Solar power chargers

muddyl

Hi all,

Has any tried solar chargers for things like mobile phones etc?

I see you can get them from as little as £6 off auction sites, but are they any good and are they financially worth it as i cant see a phone taking much to charge.

Also, what about ones for charging the likes of caravan batteries. Thinking about getting a caravan, so its something to take into consideration.

Cheers, Muddy

S0litaire

The small cheap ones will probably charge up a ipod/ mobile in about 3-4 hours
They usually come with a battery pack, and it's the battery pack that charges the device, the small solar panel charges the battery.

For bigger things like 12v Car batteries you'll need to get something a lot bigger, ranging from £60-£200 (that's upto 60w) that will trickle charge a battery over a couple of days.

If you want something more permanent then a 150w panel will give you around 1Kwh a day (but expect to pay £500+ for this!)