SolarMonkey Adventurer

[FKeate]

Hi all,

Im considering getting myself a SolarMonkey Adventurer for a faily long term hike I hope to do in Sweden during late Spring/Summer of next year. It'll be mostly used to charge my iPhone and an old ipod classic, neither of which I use much when camping generally but as this will probably be a couple of months alone in the wild I wouldn't mind hearing a human voice once in a while (plus I've seen 127 hours and my surgical skills are simply not up to it, I want my phone handy at all times).

What I want to know is this, is it worth it? Do they actually charge anything? or will I be left with a rather expensive paper weight?

Any thoughts/experiances anyone has would be greatly appreciated. I've seen a lot of good reviews and a lot of bad ones, and all in all I trust you lot on here a wee bit more than some fool on amazon who couldnt figure out how a USB cable works...

Cheers folks, be good to hear from you.

 

[rickwhite]

Hi FKeate
I have a power monkey Explorer (version 1), which comes with the battery pack and the smaller solar panel. I haven't used the solar panel for a long time (not needed to) but I'm not sure its quite powerful enough to charge a modern smartphone. It worked fine on my old keypad / small screen Nokia though.
The explorer battery pack holds plenty of charge for at least one full charge of my iPhone, probably more, I can't remember now.
However, the adventurer is a better, more powerful panel so you'd probably be okay in decent sunlight, not so sure if it gets a bit cloudy though.
You'd be better off using the panel to trickle charge a battery pack during the day and then using the battery pack to charge your phone at the end of the day.
I'd recommend one of the powertraveller battery packs to go with it as a reserve, otherwise, if you have no sunlight, or poor sunlight, you have no power.
Hope that helps.

 

[ateallthepies]

You really have to look at the output of the panel to know how well it will work for a particular item. The rating will be in mA and be from full sun with the panel directly pointed at it. Both cloud and panel direction will affect the output depending on what type panel you get, Monocrystaline has the best efficiency and will work to some degree in cloudy conditions.

An I Phone battery is about 1440 mAh capacity. The standard charger puts out around 1000mA at 5 volts from memory? So using the charger it will take about an hour and a half to charge from empty.

If your solar device puts out say 100 mA in full sun it would need about 15 hours to fully charge an I Phone. The formula is... Battery capacity divided by charging current in mA gives time needed.

If your solar device puts out 500mA it will take roughly 3 hours to charge. If it gives out 1500 mA it will take 1 hour etc...

You can get high capacity power packs that are quite cheap and small now if solar is a no go. I have one from eBay that gives a stated 20,000 mAh capacity and will fit the palm of your hand and weighs about 300 grams! This will charge your phone about 15 times or an iPad twice. I took it on my recent trip across Spain and it worked very well when no power was available. The only downside was when it did need recharging it took a whole day to do so!

 

[FKeate]

Hi Rick

Thanks for the advice. I was actually thinking of the battery rather than direct charge method as well, seems sensible to have the panel hanging off the pack as you walk and have the phone nice and secure in a pocket.
I beleive the adventurer has an internal battery, but not sure how much it stores so perhaps the Extreme (which comes witha fairly large external battery) would be better?

Cheers.

 

[mrcharly]

An I Phone battery is about 1440 mAh capacity.

That seems a bit low. My Android phone has a capacity closer to 3000mAh.

 

[cbr6fs]

On the one i had the solar panel was all but useless, even after a day in the pretty strong Greek cloudless sun i couldn't get a full charge.

As a battery pack they no doubt work, but you pay a premium.


What's the itinerary, do you plan on visiting or staying in a town every 5 days or so?

 

[FKeate]

The output from the Adventurer is USB port: 5V 700mA (the website states this should charge an iphone at around 1% per minute in good sunlight)
And from the Extreme is USB port: 5V 1A and 12V DC port 800mAh, solar panel output 3 watts

Both should technically charge an iphone or even an ipad fairly well. The Extreme comes with a large external battery supposedly capable of charging an iphone 5 up to 6 times.

I do have a small power pack which I use for weekend out etc, but the trip im planning will be more on a 3/4 month time scale with very limited access to proper mains leccy, thus looking into more renewable sources.

However, as much as the bumf says it should all be fine does anyone have real life experience with these things? Especially in our less than perfect climate (though Sweden in summer is actually pretty darn sunny).
I just wish I could get hold of one to play with for a weekend before commiting to a buy (at £85 the adventurer isnt exactly cheap and the Extreme is even more...)

 

[FKeate]

The plan is essentially "walk from Malmo to Kiruna". Trying to be as self sufficient as possible along the way. I will be stopping in towns for supplies occasionally, and visiting some family members on the way, but generally out in the woods.

 

[pauljm116]

Get yourself one of these http://www.amazon.co.uk/Foldable-Du...F8&qid=1415374639&sr=8-1&keywords=anker+solar and a half decent battery pack. Used my panel a few times this year and was charging my phone well, they do a smaller panel that might be better for attaching to a pack. Also have a look at goalzero panels, they are very good but not cheap.

