I'm glad that I actually started planning well in advance of my trip on this one. There always seems to be one crucial piece that the manufacturers sell separately and never tell you that you'll need which inevitably leads to a rush order. Rush avoided and products tested! It works!
My solution:
Brunton Solo 7.5
PowerFilm F15-1200 20 Watt
RA-1 Male Cigarette Lighter Adaptor
Nikon MH-21 Quick Charger for EN-EL4 & EN-EL4a batteries
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| Brunton Solo 7.5 Amp |
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| PowerFilm F15-1200 20 Watt |
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| The missing piece: RA-1 Male Cigarette Lighter Adapter |
The Brunton Solo acts as my power storage. I could leave it at home and use the solar panel with the inverter to trickle charge my batteries during the day, however, if we have a cloudy day, the battery will likely never charge fully. Using the Brunton Solo I'll be able to leave the solar panel set up and collect the power it generates for charging later in the evening. Today was a mostly sunny California day and I was able to fully charge the Brunton Solo with the Solar Panel despite the wind closing half the panel for an unknown length of time. Tent pegs or rocks will prevent that from being a problem in the field. From the power I collected I was able to recharge my camera battery and have plenty of power left over to charge my iPhone and iPad so my tunes in the wild will be uninterrupted!
While this set up works for me you should do some research as there are larger and smaller versions of these units depending on your power/weight needs.
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| Set up to charge |
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| Solo feeding charger through the inverter |
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| The complete set up weighs in at less than 5 pounds. |
Product websites:
http://www.brunton.com/
http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/
