Best Lightweight Solar Panel

[Brooks051]

Best lightweight solar pane. Looks like Anker isn't making theirs anymore. I haven't had much luck with the amazon china shit, so i would love to hear your suggestions.

 

[Gone4Days]

IMO portable solar panels are not practical. They charge very slow, and you need constant full sun. I use a large battery bank that keeps all my devices charged for a week.

 

[WCS]

Amazon.ca has the Anker panel in stock, not sure what their policy is on shipping south of the 49th. Otherwise I've heard some good things about the Big Blue 28w panel although it is a little heavier. I use an Anker panel when guiding, but if it's a hunt less than a week I just bring a battery bank.

 

[TheM1DoesMyTalking]

IMO portable solar panels are not practical. They charge very slow, and you need constant full sun. I use a large battery bank that keeps all my devices charged for a week.

I'll second that. I have the smaller Anker 15W panel and at least in the Pacific North Wet it can't compete with a battery bank.

 

[Brooks051]

I have a battery bank but I can only get 6 charges out of it if I’m lucky. So was hoping to counter that with a lightweight panel.

 

[TheM1DoesMyTalking]

I can appreciate the use case, and that is what I bought it for as well. I need to try it again, but in the seasons and places where I've used it that hasn't worked out so far. The Anker panel I have weighs 12.3oz, and for the same weight and a lot less bulk I can pack a second 12.1oz Anker 20000mAh battery bank. This still results in carrying a finite number of charges, not the same as harnessing the sun. Another downside with the panel is that you have to have the panel out, oriented toward direct sunlight and plugged into the device the whole time it's charging.

 

[Brooks051]

Sounds like that’s what I may do. Just bring two battery packs instead of worrying about solar.

 

[*zap*]

my rav power does fine for what it is....really depends on the situation as far as usefulness.

 

[fwafwow]

Sorry for the tangent. I was reading thru hoping for some ideas as the thread got me thinking it might be good to have one on hand at home as a partial solution for backup power. Home use may open lots of other considerations (weight may not be as important).

 

[JonnyAppleSeed5000]

I was looking into one just to keep my battery packs charged up. Still not worth it in your opinions? I was looking into the dark energy battery pack but they are $120. Any other batteries you guys recommend?

 

[gtriple]

I was looking into one just to keep my battery packs charged up. Still not worth it in your opinions? I was looking into the dark energy battery pack but they are $120. Any other batteries you guys recommend?

Dark Energy is cool, but way overpriced and heavy for the charge you get. $120 for a 10k mAh pack that weighs 9.6oz!!? Crazy.

I'd recommend the Nightcore NB10000 Gen II. 10kmAh for $60 and only weighs 5.3oz.

As far as solar panels go... if you are on anything shorter than a 4 or 5 day hunt solo, just carry the single battery pack. But if you have multiple people or are going for longer, then it can be a lighter option to carry a single battery pack among all of you plus a solar panel. That is what my group of 3 decided to do. Instead of everyone carrying a battery pack (and some were 20k beasts), we took the BigBlue 3 28W panel. It weighs only 21.2oz and easily charges 3 devices to full charge in a single day.

You can almost buy the solar panel AND the Nightcore for the price of the Dark Energy pack.

 

[TAArrowood]

The best portable battery packs that I've used are my Dewalt (20volt, 5 mah) that fits my cordless drills, etc.. Dewalt make an adapter that slides on to any of them and gives you 2 usb ports... They recharge really quickly and give me several charges on my iphones or other devices.. I just put one in the side pocket of my pack and run a 3 ft charging cord out the water bladder access and have it available whenever I need a boost.. For home or Rv use I like the Zamp Solar or the Renogy panels..

 

[gtriple]

The best portable battery packs that I've used are my Dewalt (20volt, 5 mah) that fits my cordless drills, etc.. Dewalt make an adapter that slides on to any of them and gives you 2 usb ports... They recharge really quickly and give me several charges on my iphones or other devices.. I just put one in the side pocket of my pack and run a 3 ft charging cord out the water bladder access and have it available whenever I need a boost.. For home or Rv use I like the Zamp Solar or the Renogy panels..

How much do those weigh?

 

[TAArrowood]

Mine (20v/5mah) weighs about 8oz with the battery and the adapter... If you go smaller 3/4 mah on the battery the weight goes down accordingly... It is a great setup.. I can get several phone charges out of a single battery charge, plus it allows be to use batteries that I already have with my wireless Dewalt cordless tools... I was really excited to find them when I did.. The adapter is about $30 and batteries depend on capacity... I started with the solar as well, but found that it struggled to keep up, especially when I was using OnX mapping on my phone... I've stayed in the field for several days at a times and never ran short on power. The batteries have a charge indicator and charge really quickly...(15 minutes on mine) you can also use the USB connection as a battery charging port in leau of the AC charger, although charging time will be greater, but it does allow you to charge batter pack without the AC charger..

