Solar power battery chargers

KFW

hi there,

i'm interested in solar power battery chargers and not sure if they are any good and was wondering if anyone has any experience using them or would recommend some. When they are used, do you need special batteries as well?

Many thanks

KFW

pickledtink

I used mine constantly when I was living in a remote spot in Asia with no electricity. Works fine. Sadly I've had it so long I can't remember where I got mine from.
It has different compartments to charge different sizes so does:
AAA
AA
C
D

Probably much slicker versions now. Mine's about 3 years old.
Takes normal rechargeable batteries and about 3-4 hours in Sun to charge 2 AA for example.

Tozer

I've had two and only really use them when on holiday in the sun. Not enough power to fully charge batteries in this country - or at least not AA, C or D batteries.

Might be ok for low power applications but I found even if supposedly fully charged they lost power very quickly.

culpepper

ive got two,one will run small items direct ,or charge 2 AA's,the other is just for AA's and wont run anything else. They both work quite well in the summer but not in the house because we have treated Double glazing( I think it is Ultra violet blocking or something like that ). Also have a solar radio which is the same really, works outdoors or in the car but not behind our DG window glass.

HM-Yorks

I've got this one
http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?detail=full&ModuleNo=48583&doy=22m2

Which seems to work pretty well - but I have limited use for recchargable batteries - only in my IPod speaker set for listening to in the bath.

I usually leave one set of batteries in it whilst using another. I'm not convinced it had got anywhere near breaking even financially though!