Charging Batteries On The PCT
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Date: 2020-08-18
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Comments and reviews: 10
John
Hey I worried about this before a Tasmanian hike last year. I have a Samsung and always find those battery banks to be super disappointing. The Samsung has a 3. 6amp battery. I took a 10amp hour battery and also a cheap solar panel. It's from Kogan, an Australian site that rebrands a lot of generic Chinese stuff. This thing weighs about 200g (7 oz) and I half expected it to suck. It was a total winner though! I think it does 1. 25 amps at full sun but it meant I had a phone for pics and tunes the whole time. I highly recommend it - I am sure there will be an identical ones on Amazon, ebay etc. It was maybe 35 Aussie so 20 something USD. It's got 4 rigid little panels in a folding, canvas-type cover. I tried it on over the top and charged the battery and sometimes the phone directly - I also had a spare old phone if I'd killed the main one. I don't go anywhere without it now and often lend it to other hikers in camp.
Oh the Samsungs have 3 battery modes now: Normal, maybe 20 hours, then maybe 28 hours then ultra which is 70-0dd. You have to pick 4 apps from a limited selection but they can be include camera and music. Days of use.
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Hey I worried about this before a Tasmanian hike last year. I have a Samsung and always find those battery banks to be super disappointing. The Samsung has a 3. 6amp battery. I took a 10amp hour battery and also a cheap solar panel. It's from Kogan, an Australian site that rebrands a lot of generic Chinese stuff. This thing weighs about 200g (7 oz) and I half expected it to suck. It was a total winner though! I think it does 1. 25 amps at full sun but it meant I had a phone for pics and tunes the whole time. I highly recommend it - I am sure there will be an identical ones on Amazon, ebay etc. It was maybe 35 Aussie so 20 something USD. It's got 4 rigid little panels in a folding, canvas-type cover. I tried it on over the top and charged the battery and sometimes the phone directly - I also had a spare old phone if I'd killed the main one. I don't go anywhere without it now and often lend it to other hikers in camp.
Oh the Samsungs have 3 battery modes now: Normal, maybe 20 hours, then maybe 28 hours then ultra which is 70-0dd. You have to pick 4 apps from a limited selection but they can be include camera and music. Days of use.
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Ovrwatch
Im an electronics technician here, the solar panels will NOT hurt your phone battery. There is no difference between your battery in the phone and the battery pack (both are batteries. The problem is your phone itself. If you have a solar panel hooked up directly to your phone the phones software needs to see a certain amount of current going to the phone to charge it. If it doesnt see the proper amount of minimum current it stops charging your phone until you unplug it and plug it back in. If a cloud passes overhead while you have your phone plugged directly into the solar panel, your phone may stop the charging cycle. So you could be walking all day thinking your being charged but an hour after you started your hike the phone stopped the charging process: ( The battery packs on the other hand have no software to control whether or not it will charge, so ANY current going to the battery packs will apply a certain amount of charge to that battery pack. Hope this helps on why it does what it does.
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Im an electronics technician here, the solar panels will NOT hurt your phone battery. There is no difference between your battery in the phone and the battery pack (both are batteries. The problem is your phone itself. If you have a solar panel hooked up directly to your phone the phones software needs to see a certain amount of current going to the phone to charge it. If it doesnt see the proper amount of minimum current it stops charging your phone until you unplug it and plug it back in. If a cloud passes overhead while you have your phone plugged directly into the solar panel, your phone may stop the charging cycle. So you could be walking all day thinking your being charged but an hour after you started your hike the phone stopped the charging process: ( The battery packs on the other hand have no software to control whether or not it will charge, so ANY current going to the battery packs will apply a certain amount of charge to that battery pack. Hope this helps on why it does what it does.
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Andrew
I want to clarify something about your concern that solar power can fry your phone battery.
Off grid solar setups, meaning battery setups, utilize a charge controller. Usb devices have built in charge controllers. That means that portable solar panels with usb output WITHOUT charge Controllers rely upon the charge controller in the device it is powering. In other words, your smart phone will not let a portable solar panel fry the battery.
This is not the case with ALL solar panels, but will be the case with backpacking pv devices, most of which are limited to usb output
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I want to clarify something about your concern that solar power can fry your phone battery.
Off grid solar setups, meaning battery setups, utilize a charge controller. Usb devices have built in charge controllers. That means that portable solar panels with usb output WITHOUT charge Controllers rely upon the charge controller in the device it is powering. In other words, your smart phone will not let a portable solar panel fry the battery.
This is not the case with ALL solar panels, but will be the case with backpacking pv devices, most of which are limited to usb output
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Jeff
Hey, Dixie!
Congrats on muscling your way through the high snow year! I'm heading out for my PCT thru hike this year, so your videos have been suuuuuuper helpful. Many thanks.
