Solar charging your iPhone (or iPad)
This post was originally going to be a review of the Trails iPhone application however my iPhone battery died before I got the chance to give it a good go. That may say something about the application, but it also prompted this post - Solar charging your iPhone.
The iPhone has amazing travel-related apps, but what good are they if it dies after the first day of your power-less trip? Given that my trips usually involve much outdoor walking I figure I have two options; kinetic or solar. Until these guys refine their ideas a bit better solar is the go.
As such, I have done a bit of searching and found the following options:
Novothink Solar Charges are a range of iPhone and iPod accessories that clip right onto your phone as a case covering the back of the unit. They come in a range of colours and the iPhone model costs US$79.95.
There website says:
"2 hours of direct solar exposure provides about 30 minutes of talk time on a 3G network or 60 minutes of talk time on a 2G network"
They are very sleek and stylish units, but I can't help but wonder if it's slightly impractical to have the panel right on the back of your phone. In everyday life my phone is usually in my pocket and I don't think it would get much charge in the few minutes I have it t5o my ear. When I'm travelling I don't really want to have to leave my phone lying around outside to charge either, so how does it work.
To me, this just doesn't make sense. As such, I started looking for solutions that didn't have to clip right onto my phone.
Voltaic Systems are selling a range of backpack that include solar panels capable of generating from 4.5 to 15 watts of power. They also include batteries that can hold a charge generated from the panels, or charged by USB, car or AC adapters (optional). The bags look great quality and I'd quite proudly wear one.
The bags range from US$199 to US$499 and the website says:
"The Backpack, Converter and Messenger produce 4 Watts, meaning 1 hour in the sun will power 3 hours of iPod play time or 1.5 hours of cell phone talk time."
The downside of this approach though is that it is tied to the bag (obviously). When I go on a multi-day hike and need a bigger backpack I would wish I had a more portable solar solution. The company do also sell components for those wishing to retrofit their own bags (or anything else) and the thought did cross my mind of creating a system that would strap onto any bag from their parts, but then I remembered China.
I discovered that Chinavasion stock a number of solar products perfectly suited to my need for a fraction of the cost that I could even buy the components for. Again, many of the solar chargers were attached directly to the iPhone, but there were a few that were independent units and I decided to go with this one, as I figured it is compact and can be strapped to the outside of my bag. While the unit comes with a range of adapters for other phones it also has two standard female USB ports, into which I can plug the iPhone charger cable (or many other devices I have). They are not waterproof, so a ziplock bag will be necessary. The advantage of this approach though is that I can strap the unit to the outside of my bag and have my iPhone tucked away safely inside (or in my pocket). Also, at roughly US$30 it's WAY cheaper than any other option.
Their website says:
"The recharger's high capacity (2000mAH) internal battery can be recharged by the sun, car power adapter, or a standard AC outlet."
More specifically they say that it takes 5 hours AC power or 10 hours solar to fully recharge and that it has a switch to go between 4.5v, 5.5v, 6.5v and 9v output.
I've already testes charging the phone from the external battery and charging it from the sun and so far so good. What is left to determine is if the solar panels will generate enough charge to keep my iPhone charged over multiple days, even when it is being heavily used (such as when I track my journey's GPS coordinates). Over Easter I'm going hiking in the Victorian Alpine Region, so I'll give you a full review soon.
Until next time - Happy travels.
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