Powering gadgets - battery banks or solar charger?

[Deleted member 56886]

Hi folks, I'm after some advice
Now I'm of that age where I like my creature comforts, thosebeing my vape and my phone. Vape is a must for me, smoker from a young age and just no matter how hard I try I'm a nicotine addict. The comfort with my phone is when I get home from camp, Mrs won't kill me for being unreachable, and it's handy to have for emergencies, of which I never hope to have. So the question, what power bank would you recommend, I'm looking for something that can charge 2 devices, once a day for 7 days, as that's the longest I will be away from home at any one time. I've had some generic ones off the Internet, claiming to fill the parameters I'm looking for, but alas not one can charge my phone once. Any and all advice/suggestions/ recommendations welcome
TIA
John

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[EdS]

Power Bank topped up with solar charger, rather than solar direct to device

 

[BigMonster]

Solar panel tech is slowly catching up and it's viable in good sun. But weight per Wh and practicality of the whole setup still favors just the powerbank.

 

[nigelp]

Powerbank or two power banks would do 6/7 days nicely. Less faff and will work in poor weather and cloud.

 

[Oaktree83]

Power bank, unless you can provide a large continuously sunlit surface, e.g trekking in the Sahara...

 

[Broch]

Small solar panels are useless in my experience - unless you can wait all day to make one phone call

Work out the power capacity of each device then get one or more power banks to cover the number of times you need to charge. I can't fault my Anker power bank but then my phone will last several days anyway when I switch off Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

 

[Robson Valley]

You need rechargeable big storage batteries to really take advantage of photovoltaic output. Plate surface area determines charging capacity. I use pairs of 6VDC in series instead of single 12VDC batteries for that reason. Space and weight are not issues. You need to decide if you can get along with square wave, modified sine wave or pure sine wave AC from the inverter for your appliances. As you might imagine, price rises accordingly with electronic complexity.

 

[marcoruhland]

hi,
if you need a (emergency) phone that work for one week (standby) do not take a smartphone with large display sonim xp5plus (3500mah for 30h/600h)

in general i would not recommend goal zero there product are overpriced but i had some very good deals (1/3 of the retail price so overall i am very happy with them )
my largest mobil power bank sherpa-100ac in a catalyst-sleeve (1.1 kg) the venture-70 (out of production) has better stand-by (less energy consumption) than the new venture-75 for long time outside there is a nomad-28-plus-solar-panel and a tex energy air 18 wind turbine both works great but you need one week good condition (sun/ wind) for the sherpa 100 so in relation they are to heavy - there is an 8 year old powermonkey-expedition kit (that never was upgrade with wind or water turbine like announced - so tex energy is the successor company) that works without solar/wind but for 10000mah you need much human power with the crank so my recommendation if needed take a larger power bank for only one week

mr

 

[Paul_B]

Charging my two anker power banks, 20k mAh each. That's for 4 days with two phones, switch and tablet.

 

[sidpost]

The 20W Xtar brand solar panel is working well for me.

The Sofirn LT1 lantern is an awesome lantern (LED) and also works as a powerbank. With 4 x 18650 batteries, the storage capacity for your phone, MP3 player, etc. is impressive. I am in the USA and get mine direct out of China on one of their sales for ~$50USD shipped in ~2 weeks with standard shipping. Not sure about the UK import duties and shipping times but, I am super happy with both of mine. The Reddit Flashlight forum is highly supportive of them as well.

 

[Nice65]

Can’t beat the LT1 just as a lantern, the power bank feature is a great bonus.

 

[Nice65]

To add, your vape is a high drain device. The one I used to use ran on 18650 batteries (3000mah). I’d easily drain a battery a day with a hefty DTL cloud tank on it. It‘s asking a lot of a powerbank to keep you vaping for a week.

If you’re using higher nic liquid and a MTL tank, then you’ll probably be ok, but even so, making things (coils) hot costs a lot in power.

