Phone charging bushcraft style

[Firebow Swagger]

i assume the power output would be the same , they will have to put in circuitry to keep the voltage constant or the phone wont charge

the main part is a TEC http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-TEC-TEC...al_Components_Supplies_ET&hash=item2a2473d23b Thermo electric cooler .
you can also find them in cheap car fridges .if you put in 12v one side get hot the other very cold ...but if you keep one side cool and add heat it gives off a voltage


with a bit off knowhow you could make this http://www.instructables.com/id/Battery-Charger-Powered-by-Fire/ but I think the Flame stower is a fantastic design

 

[Firebow Swagger]

the other option is dont buy an Iphone as all the others you can put in a new spare battery .

I know bushcraft should be tec free but a smartphone is a essential way to find a pub and get a taxi back to camp before the others notice..and then you can show them the photos in the morning ...Go Go gadgets

 

[ADz-1983]

Erm, because you are on a long trip and want to be able to charge things like, say, a GPS?

Erm, did you even read what I wrote?

A power bank is a portable charger for any USB based device. You just plug your device in and start charging. I can charge a Galaxy Note II 3 times on my poerbank and the Note II has a 3000+ mah battery!

i assume the power output would be the same , they will have to put in circuitry to keep the voltage constant or the phone wont charge

the main part is a TEC http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-TEC-TEC...al_Components_Supplies_ET&hash=item2a2473d23b Thermo electric cooler .
you can also find them in cheap car fridges .if you put in 12v one side get hot the other very cold ...but if you keep one side cool and add heat it gives off a voltage


with a bit off knowhow you could make this http://www.instructables.com/id/Battery-Charger-Powered-by-Fire/ but I think the Flame stower is a fantastic design

The voltage will be constant but it will be much lower and more of a trickle charge like you get from USB port on laptop or maybe less. Will fully charge but take much longer then a power bank or wall charger.

 

[almac]

interesting device. while solar won't work well in the rain, this device will.
still haven't decided if I need to charge anything while in the bush, as I tend to 'get away' from the world when I go out.
the only power I use is either a rarely used GPS or even more rarely used am/fm crank radio.

 

[rik_uk3]

To be fair bushcraft is what most of us probably do in our sheds/man caves/gardens .
And I personally have a ps3 so I can watch youtube while tinkering .
And a tablet plugged into a big loud sound system so I can hear it over the various power tools .
I've seen a power bank in action and they are great but this little tool is still more interesting to me personally.
Will a big flame give more power ? so controlling the flame to keep the power going would & could be fun .
right ? .
I could do with either one of these or a power bank as having kids and cartoons can be a life saver .
Like when its raining and they are not used to roughing it under a tarp (been there).
They :swordfigh until I managed to get a cartoon playing on my phone propped up on a bag .
Half hours bliss then the phone died lol

Cheap Android tablet, power bank will do the job nicely

 

[salan]

Erm, the power bank does a better job.

Thats the route I have gone after becoming totally disillusioned with solar products. At the moment, there is just not enough power output from a lot of these things. The solar/wind up radio I have for example only lasts an hour/ two max. But the £6 radio I have that covers shortwave as well and takes two AA batteries lasts days. I can charge up the batteries from my power bank (same as Rik has) and away we go!
Alan

 

[mrcharly]

Erm, did you even read what I wrote?

A power bank is a portable charger for any USB based device. You just plug your device in and start charging. I can charge a Galaxy Note II 3 times on my poerbank and the Note II has a 3000+ mah battery!

So what do you do if your trip lasts months or even just a few weeks?

 

[ADz-1983]

So what do you do if your trip lasts months or even just a few weeks?

Same as usual. Maybe up capacity of power bank.

 

[mrcharly]

So your power bank can charge your phone 3 times and you think that's sufficient for months?

 

[ADz-1983]

So your power bank can charge your phone 3 times and you think that's sufficient for months?

No I have various power bank and various phones.

