johnsondave asks
does anyone have knowledge of a functional solar charger for phones or cameras
Some replies on other solar charger threads:
Tried out the solar charger on trip down through France. Result???
Rubbish - it does not charge up even in bright sunlight. Waste of weight.
A reply on this forum says:
The problem with solar chargers is that you need a lot of real estate for them to be efficient, and the ones that you hang on your pack simply aren't efficient due to their size and not worth carrying
These comments do not really answer johnsondave's question, and as I have used, and am still using a functional solar charger to charge batteries I will put my experience to assist. See attached picture
I am a keen photographer and carry a Canon DSLR camera with two lenses and a tripod, after seeing the results from my Samsung Galaxy II 8MP camera, which was bought for its phone and Apps, I had no hesitation in leaving the Canon behind for the Camino. I carried and used a Pocket Power 5,000mA/hr battery Pack which happen to have a solar film on the top of the phone sized Pack.
Myth No 1. you need a lot of real estate (the solar panel) for them to be efficient. True, if you are going to plug the output from a solar panel to charge your appliance directly. The small area of solar film on the power pack is an additional means to charge the pack, it is not the primary charger input. The operation is that the powerpack is charged through a USB from a computer or a wall charger until it is fully charged. The 5,000 mA/h powerpak I use has enough juice stored to give 2+ charges to the battery, this allowed me to use my Samsung cameraphone for at least two days of heavy picture and video taking, apart from checking and pasting emails, using the GPS to get back on track if lost (yes I got lost). These powerpacks as confirmed by StuartM are now able to store 120,000mA/h, even larger capacity external battery chargers are available and they are not much heavier.
The solar power pack was tied to the top of my backpack in a clear plastic zip-bag as I walked and took about 8 hours of direct or cloudy sunlight to pump enough juice into the power pack to give a charging boost from this power pack to charge one battery.
Myth No 2. those solar chargers are not worth the extra weight and neither are the external batteries. I append below the actual weights of Samsung batteries I carried which I whipped out to swap depleted batteries on the go with a fully charged battery (you cannot do this with the iPhone ......yet). As these batteries weigh only 34gm each I found two extras was enough, you can carry more, with the power pack in use. You judge for yourself.
iPhone4 3.5” 140gm
iPhone5 4.0” 112gm
Samsung G2 118gm
Samsung spare battery 34gm
Samsung wall charger with USB 46gm
Pocket Power 5,000 mA/h 176gm on box but actual 235gm as weighed
Myth No 3. You need a DSLR camera for pictures on the Camino. I use the following for my more serious picure taking:
Canon D800 DSLR camera 900gm
Canon Telephoto F/2.8L ISUSM 1,470gm
Wideangle Lens EFS 17/55 645gm
Tripod Vista Attaras 2,080gm
The pictures and videos I took with the Samsung was good enough to give a screen presentation to our congregation without putting them to sleep.
Myth No 4.
I don't know about a camera though......probably need a larger capacity solar panel/cell
The power pak will charge a camera battery as it comes with multi-adapter connectors, if you are serious in your photography and willing to carry the extra weight, see above, you can carry spare batteries as the small solar charger are meant to give a boost and not to be the main charger.
In conclusion I found I was over-prepared with 5 days of power, most places in Spain had wall chargers on the Camino, I even had enough spare power to share my power pack to charge a few fellow pilgrim phones who ran out of power on the road. Whilst hooked to a power point I was happier leaving my power pack charging there than leaving my cameraphone charging unattended for 4 hours. I will end by stating that my Samsung was on flight Mode, all APPS dumbed down until needed, but was not switched off because it was used as an extremely efficient point and shoot camera. I therefore call my Samsung Smartphone a cameraphone, the GalaxyIII is now 12MP