I use Anker powerbanks, they don’t over claim the mAh. If you know your vape battery capacity and your phone battery capacity then you’ll be able to work out approximately how many charges you’ll get. To charge the 2 devices for 7 days is a big ask, at least 20,000 mAh, probably bigger, but it really depends on your usage and the battery capacity of your phone and vape.

 

[Erbswurst]

I switch off my smartphone if in the woods. Important partners know that they have to send me a SMS if they need a contact. I usually check it once or twice a day.

I carry a usual fast charger and cable and if really needed I simply have to go somewhere and order a coffee for charging the phone.

I carry cigarettes like John Wayne.

But I don't schlep a solar panel or power bank around. My Samsung outdoor phone has a pretty big battery though.
Also otherwise I highly recommend the x-cover versions. That's professional outdoor gear of it's best!

 

[5TailFox]

Seems like a good thread to ask this question for anyone else who has a solar power bank charger.

I got this with the idea of strapping it to the outside of my pack whilst hiking into places but it doesn’t have a case or holes to mount. Has anyone got suggestions for a mount case out other way to lash to the outside of a pack?

Thanks in advance


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[Pattree]

Just an idea that you can make very easily.

It could be posh sewn leather layers, glued acrylic or primitive screwed wood or any combination of materials and attachments.

Others will have better ideas.

 

[5TailFox]

Just an idea that you can make very easily.

It could be posh sewn leather layers, glued acrylic or primitive screwed wood or any combination of materials and attachments.

Others will have better ideas.View attachment 90246

Thanks, good idea but I don’t really have much time to make stuff. I made a couple of paracord carabiner’s to put on the main unit then lash to the Molle straps on my webbing but wondered if there was a case on the market to protect it too.

 

[hughtrimble]

When working out how many times your power bank can charge your device(s) you need to consider the Watt hours not the mAh. This video explains why perfectly:

 

[Chris]

Does your bag have any molle?

Could get some molle Velcro strips to add to your bag, and then some adhesive backed velcro to add to the back of the panels.

 

[sidpost]

Your best option is probably going to be a good quality Velcro with the fuzzy side glued to the back of your solar panels and the "sticker" side on your backpack either on Molle or possibly sewn onto your backpack.

In fairness though, the size of those panels probably won't provide much power in the UK with short sun hours or any overcast skies. Add to that, the fact that hung on a backpack means the panels aren't pointed favorably towards the Sun most of the time so, efficiency is compromised significantly. I say this using a 20W panel in the Northern USA to attempt to charge a cellphone directly with very limited success. I would test it on a sunny window seal at home first before I spent much time into rigging a backpack for it.

I would suggest getting a good 20K mah power bank which you can top off at home or in a car during a drive. Amazon USA provided a good option for me at ~$30USD with a PD port in addition to a small LCD screen to show charge status.

I should also note that I ended up hanging my 20W solar panel on the sunny side of my tent to ensure most favorable solar power output conditions and ended up putting that power into a small power bank to top my phone off at a night so I could catch every Watt possible!

 

[5TailFox]

Your best option is probably going to be a good quality Velcro with the fuzzy side glued to the back of your solar panels and the "sticker" side on your backpack either on Molle or possibly sewn onto your backpack.

In fairness though, the size of those panels probably won't provide much power in the UK with short sun hours or any overcast skies. Add to that, the fact that hung on a backpack means the panels aren't pointed favorably towards the Sun most of the time so, efficiency is compromised significantly. I say this using a 20W panel in the Northern USA to attempt to charge a cellphone directly with very limited success. I would test it on a sunny window seal at home first before I spent much time into rigging a backpack for it.

I would suggest getting a good 20K mah power bank which you can top off at home or in a car during a drive. Amazon USA provided a good option for me at ~$30USD with a PD port in addition to a small LCD screen to show charge status.

I should also note that I ended up hanging my 20W solar panel on the sunny side of my tent to ensure most favorable solar power output conditions and ended up putting that power into a small power bank to top my phone off at a night so I could catch every Watt possible!

I’ll give it some thought and hopefully I can field test it in the cloudy/raining uk weather this weekend