Does anyone know of a good setup for charging rechargeable AA or AAA batteries via a portable solar panel? I have a 10W solar panel with 2 USB ports that supposedly output 5V but when I tried to use it to charge a watson AA charger, nothing seemed to charge. It charges up battery packs and a phone fine.

If anyone has experience with a setup that they know works for AA or AAA I would love to hear it.

I have used the goal zero system. It worked but it is not a fast charge. over coarse clouds and portaging slowed the process. I found keeping open an tied to the top of the pack while walking and facing up in the canoe allowed more exposure time and provided a decent charge, but it still takes time.

I think your best bet would be a recharge pack. Solar has too many limitations. I use an Anker recharger. Works great for Go Pros, phones, cameras.Not sure what devise you're using and how long your trip is. If your devise is only using AAA or AA batteries , just bring spare batteries.

quote Blatz: "I think your best bet would be a recharge pack. Solar has too many limitations. I use an Anker recharger. Works great for Go Pros, phones, cameras.Not sure what devise you're using and how long your trip is. If your devise is only using AAA or AA batteries , just bring spare batteries. "

Just using the AA and AAA for flashlights. Perhaps a few extra batteries would weigh about the same as what it would take to recharge them. 11-12 day long trip coming up. I already take a USB battery pack plus solar panel for phones for pictures and GPS. The pack works great but the solar panel is nice to recharge the pack or direct to phones when the sun is out at camp.

I have a Goal Zero Nomad 7 that I've taken on a couple trips, but with sort of mixed success due to clouds, worn out batteries, or wanting to move on sunny days. This year I will picked up an Ankar 5200mAh charger and will give that a try this year for charging my headlamp and GoPro. I think for the 7-10 day range (and maybe a bit more) it is more efficient to carry stored charge than to generate from sun.

A couple additional thoughts:
- Phones require a lot of juice. Do you really need?
- Rechargeable batteries can wear out or build memory and may need reconditioning. Be sure any rechargeable you have are in tip top shape. Here is a great website about batteries. Bluejay Batteries I bought a battery smart charger this year and it really helped recondition my tired out Goal Zero batteries.
- If your flashlight is the big thing, you might look at getting a more efficient flashlight that runs on CR123 batteries. I carry a Surefire . Very bright and lasts a long time on one set of batteries, but I usually bring a second set.

I've only used the goal zero AA battery charger with the nomad 7. Works but I would agree with Jaywalker on results. I rarely need to charge AA's anyway. I now use the nomad to re-charge a battery pack. I use it for the kids iPods. Charge the battery pack during the day then charge the iPod at night. Don't use them much though only allow them to watch 1 movie with headphones if we get an all day rain out or they read books on it like a kindle.

T

I use my phone for its GPS with backcountry navigator. Pretty cool with all the campsites and portages downloaded. Shut almost everything else off to save battery.

quote vnzill: "Does anyone know of a good setup for charging rechargeable AA or AAA batteries via a portable solar panel? I have a 10W solar panel with 2 USB ports that supposedly output 5V but when I tried to use it to charge a watson AA charger, nothing seemed to charge. It charges up battery packs and a phone fine.

If anyone has experience with a setup that they know works for AA or AAA I would love to hear it."

although I have LED flashlights, I find that my maglight can use batteries that no longer power my GPS

are you saying that you are trying to run a battery charger off of a USB port? That isn't going to work, a battery charger takes a voltage, reduces it to a little more than the battery being charged, IOW your charger probably takes 9V to 13V or so, and delivers a little over 2-3V for an AA or AAA. The USB will charge your phone because it is 5v and your cell battery likely a litium at 3-3.6V.

I have a solar panel that produces around 22V 120ma on a sunny day in winter, even an overcast day it delivers anywhere from 6-9 volts. I bought a buck converter (reduces the voltage) for less than $3 that I can adjust to any voltage that I want. It only consumes about 10ma so not too bad. I was going to build one until I looked for the parts and discovered I could buy one for less.

go ahead and laugh, my charging system costs under $10, and I can charge any battery with it. Or even run low power devices.

quote ZaraSp00k: "

quote vnzill: "Does anyone know of a good setup for charging rechargeable AA or AAA batteries via a portable solar panel? I have a 10W solar panel with 2 USB ports that supposedly output 5V but when I tried to use it to charge a watson AA charger, nothing seemed to charge. It charges up battery packs and a phone fine.


If anyone has experience with a setup that they know works for AA or AAA I would love to hear it."

although I have LED flashlights, I find that my maglight can use batteries that no longer power my GPS


are you saying that you are trying to run a battery charger off of a USB port? That isn't going to work, a battery charger takes a voltage, reduces it to a little more than the battery being charged, IOW your charger probably takes 9V to 13V or so, and delivers a little over 2-3V for an AA or AAA. The USB will charge your phone because it is 5v and your cell battery likely a litium at 3-3.6V.


I have a solar panel that produces around 22V 120ma on a sunny day in winter, even an overcast day it delivers anywhere from 6-9 volts. I bought a buck converter (reduces the voltage) for less than $3 that I can adjust to any voltage that I want. It only consumes about 10ma so not too bad. I was going to build one until I looked for the parts and discovered I could buy one for less.


go ahead and laugh, my charging system costs under $10, and I can charge any battery with it. Or even run low power devices."

You are correct in what I was attempting with failure. The Watson 4 slot AA charger I have has a USB input and output but perhaps the input requires a wall wart that generates a higher voltage than my solar panel output. Seems you have a nice setup. What solar panel do you have?

I bought mine online at Gearbest, they ship from China and it takes about 5 weeks. Free shipping. I don't see the ones I have, but they have 3 that might do the trick:
for powering a device capable of being powered by a USB port (5V):
USB power

for powering a device that gets its power from an auto cigarette lighter(12-14V):
auto voltage power

and a foldable panel:
foldable 1.5W

for this last one do a search for a buck converter, if it has an adjustable pot you can adjust the output to anything 1V less than the supply voltage (output V of the panel) IOW with a $10 panel and a $3 regulator, you'll be able to power anything , adjust the ouput to about 1 to 1.5V more than your battery voltage if you are charging a battery, or equal to the V your device needs if you power directly

to give you an idea of how much power you actually get out of these things use the simple formula Watts=Volts x Current (in amps)
thus, my panel says it outputs 1.5W
and sure enough, one panel measured ~22V at 68ma
the other ~24V at 64ma
in parallel they deliver 23V and 130ma

don't expect more than 420ma out of the 12V panel
don't expect more than 1000ma out of the USB panel

you may find this interesting as an example, I have a 7.2V portable drill that was given to me, but no charger. To charge the battery I simply hooked up the battery directly to one of the panels. I measuerd the voltage draw and it was about 8.3V at full sun. I kept an eye on it (it was outside on my driveway in case it overheated and started fire or blew up) and when the voltage started to drop I disconnected it ( I was working in my garage) I was then able to use the drill for a fair amount of time. That's typical of a real charger, it needs a little more than 1V or so more than the battery voltage, and when the voltage drops the charger turns off.

I see they have something that might be better if all your needs are USB powered since everything is done for you, but you'll pay 4 or 5 times as much, yet a fraction of what other guys are paying:

foldable USB

"If your device is only using AAA or AA batteries , just bring spare batteries."

That's what I do now.

I used to use a solar charger with Eneloop and Energizer AA's, but now I use Energizer Lithiums, and bring a spare pack.

I have never had to use the spares, except for 1 time in the camera after doing lots of filming! Those Lithiums last super-long, and are super-light. 4-AA's in each of 2 headlamps + 1 extra 4-pack AA's. We used to take an 4-AA camera as well, and might do so again because it wouldn't be a huge loss if it got wrecked or dunked.

My headlamps (Black Diamond Vectra) have now been going for 4+ years ON THE SAME BATTERIES, and still seem to be going strong. I don't leave the batteries in the headlamp when it's in storage at home. Obviously we don't use them much while in the woods, we like firelight, moonlight, and just plain darkness.

The longevity and light weight of those Lithiums have relegated the solar unit to home storage.