Thread: Single Panel Solar Charger Test

This is a simple single panel charger, with no built in battery - just plugs straight to a USB A cable.
It's 29.5 x 19 cm just a bit smaller than an A4 page and the cell is about a cm less all round. So that's your pack space needed.
Weight is about 330g so it might be better to carry an extra powerbank instead, specially in winter.
It's sealed in stiff plastic, looks waterproof but time will tell how durable it is.
Don't worry about the exact model, it was on special at a big box electronics shop and you might never see just the same again. It was well under $100.

Here it is:


This is the charging rate on a couple of sunny October days:


It seems most suited to small devices like the watch, hearing aids, tiny headlamp or the gizmo you blow up a sleeping mat with.
For a phone, you'd need a good hour in the middle of the day to make a difference.
Realistically, I'd be leaving this plugged in to a powerbank then charging devices from that.
It seemed to go faster when pointed directly at the sun which, of course moves around during the day and it goes best in strong sunlight, and I'm told not very well at all if in s shadow.

Thanks @Bagheera. Out of interest how long would it take to charge your powerbank? I carry 2 @ Nitecore NB10000 on longer trips - have a number of devices and like watching movies at night. Find they lose charge-not as efficient in the cold - so be good to knock that down to one battery and keep that fully charged at camping while out during the day.

NZ site

@Snopperator I use a LED Lenser powerbank with a 18650 batt inside which can also go in my headlamp. Will time recharge when I next run it flat.
@Happy Jack I'm pretty sure I paid about half that price but its not on the big tech site any more, so shop around. It looks as if this stuff is worth what people are willing to pay at the moment.

Nice review man, well thought out

that’s helpful. I got this a few weeks back and will give it a similar test today:
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mKjAXBB

Results: pretty much three hours from 19% to 79%. iPhone charging from 80 to 100 is slower I think to help keep the battery healthy

Good sunlight today and adjusted angles towards the sun once as it rose from 9 to 12

Not bad for $10

Am draining my nb10000 now so will hopefully test that this arvo. iPhone 15 battery is 3350mah and 20-80% so in three hours I put about 2000mah in it.

ChatGPT tells me 35w 5v panel should be able to do about 10000mah (in real world conditions; 21k mah in perfect conditions with a very efficient panel) so like a lot of things on aliexpress, the description of the panel at 35w probably isn’t correct and or it’s not a very efficient panel.

600-800 mah an hour isn’t bad for a $10, 100.1 gram panel. That’s power output too. The nb10000 had a 10000mah capacity but rated output of only 5400mah