Quick question here for ya though. I'm gonna be using my smart phone for a lot of things, too, so I was wondering if you used anything to protect yours? I've got an iPhone with a decent case on it right now, but it's certainly not waterproof or anything like that. Any thoughts on getting a LifeProof case or something along those lines? Any advice you can share is very appreciated!
Thanks!
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Hey, Dixie!
Congrats on muscling your way through the high snow year! I'm heading out for my PCT thru hike this year, so your videos have been suuuuuuper helpful. Many thanks.
Quick question here for ya though. I'm gonna be using my smart phone for a lot of things, too, so I was wondering if you used anything to protect yours? I've got an iPhone with a decent case on it right now, but it's certainly not waterproof or anything like that. Any thoughts on getting a LifeProof case or something along those lines? Any advice you can share is very appreciated!
Thanks!
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John
I found an article in a Google search about the Micro Wind Turbine designed by Nils Ferber that uses wind power to charge a battery, a USB device or both at the same time. This wind turbine is designed to fold up and looks like it could fit into a backpack easily and weighs 2. 2 lbs. This wind turbine is rated at 5 watts with an 11 MPH wind. As far as I could tell only the prototype was made, so I wonder if this has ever been put into production.
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I found an article in a Google search about the Micro Wind Turbine designed by Nils Ferber that uses wind power to charge a battery, a USB device or both at the same time. This wind turbine is designed to fold up and looks like it could fit into a backpack easily and weighs 2. 2 lbs. This wind turbine is rated at 5 watts with an 11 MPH wind. As far as I could tell only the prototype was made, so I wonder if this has ever been put into production.
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Mark
Thanks for the upload. this is where my spare Samsung Galaxy Note 4 phone is just the best for hiking for me has I it has a removable battery and you can buy those lemon Zero batteries which are like 6X the normal battery. and with a small battery bank you can have enough power for whatever. and for protecting the spare batteries I cut up a old fleece hiking jumper and made pouches. this kept the batteries warm in the cold and snowy conditions
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Thanks for the upload. this is where my spare Samsung Galaxy Note 4 phone is just the best for hiking for me has I it has a removable battery and you can buy those lemon Zero batteries which are like 6X the normal battery. and with a small battery bank you can have enough power for whatever. and for protecting the spare batteries I cut up a old fleece hiking jumper and made pouches. this kept the batteries warm in the cold and snowy conditions
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Cory
I don't recall the brand's right now but the flexible solar panels are awesome, save weight and they secure better than the hard ones. I have a small Bushnell that has a small battery pack that gives me a full charge on the phone, and in Arizona it fills the internal battery 2ish a day. The new tech is pretty cool though, we will have them integrated into the top of the pack soon.
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I don't recall the brand's right now but the flexible solar panels are awesome, save weight and they secure better than the hard ones. I have a small Bushnell that has a small battery pack that gives me a full charge on the phone, and in Arizona it fills the internal battery 2ish a day. The new tech is pretty cool though, we will have them integrated into the top of the pack soon.
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John
You chose the right brand of battery, ANKER is top-flight. In the 2. 5 years since this video portable solar and advanced a lot but weight remains an issue. Today (May-2020) you can get a nice foldable panel that includes a 20k+ mah battery for less than US50 but it will weigh over one pound, maybe 1. 2-1. 5 pounds and include two 2. 1A charge ports.
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You chose the right brand of battery, ANKER is top-flight. In the 2. 5 years since this video portable solar and advanced a lot but weight remains an issue. Today (May-2020) you can get a nice foldable panel that includes a 20k+ mah battery for less than US50 but it will weigh over one pound, maybe 1. 2-1. 5 pounds and include two 2. 1A charge ports.
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Hiker
If I charge my phone to 100% and leave it turned on and in airplane mode it is still at 100% 8 hrs later when I get up in the morning. Car camping it is still at 100% 15 hrs later as long as I do not use it even though it is turned on so turning your phone (Android Galaxy S6) off does not save battery life in airplane mode (by my experience)
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If I charge my phone to 100% and leave it turned on and in airplane mode it is still at 100% 8 hrs later when I get up in the morning. Car camping it is still at 100% 15 hrs later as long as I do not use it even though it is turned on so turning your phone (Android Galaxy S6) off does not save battery life in airplane mode (by my experience)
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Perico
I have being searching for a solar panel for rechargeable AA and AAA batteries and I only find solar devices for USB cellular phones, tablets and so on. No, I need common batteries for flashlights, radios and cameras, I don't mind how much they weight because I'm more oriented to survival than hiking. Any link? Greetings from Spain.
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I have being searching for a solar panel for rechargeable AA and AAA batteries and I only find solar devices for USB cellular phones, tablets and so on. No, I need common batteries for flashlights, radios and cameras, I don't mind how much they weight because I'm more oriented to survival than hiking. Any link? Greetings from Spain.
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