Brunton Solar Power » Solar Solaris 6
anyone ever used this panel before or tested this could they let me know if it is good or not
http://www.heinnie.com/Emergency-Power/ ... -573-3930/
thanks
Solar Solaris 6
Re: Solar Solaris 6
Madsquad, I have an older model Solaris 6 that I like very much. I posted this about in January of '12. Hope it helps in your decision...
I have an older model Brunton foldable 6 watt solar array similar to this one.
http://www.amazon.com/Brunton-Watt-Fold ... d_sim_sg_5
If you read some of the reviews about this device people complain that the panel doesn’t have plugs for USB ports that commonly used; especially with products like the Ipod, Iphone, etc. That’s true enough, but I managed to solve that problem in about 10 minutes when I found Apple’s USB Travel Kit with Car Charger, Travel Adapter & Cable. With this package I can…
1) plug the array’s female power point adapter into the array
2) plug the male Apple car charger adapter into the female array adapter
3) plug the Apple adapter into the Ipod.
The array will charge my Ipod directly in about 3 hours at midday. Remember I live at 6000' in the American Southwest. So I get about 330 days of cloudless sunshine per year.
Here’s the problem… When I upgraded to my Iphone the array doesn’t produce enough power to charge the device (you get an error message). Sooooo, here’s what I did. I did a little research and discovered that the Brunton Inspire Rechargeable Battery can be fully charged directly from the array in about 6 hours. The Inspire can be seen here…
http://www.amazon.com/Brunton-Inspire-3 ... sbs_auto_4
So here’s what I do… When I go up into the mountains around my home I charge the inspire directly from the array all day at my base camp while I’m out hiking, fishing, etc. When I’m gone I can enjoy my music while I a bag a 14,000’ Colorado Mountain Peak or explore a Utah slick rock canyon. When I return in the late afternoon I unplug the array from the battery and, when I crawl into my sleeping bag, I plug the Iphone / Ipod into the battery and charge the device overnight from the battery. When I get up the next morning I repeat the process.
With the right cable I can also use this set up to solar charge my Kindle Fire.
It works great! My array and battery are older so other manufactures may have similar, better products now that are probably even lighter if you have to walk in to a site like I do.
Also I’ve also used my array to trickle charge my R-Pod travel trailer battery when I'm dry camping in luxury. I’m not the brightest bulb in the box so there may be better ideas out there but this works well for me. Cheers.
I have an older model Brunton foldable 6 watt solar array similar to this one.
http://www.amazon.com/Brunton-Watt-Fold ... d_sim_sg_5
If you read some of the reviews about this device people complain that the panel doesn’t have plugs for USB ports that commonly used; especially with products like the Ipod, Iphone, etc. That’s true enough, but I managed to solve that problem in about 10 minutes when I found Apple’s USB Travel Kit with Car Charger, Travel Adapter & Cable. With this package I can…
1) plug the array’s female power point adapter into the array
2) plug the male Apple car charger adapter into the female array adapter
3) plug the Apple adapter into the Ipod.
The array will charge my Ipod directly in about 3 hours at midday. Remember I live at 6000' in the American Southwest. So I get about 330 days of cloudless sunshine per year.
Here’s the problem… When I upgraded to my Iphone the array doesn’t produce enough power to charge the device (you get an error message). Sooooo, here’s what I did. I did a little research and discovered that the Brunton Inspire Rechargeable Battery can be fully charged directly from the array in about 6 hours. The Inspire can be seen here…
http://www.amazon.com/Brunton-Inspire-3 ... sbs_auto_4
So here’s what I do… When I go up into the mountains around my home I charge the inspire directly from the array all day at my base camp while I’m out hiking, fishing, etc. When I’m gone I can enjoy my music while I a bag a 14,000’ Colorado Mountain Peak or explore a Utah slick rock canyon. When I return in the late afternoon I unplug the array from the battery and, when I crawl into my sleeping bag, I plug the Iphone / Ipod into the battery and charge the device overnight from the battery. When I get up the next morning I repeat the process.
With the right cable I can also use this set up to solar charge my Kindle Fire.
It works great! My array and battery are older so other manufactures may have similar, better products now that are probably even lighter if you have to walk in to a site like I do.
Also I’ve also used my array to trickle charge my R-Pod travel trailer battery when I'm dry camping in luxury. I’m not the brightest bulb in the box so there may be better ideas out there but this works well for me. Cheers.
-
poppypiesdad
- Posts: 1379
- Joined: Sat Dec 29, 2012 9:48 pm
- Location: Area 11
Re: Solar Solaris 6
Be Prepared.
Plan like its the last loaf on the shop shelves.
Plan like its the last beer in the fridge.
Plan like its the last loaf on the shop shelves.
Plan like its the last beer in the fridge.
Re: Solar Solaris 6
poppypiesdad, excellent points.
I guess the real question Madsquad is what are you going to do with the panel. The Brunton is excellent for charging small items, it folds into a small package, its reasonably flexible and fits inside a rucksack but doesn't produce lots of power. The unit poppypiesdad notes is much larger and produces more power (i've upgraded to something very close to it for my travel trailer) but sure as heck isn't something you want to pack in during a back county trip.
I guess the real question Madsquad is what are you going to do with the panel. The Brunton is excellent for charging small items, it folds into a small package, its reasonably flexible and fits inside a rucksack but doesn't produce lots of power. The unit poppypiesdad notes is much larger and produces more power (i've upgraded to something very close to it for my travel trailer) but sure as heck isn't something you want to pack in during a back county trip.
Re: Solar Solaris 6
poppypiesdad, excellent points.
I guess the real question Madsquad is what are you going to do with the panel. The Brunton is excellent for charging small items, it folds into a small package, its reasonably flexible and fits inside a rucksack but doesn't produce lots of power. The unit poppypiesdad notes is much larger and produces more power (i've upgraded to something very close to it for my travel trailer) but sure as heck isn't something you want to pack in during a back county trip.
I guess the real question Madsquad is what are you going to do with the panel. The Brunton is excellent for charging small items, it folds into a small package, its reasonably flexible and fits inside a rucksack but doesn't produce lots of power. The unit poppypiesdad notes is much larger and produces more power (i've upgraded to something very close to it for my travel trailer) but sure as heck isn't something you want to pack in during a back county trip.
Re: Solar Solaris 6
ya well i wont e doing any thing with the bigger panels i do camping and hiking more so i need some thing that will charge my iphone and head torch plus i hear the solararis can charge laptops anyone know about that?
Re: Solar Solaris 6
Did anyone pickup one of the folding USB solar cells from the last kickstarter (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bro ... solar-cell) I missed them but I see he now has them on his website...