Solar power – anyone?

Hi John,

Which solar charger did your son use?

Thanks,

Doug

"i like my camera, my ipod, my gps, my cellphone, my flashlight, my headlamp"….."kindle"….."steripen"….

Ummm, this is BPL, the "L" as in light (no pun intented). Other than my Photon Freedom (spare battery weighs a couple of grams), I personally can't fathom why I would need all that electronic gadgetry in the backcountry. One of the big reasons I go hiking is to get away from all that *stuff*, so no, I wouldn't be interested in a solar panel!

I took a PowerMonkey on the High Sierra trail with me two weeks ago. You use the solar panels to charge a battery which in turn you use to charge your devices. The unit comes with an assortment of tips that'll charge many modern devices. It will NOT recharge your average AA battery (although I suppose you could create a system to do that). But cellphones, iPods, iPhones, USB powered devices, and so on can be recharged. Caveat as always is that solar is slow to charge a battery and if you don't have good strong light it is not going to work that well. In the sunny climate of the High Sierra I think the device works, in the much more shady realms of say the east coast – no real joy.

Under the right circumstances I can see how solar would work well but for a lot of backpacking I think it is going to be hit or miss for some time yet.

Latitude matters, as does tree or other cover. I carried a 3-leafed Solio through most of the PCT last year; I found it worth carrying in most of California, significantly less so in Oregon and I just stopped carrying it at the WA border, though I have seen people carrying them in WA state (my home state). I rarely bring it along on trips in my home state, and I'm thinking of hiking the AT next year but from what I've read/heard I wouldn't consider for a moment carrying it there. If I were doing the PCT again I'd probably stop carrying it somewhere in NorCal, maybe mail it home from Seiad Valley or so.

I suspect your primary market is in southern sunny states.

I've long been attracted myself to the idea of a thin flexible solar panel type material as an outer coating to a wide-brimmed hat, trickle charging a battery along the way. Maybe someday.

Adding to the latitude is the fact that the sun angle is lower later in the season when a NOBO PCT hiker gets to WA.

Might be more effective for a SOBO hiker who is in the northernmost latitudes earlier in the season, closer to the solstice.

Doug,

He used a "Backpacking Solar Panel Charger-Portable Green Power" found on Amazon at this link: