Solar Charger/Battery Combo for keeping a GoPro Camera working

[Luke Schmidt]

I have a rather specific question about solar chargers for you electrical experts out there.
I want to use a Gopro Hero 4 Silver to take videos of hiking and packrafting trips. So far I've gotten about 1-2 days out of each battery. I may be doing at least one trip in the Northern Rockies of 10-11 days and several trips in the 5-7 day range. I don't use a smartphone on my trips so the GoPro would be basically the only thing I'd be charging.
What do you think the best charger/battery combination would be for my needs? I have an Apollo 2 charger I ordered but since then I've heard mixed reviews on it so it may go back although I like the concept of the combined charger and battery pack for simplicity's sake.

[Robert Alexander]

I'll admit to not knowing much of anything about GoPro and the like but will report on the amazing recent customer service/warranty experience at Goal Zero. They replaced my solar unit and I'm now a customer for life. I'd buy their units with confidence.

Edit: no affiliation.

[Stefan Hoffman]

I just got a little panel from these guys. They appear very high quality, though i have not really put it though its paces. As light as anything else i have seen, and they have solutions for pretty much every device i can imagine. Im positive you can find something that works for you. Idk anything about GoPro but i see they have solutions for it. Poke around that website for a bit and you will find something perfect, at a very reasonable price point.

[Luke Schmidt]

Thanks for pointing me in that direction, I had not heard of Voltaic. The more I think about it the more I think the Apollo 2 will be less then ideal for my needs, for the weight I could probably carry more batteries then I could charge with it.

The numbers on the Voltaic 3.5 watt charger kit look good, 2.5 hours to charge one GoPro battery. If that is accurate I could charge a battery every day just using lunch breaks and dinner breaks (the sun stays up pretty late in the north). In the real world of clouds and indirect sunlight I imagine one battery every 2 days might be more realistic. Time to read up on reviews.

[Stefan Hoffman]

Well the sun here in Nevada can be pretty intense and i had high expectations. But ironically, having bought that solar panel, i have not seen the sun in a few days. That being said, my only experience with it has been in overcast conditions and i am impressed at what it can still do when the sun is not visible. My two watt panel says it has a peak current of 378mA, and it will not work with my battery charger unless it produces at least 250mA. I have yet to see it fail to charge, despite heavy cloud cover. The two watt panel fully charged a 650mAh battery in 4 or 5 hours with far less than ideal sunlight.

It seems like you should be able to charge directly, without a separate battery, as long as the GoPro battery doesnt have some crazy protection circuitry, and you get a panel that produces the minimum amperage. The 3.5 peaks out at something similar to a lot of wall chargers. I am just speculating. Voltaic was pretty fast about getting back to me about my inquiries about direct charging, and they really seem to emphasize being compatible with popular devices.

[Nick Gatel]

If your 10-11 day trip has little sun, then the solar panel will not do you any good. You would need to carry enough battery storage to meet your needs, so… just bring the batteries.

[Eric Hine]

I don't carry a solar charger but I do use a GoPro. What I've found that works for me is the Mophie Power station. It gives a full charge to a GoPro with some to spare, weighs about 4.3oz and costs about $70. One will probably not meet your needs for this extended trip, but it could work well for shorter trips. I've considered buying a second one for longer trips, knowing in total it'd put me only at about 8.5oz for chargers.

[Cameron Habib]

Given how small the GoPro batteries are, I'd say just buy a bunch and bring them with you. A solar panel is going to be slow to charge, just as heavy (just guessing, you'll have to do out the math), and require a generous amount of sunlight (which if there is, there won't be rain, and there are far better cameras than a GoPro to use). Backup battery style solutions may be a better choice than solar, but you'd have to see if there's one that has enough power to last you your trip, and again, if it isn't just lighter to carry extra GoPro batteries.

[Gabriel Harper]

I just carry extra batteries, they're not too expensive and very small. The Smatree 2-pack + micro charger on eBay is working great for me. Sorry I can't offer much advice on solar – being in Maine it just isn't something I would rely on. Another option might be using a stove with an electric charger to power up devices at meal time, but they are usually a bit bulky and expensive.

[Philip Tschersich]

By the time you factor in the weight of a solar system, you have matched the weight of about 10 Gopro batteries. I can do a 5 day trip with 2 Gopro batteries, and I tend to document my trips pretty thoroughly, though I do use 2 different cameras so the Gopro only does half the work. Anyway, weigh a Gopro battery and figure out what makes more sense.

Constantly stressing about maximizing your solar panel's sun exposure is kind of an annoying distraction, but so is running out of juice. For sea kayaking where weight is not a concern, I take my Solar Joos, but for hiking I take spare batteries (or bring a little power brick).

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