Where I was going and how long for would determine what capacity power bank I chose and what capacity phone I would use.

For example 15000mah bank would charge average phone about 14 times. A 30000mah would obviously double that.

The 3 times you're referring to is my note 2 which has 3 times capacity of average phone which I wouldnt take unless I modded system to use less power like under volting or under clocking and maybe flashing new rom to device instead of stock Samsung.

There is many things I could do instead of pratting about with a solar or fire charger which would take far too long to charge.

For a 3 day trip I could just use a extended battery and take smaller power bank or standard battery and bigger power bank.



Sent from my Galaxy Note II using Tapatalk 4

 

[mrcharly]

So what would you do on a trip lasting, say, 4 weeks?

 

[ADz-1983]

So what would you do on a trip lasting, say, 4 weeks?

Ok you're probably a really nice guy but you're just starting to get annoying now because you're clearly not even reading or just ignoring what I am saying. I have already answered this question in enough clarity it didn't need to be asked again so you're either not understanding or just trolling.

This is the last time I will re-iterate my answer to you, from now on I will simply quote myself.

I have plenty enough portable power plus ways to reduce power consumption in devices to easily last 4 weeks. Add that to the fact that in 4 weeks I would never be too far away from society that I wouldn't be able to charge via a wall if I really needed too. Plus in an extreme emergency if I did for some reason run out of juice I have a small compact hand crank charger which I have never needed to use.

 

[Graveworm]

No I have various power bank and various phones.

Where I was going and how long for would determine what capacity power bank I chose and what capacity phone I would use.

For example 15000mah bank would charge average phone about 14 times. A 30000mah would obviously double that.

The 3 times you're referring to is my note 2 which has 3 times capacity of average phone which I wouldnt take unless I modded system to use less power like under volting or under clocking and maybe flashing new rom to device instead of stock Samsung.

There is many things I could do instead of pratting about with a solar or fire charger which would take far too long to charge.

For a 3 day trip I could just use a extended battery and take smaller power bank or standard battery and bigger power bank.



Sent from my Galaxy Note II using Tapatalk 4

Modern smart phone battery technology is pretty much state of the art. Weight for power unless you need to charge multiple devices the best solution is nearly always more batteries for the phone. The only down side is cost. Eg. 4 spare batteries for a Note 2 = 216g and comes out at actually 12400 mA-h, if one fails you still have 3 unaffected and you don't have to mess around with leads etc which is especially useful if the battery runs flat when you are out and about. A 12000 (rated) mA-h powerbank is 245g.

 

[mrcharly]

Ok you're probably a really nice guy but you're just starting to get annoying now because you're clearly not even reading or just ignoring what I am saying. I have already answered this question in enough clarity it didn't need to be asked again so you're either not understanding or just trolling.

This is the last time I will re-iterate my answer to you, from now on I will simply quote myself.

I have plenty enough portable power plus ways to reduce power consumption in devices to easily last 4 weeks. Add that to the fact that in 4 weeks I would never be too far away from society that I wouldn't be able to charge via a wall if I really needed too. Plus in an extreme emergency if I did for some reason run out of juice I have a small compact hand crank charger which I have never needed to use.

I was not trolling.

Further up the thread I commented on the usefulness of the device for long expeditions. That's probably why the swedish army have a similar device that attaches to their version of trangia stoves.

Batteries are simply not going to work for a really long expedition, nor do they last in cold weather use. For example, the NimH batteries I used in my bike lights give me 4.5 hours in summer use and barely 1.5hours at -10C.

You have now finally answered my question; you say you would reduce device use and rely on getting access to mains. That's fine, but I don't think would work for extended expeditions.

 

[ADz-1983]

I was not trolling.

Further up the thread I commented on the usefulness of the device for long expeditions. That's probably why the swedish army have a similar device that attaches to their version of trangia stoves.

Batteries are simply not going to work for a really long expedition, nor do they last in cold weather use. For example, the NimH batteries I used in my bike lights give me 4.5 hours in summer use and barely 1.5hours at -10C.

You have now finally answered my question; you say you would reduce device use and rely on getting access to mains. That's fine, but I don't think would work for extended expeditions.

I didn't say anything about reducing device use or relying on mains. I said I can reduce power consumption (And still do same things) and IF I needed to I could just pop to somewhere with a mains, I doubt I would ever need to though.

Batteries would work fine for a long expedition. It depends on capacity of battery and power consumption of your device.

It would be nice to have something that doent run out but it would just take too long to charge so I would rather take a power bank.

 

[Big Stu 12]

Sorry ... just my thoughts... But why would I want one .. I get out into the woods to get away from technology......

 

[rik_uk3]

So what would you do on a trip lasting, say, 4 weeks?

What would YOU do? Please enlighten us.

ADz is right, you have to be somewhere pretty remote not to have access to mains power during your trip. Common sense says you'd also ration your power consumption if needed.

Like the recent methanol thread it comes down to some of us being happy with it (and power banks) and others that don't like either and for some reason get quite antagonistic/pedantic/wind up merchant-troll about it. Its all part of life's rich tapestry I suppose

 

[mrcharly]

Maybe I should add at this point that I used to live off-grid, in the UK. You don't need to be in total wilderness to be away from mains.

What would I do?

Depends on mode of travel, latitude and climate. When I lived off-grid I had a PV panel and used kero lanterns. I

PV panels are of little use in dark winter months at high latitudes, so I'd be looking for some other solution. I'd looked into peltier devices at the time; thinking of installing one on the solid fuel stove for an extra trickle. That's when I came across the trangia-stove versions.

f I were on an extended cycling expedition, I'd use a dynamo and one of the charging systems that can output to a variety of devices. If I were on foot - well, a peltier device would be useful.

The device being discussed in this thread is small and neat - there are some good design ideas (like using a slab to conduct heat from a fire and a folding bowl to cool the heatsink). Sure, it wouldn't provide much power. But it could provide enough to power a small VHF for comms, slowly charge a GPS, a torch.

I don't understand why people are rubbishing it so much. Being utterly reliant on batteries for cold-weather travel is not sensible, they simply don't last very long.

 

[salan]

Horses for courses really.
We go caravaning on sites with no facilities and I need a CPAP machine. That requires a lot of power 120WH per night
That is the min I need to provide. so it depends upon you needs and what you are doing. The majority of us in the UK are only out for a week or two max. That is all we need to cover. If I was wanting to do months etc. then I would have to tatally rethink things.
alan

 

[rik_uk3]

Maybe I should add at this point that I used to live off-grid, in the UK. You don't need to be in total wilderness to be away from mains.

What would I do?

Depends on mode of travel, latitude and climate. When I lived off-grid I had a PV panel and used kero lanterns. I

PV panels are of little use in dark winter months at high latitudes, so I'd be looking for some other solution. I'd looked into peltier devices at the time; thinking of installing one on the solid fuel stove for an extra trickle. That's when I came across the trangia-stove versions.

f I were on an extended cycling expedition, I'd use a dynamo and one of the charging systems that can output to a variety of devices. If I were on foot - well, a peltier device would be useful.

The device being discussed in this thread is small and neat - there are some good design ideas (like using a slab to conduct heat from a fire and a folding bowl to cool the heatsink). Sure, it wouldn't provide much power. But it could provide enough to power a small VHF for comms, slowly charge a GPS, a torch.

I don't understand why people are rubbishing it so much. Being utterly reliant on batteries for cold-weather travel is not sensible, they simply don't last very long.

Slowly charge sums it up really. Where would you be using VHF comms? What would you use? If your hoping to use hand held rigs me thinks you'd need a tad in your charging method and batteries from the OP.

As for batteries in cold weather then you need to appraise your batteries for those conditions, its not rocket science really and for a different thread I would think as its a different ball game.