 

[ateallthepies]

That seems a bit low. My Android phone has a capacity closer to 3000mAh.

Not sure about the newer ones, I have the 4 so probably lower capacity?

I built my own small solar charging device and did some testing last year. You must take the figures stated in the blurb as the maximum output in optimum conditions. Take away any of a number of factors and the output can halve or lower.

If your starting with a panel that gives you 1000 mA @ 5 volts then not so much of a problem so get the largest output you can.

 

[cbr6fs]

The plan is essentially "walk from Malmo to Kiruna". Trying to be as self sufficient as possible along the way. I will be stopping in towns for supplies occasionally, and visiting some family members on the way, but generally out in the woods.

A battery bank with replaceable batteries would be (and is) my choice, i've tried several solar panels but there is nothing that worked well while on the move.

The problem i had is that the weight of the solar panels compared to replacement batteries just didn't add up, and it's not like the solar panels i tried gave enough output to charge my phone in the day time.

If i was to stop every other day to set up a base camp then i think i'd be swayed towards solar, but while on the move i struggled to get even 1000mAh out of a solar panel on a days hike.

If you are interested in the battery bank solution i'm currently using let me know and i'll put up some pics and a description, the bank itself is pretty cheap, it's the 18650 batteries that tend to bump the price up.

 

[ebt.]

Power bank + turn the phone off until you actually need it would be my advice. Its a lot less hassle.

I tried a solar jobby for a weekend away in the uk and was vastly underwhelmed, cant remember the brand though

 

[ateallthepies]

This is my power bank, £16.99 delivers off of EBay! Worked more or less to specs and didn't miss a beat in 8 weeks of hiking.

And in use one breakfast time at a nice Spanish cafe...

 

[petrochemicals]

If I was going to buy solar I would go for something like this, powerful enough to only require a few hours, small enough to fit the top of the rucksack. Stick it on around noon between the hours of 10 and 2 (or 11and 3 in the summer) for maximum efficience, and your not tied down. Bear in mind this will only charge your phone once a day like this.

Edit
Forgot the link

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/281446933498?cmd=VIDESC&gxo=true

 

[Angry Pirate]

A possible alternative is to buy a dead cheap basic nokia and use that for the duration. The battery life on old school phones is awesome. I used mine for 16 days on the Pennine Way, switching it on for a bit each evening to recieve texts etc. I carried a spare battery which I chucked in for the last few days. Obviously you'll need a charging solution too but it would stop me worrying about my precious phone in the woods.

 

[DavidJT]

Sounds like you are planning to mostly be in the Swedish forests, which even in good weather will be very shady.

That would lead me to go down the battery / power bank route rather than solar.

Thats a long walk. What is it, around 1200 miles?

 

[petrochemicals]

A possible alternative is to buy a dead cheap basic nokia and use that for the duration. The battery life on old school phones is awesome. I used mine for 16 days on the Pennine Way, switching it on for a bit each evening to recieve texts etc. I carried a spare battery which I chucked in for the last few days. Obviously you'll need a charging solution too but it would stop me worrying about my precious phone in the woods.

True, touchscreens are battery hungry, by a factor of 3 plus.

 

[Quixoticgeek]

Hi FKeate
I have a power monkey Explorer (version 1), which comes with the battery pack and the smaller solar panel. I haven't used the solar panel for a long time (not needed to) but I'm not sure its quite powerful enough to charge a modern smartphone. It worked fine on my old keypad / small screen Nokia though.

I have the same charger. I use it a lot. The battery pack lives in my pack, and if I am going away for more than the weekend I take the solar panel as well. I have done week long cycle trips in Belgium using the solar panel and battery pack together to charge my modern smart phone.

I would use the panel on my pack when out and about, and on the tent when in camp. This keeps the battery nice and charged.

If I was to make one improvement of the powermonkey extreme it would be the ability to add a second solar panel.

The explorer battery pack holds plenty of charge for at least one full charge of my iPhone, probably more, I can't remember now.

When new, it will do you 6 charges of an iphone without needing solar top up.

However, the adventurer is a better, more powerful panel so you'd probably be okay in decent sunlight, not so sure if it gets a bit cloudy though.
You'd be better off using the panel to trickle charge a battery pack during the day and then using the battery pack to charge your phone at the end of the day.

This I entirely agree with Use the solar panel to charge the power monkey battery,and use the power monkey battery to charge your phone.

I'd recommend one of the powertraveller battery packs to go with it as a reserve, otherwise, if you have no sunlight, or poor sunlight, you have no power.
Hope that helps.

Having a solar panel without a battery on it is never going to be a good idea.

Julia

 

[neilwragg]

I have the Extreme and it keeps me going for a month without electrics in the summer. The battery gets topped up during the day by the solar panels and then the iPhone 5 is charged overnight. This will take the battery down to about 85% so if there is no sun the next day there's still a few more charges left but then you'll need more sun to get the battery back to 100% eventually. It works for me, I've also got the older solar monkey and use that to charge a torch.