I'm cruising around a town that has reception. Doing that, one charge can last me at least a couple weeks. You might want to consider getting an extra or an extended battery for your phone as well.

Here's another idea for extending the 'on' life of a smart phone. Might be the most practical one yet. They are replacements for the stock battery in the phone. Go for the one with the highest capacity.

From thread in electronics forum.