I've always been intrigued by solar power, and have been curious about incorporating it into my backpacking, despite some very valid arguments against it, but weight and/or price has prevented me. Now I found a 7.5w Coleman solar charger made by Sunforce (model 22007) on Amazon that very closely compares to the Nomad 7 in output, and the Suntactics 5 in dimensions, for the paltry price of $31 and some change.
I wanted to experiment with stripping one down to its lightest weight, similar to a Suntactics design, but couldn't bring myself to take a knife to my Goal Zero. So I ordered this one, and I received it today. I proceeded to disect it, BPL style, and what resulted is something I'm pretty happy with. It has all the limitations expected with a solar panel, but at under half a pound and around thirty bucks, I feel it's got great "value". There's plenty of info on the net about its performance, and although it won't output like the Suntactics will, I found my preliminary, unscientific testing out on my deck this afternoon, to prove it pretty comparable to my Nomad 7, at about half the weight. Here's some pics of the final results.
Original weight was exactly 12 ounces. The final weight is 7.3 ounces (208 grams). I'll probably add some sticky loops or something for hanging, so a couple more grams maybe, but this is the weight of the panels, the controller, and all the plastic and poly weatherproofing left intact. I don't expect much in the way of waterproofness, especially with an exposed port, but leaving all the poly coating on seemed a good idea.
Open dimensions are 11.25" x 6.75". The front of the panels each have a hard plastic covering that is divided in the center. They also came with that protective film that most lenses have, which I peeled off.
The back is one solid piece of some kind of waxy-feeling poly. Almost rubbery like.
Since these are the 12v style panels, it comes stock with a 12v cigarette lighter type plug. Very awkward and unwieldy. I just cut the cord off at separate lengths so the wires wouldn't touch. It weighed 19 grams by itself. The other end of the (somewhat oversized) control box has a single USB output jack. All my charging will be via the 5v USB port.
Where the two front panel coverings come together, I placed a slim strip of tenacious tape to prevent any future separation from the backside poly covering. Hard to see the tape, but you can make out where the plastic panels end, and the gap between them where only the backside poly acts as the hinge. Probably not necessary, but a gram of prevention and all that.
