Brunton Solaris Flexible Personal Solar Panel

You will need a battery. Goal Zero has a battery pack that is exactly what you are looking for. The BC.com item code is GZR0022. I use mine quite often. I charged it with my USB at home to start with a full charge and I top it off with my solar panels when I'm not using them for anything else. Good system.

Overcast is not the problem. You're getting radiation energy from the sun, right through the clouds. Ideally, all your stuff should run on a common type of battery. If that isn't possible, make sure you have adaptors. Which are a pain, depending on what's at stake. You can 'daisy chain' a few of your items. My Schosce (sic) can charge from a wall socket, and charge the phone at the same time. Since what you need, as you describe the conditions, is a solar system costing upwards of $1,000. It might cost less, and be more efficient, to have devices with USB2-3, USB mini, and USB micro sockets. Unless you carry a travel battery charger, your AAA, AA, C and D cannot be charged directly off your solar. IF the device has a USB connector, you can wisely charge the batteries inside the device, and not need a separate battery charger. Maybe, and I say maybe as in, "Maybe not." your net-top battery can be the system battery, if you have extra USB connectons on the net-top.

If you really have to have a lot of power, look at gel-cell motorcycle batteries. But every time you leave town, you'll have to lug a ten pound battery with you.

Hi, yes the 6W will charge your batteries, but the 12W will do it faster... its really up to you... you would have to do the math... but if all other components are the same between the 6W and 12W its essentially twice as fast...

Brunton replaced the Solo Battery pack with the Impel and Sustain Battery Packs. I use the Sustain with the Solaris 12 Panels. It would handle the task with the car charger Phil mentioned.

More is better when it comes to solar gain. The Solaris 26 is the way to go vs the solar roll 12. Brunton also used to make a larger battery pack called the Solo that would've worked great on multiple charges, but I don't see it in their line anymore. I'm not sure of what type of plug the Ipad has, but it's probably also going to require you to get a proprietary car charger so that your device will plug into the lighter type adapter on the panel itself.

Hey there,
I am a 2009 thru-hiker, and I found that with Verizon service I could manage to send off some text in southern and northern Cali. On those occasions, my AT&T friends usually ended up using my phone.
Southern Cal - Worked alright ,especially for the first few days. I cold even make a few calls. The Sierra - forget it! Northern Cali - occasionally I'd break through. Oregon - once in a VERY blue moon, extremely rare. WA - about the same as OR.
I initially started off with the idea that I would carry a solar charger, but the weight-to-power ratio did not seem to make sense. I simply carried an extra battery for each device (especially the camera) that weighed less, cost less, and suited me just fine (especially considering the fact that the phone could rarely be used.) I would simply make it a priority to charge all batteries when I made it to town... like everyone else.
I would check my phone on high, clear vistas and road crossings. After a while, thats the only time that it became even worth considering. The rest of the time, I carried the phone around simply because of my attachment to it, and I liked to have it as soon as I reached the road that I intended to use to thumb a ride into town.
My final thoughts: save your money. Buy a spare batt for each device. Spend your money on ice cream, or one final piece of ultra-light gear. HAVE A BLAST!... you're going to see amazing things and meet amazing people.

I would use the Power Traveller, Power Gorilla. They seem to work a lot better than Brunton ones. I don't know if they sell them at backcountry.com though.

Yes, it should. Your Trimble has a 27.8Wh battery (3.7w output x 7.5Ah). If my math is correct (27.8/6= 4.63), under perfect conditions (and assuming 100% efficiency), expect it to take about 5 hours for a full charge with a 6 watt panel.

I should add- With the 12w, you're going to cut your charge time in half, but even then, you're going to basically end up with one day on, one day off with the ability to use your Geo XT for data collection. You might want to consider something like the Brunton Solo 7.5 as part of your system so that you can charge and store power in it with the Solaris during the day, then recharge the GPS off the Solo at night for the next day's work. Hope that helps.

http://www.dahon.com/news/releases/2009/08/dahon-brings-green-power-every-bike

Check out this device made by Dahon. I have been eying it for a ride on the Natchez Trace to keep my iPhone charged. I don't know anyone that has one, but would seem to be worth a look.

These will barely charge a laptop, go bigger.

Cannot tell if it has a USB port, though other reviews below say it has been used to charge iPhods, though if you are looking strictly for a panel with a USB connection check out the Brunton Solaris USB, link below

http://www.brunton.com/product.php?id=608

My 3Gs is really touchy when I plug it into the inverter off a car. The touchscreen goes a little crazy. The AC current probably isnt as pure/conditioned as what comes out of the home wall outlet. It definitely charges though no problem. I experience the exact same when connecting an inverter to the 26watt panel. Charges quick, but the touchscreen is almost unusable.

It is extremely dependent on a number of things, time of day, weather etc. I can tell you that the 26 watt charges my iPhone at almost a % pt per minute in clear sun when it's late afternoon (note, my iPhone battery isn't new anymore, it drains quick and recharges equally quick). Regardless, the 26watt shocked me with how effective it is.

Check out the Manual for these panels at Brunton's website, link below

http://www.brunton.com/manuals/current/Solaris_6_&_12_manual.pdf

It has a chart for charge times with common end users for both the 6 w and 12 W

It comes with a standard female 12v cigarette lighter cable (and others charging cables).

You just need a basic adapter....should be simple enough.

It's not submersible because of the connection for the cables but it's quite water resistant. It's easy enough to protect the connector if it really starts raining.

Yes...for sure.

Nope. Apple products, and most modern electronics, have built-in overcharge protection.

Either panel will work, but you get more charging power (in less time) for your money with the Solaris 12. If my math is right, he NP-FF51 should charge (in good conditions) in about an hour. The NP-FF71 should charge in about 1.5 hours. If you use the Solaris 6 watt version, double the times, at least. Brunton estimates the charge time for camcorders is 1 -2 hours with the Solaris 12, which seems accurate for your situation.

As for how you do this, you will need a vehicle power adapter since the Solaris units come with the female coupling (I assume this comes with the units here, but you should check). You can pick up a male car adapter online for less than $30. Make sure it's specific to your camcorder's model. Wasabi Power makes one as does TurboCharger. Sony might even have one in their accessories (I didn't check). Once you have that, you just find some sun, plug in the adapter that comes with the Brunton unit into the solar array then plug in your car adapter into that and connect your camcorder for almost magic charging.

You should test this before you go, and in a variety of weather conditions in order to get the approximate charge times so you can plan ahead and know what to expect.

Go to Amazon - they have good deals right now eg. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000GEFFBO/ref=ox_ya_oh_product

Cheers JK

Yes. This is only really useful to trickle charge higher voltage devices though. As stringing a bunch of these together in series will not allow them to supply more current.

Read carefully Corey, you purchased a 6 watt model, not a 6 volt model. That said, it sounds like you want this:http://www.amazon.com/Jensen-JP2401-Dc-USB-Charger/dp/B000IAPCWI

the larger 12 watt panel above will TRICKLE charge your laptop. ie: charge the batteries over the course of a day or two.

That sounds very ambitious. I hope for your sake that it works. The largest one they sell on Backcountry is this onehttp://www.backcountry.com/store/BRU0200/Brunton-Solaris-52-Solar-Panel.htmlby Brunton Solaris. It measures 50 x 31.5in and has an output of 52 Watts at 12V in direct sunlight. Not sure how that would do on a vehicle. Best of Luck

I have a small pontoon boat with a electric trolling motor,runs on a 12v battery can I extened the running life of the 12v battery with a solar panel, when fishing.

Lets say you have a 3.6V, 1000 mAh (the same as 1 Ah) cellphone battery. That means that you have a 3.6 Watt hour battery (3.6 V * 1 Ah =3.6 VAh=3.6 Wh). That means that at 100% efficiency, a 6 watt panel could charge your battery in 40 mins (a 6 watt panel can charge a 6 Wh battery in 1 hour). Expect it to take at least an hour in good sunlight because of various losses to heat.