Dewalt Info:

About this item​

• Plastic / Metal
• Imported
• DEWALT USB charger is durable enough to withstand job-site abuse
• Charge up to 2 small USB compatible electronic devices on/at the job site off your 12V or 20V MAX* Batteries when AC power is not available
• Allows you to work with all DEWALT slide style battery packs
• Indicates when unit is powered on and ready to charge devices
• Similar to a fuel gauge, it indicates the amount of power remaining in the battery
• Charge up to 2 small USB compatible electronic devices on/at the jobsite off your 12V or 20V MAX
• Allows you to work with all DEWALT Slide Style battery packs
• Indicates when unit is powered on and ready to charge devices
• DCB090 is compatible with DEWALT 12V MAX and 20V MAX battery packs
• Battery not included

​

 

[taskswap]

With a small amount of overhead for "packaging" (all that plastic) all chargers weigh about the same for the same "stored energy", and they scale linearly. It's just how the battery chemistry works. If you want an apples-to apples comparison between packs it's usually better to talk about watt-hours (voltage times amp-hours) rather than amp-hours. (A 20V 2.5Ah pack has the same "juice" in it as a 10V 5Ah pack, for example - both are 50Wh packs.)

I can't remember the name of it, but there was a company that made a specific solar cell designed for backpackers. Apparently it's no longer made anyway, but this is very close:

https://www.amazon.com/Lixada-Effiency-Activities-Lighting-Monocrystalline/dp/B01MCXZJ8Y

This is a cheap and fairly lightweight panel but it's only 10W. And that's their absolute maximum before regulation (6V @ 1.7m -> 10.2W). After regulation for charging it's more like 6 watts. So for example if you had a dead 10000mAh battery pack (50Wh) it would take over 8 hours of direct sunlight to charge it. All of this is wildly optimistic - I'd cut every manufacturer rating literally in half to account for regulation and efficiency losses as well as marketing tomfoolery.

So are solar panels useless? No, but as others have noted, just under 6oz for a panel that takes all day to charge one pack means it's not an automatic "gimme". A 10000mAh pack will charge my phone three times. So what I do is go the other way. I use almost exclusively this 5000mAh pack:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09LH16KRJ

These things are tiny and as light as a pack can be because it doesn't even need a cable. I can carry one pack per 2 days of planned backpacking which works out to 1.4oz per day of "power needs". Comparing back to that solar panel, that means I need at least a 6 day trip before it even makes sense to consider solar. In those cases I'd probably still hold off until I hit 10 days. At that point I'd carry one solar panel and two 10000mAh power banks. I'd use one as needed while keeping the other in base camp constantly charging in full sun.

Don't be afraid to buy cheap-o brands on these chargers. All of the packs and usually even the electronics inside are all made by just a few companies and then they're rebranded - even what Nitecore and others sell. This is just my personal opinion but if you pay more than Anker prices for an equivalently-rated product, you're just paying for the brand name and packaging. The cells inside aren't any "better".

There are all kinds of cheap cells repurposed from China for sketchy products but the economics usually aren't there in this size and price range of charger. Stick with recognizable brands and you'll be fine. Pro tip: you can tell a product to stay away from if it's unnaturally light. Lithium battery chemistry is the same for all of these products. If all the chargers in a capacity range are 5oz but some manufacturer advertises the same capacity at 3oz? That's the one to avoid.

One last comment, if you really want to save an ounce or two on charging, consider NOT getting a rechargeable headlamp. I did the math on the weights vs. charge/operating times on these once and it worked out better to use something that takes AAA batteries. I run a black diamond Spotlite 160 with a pair of Energizer Lithium AAA batteries in it. A pair of them is only 0.5oz and you can swap them for an instant re-power - nothing worse than having a rechargeable headlamp run low in the middle of field dressing an elk. With one main and one spare set of batteries my headlamp will last several weeks with my usage and there's one less thing to recharge back in base camp. The batteries are insanely expensive but hey, compared to a single box of ammo these days...

 

[JonnyAppleSeed5000]

Dark Energy is cool, but way overpriced and heavy for the charge you get. $120 for a 10k mAh pack that weighs 9.6oz!!? Crazy.

I'd recommend the Nightcore NB10000 Gen II. 10kmAh for $60 and only weighs 5.3oz.

As far as solar panels go... if you are on anything shorter than a 4 or 5 day hunt solo, just carry the single battery pack. But if you have multiple people or are going for longer, then it can be a lighter option to carry a single battery pack among all of you plus a solar panel. That is what my group of 3 decided to do. Instead of everyone carrying a battery pack (and some were 20k beasts), we took the BigBlue 3 28W panel. It weighs only 21.2oz and easily charges 3 devices to full charge in a single day.

You can almost buy the solar panel AND the Nightcore for the price of the Dark Energy pack.

You're awesome. I appreciate it??

 

[dtrkyman]

Veger on Amazon, 2 pack 5k mah each for 26 bux 3.25 oz each.

Just found these, look promising.

 

[dtrkyman]

Also check out the nitecore lc 10, uses an 18650 as well as other batteries for power! Perfect for one recharge. I have a bunch of the batteries so I may have to try it.

Super light combo for shorter trips or emergency.

 

[Kyle C]

I would just run two battery packs. Some people have luck with panels, but I have not. Especially the hassle with always having the panel out and keeping it directed toward sunlight (if any) all the time. Makes your hunting partner really happy too when you're hiking with it off your pack and the sun reflects right into his eyes. I run two nightcore carbo 20kmah now. About 21oz for the two. The anker 25kmah are good too just a few ounces heavier and honestly after running the nightcores I may go back to anker.

 

[amateurhourhunter]

Goal zero makes some solar panels. They are pretty weather resistant. I’m not sure about all the technical specs, weight/size/charge time. I ordered a double usb for it and can charge my phone and power bank (same brand) on the hillside while I’m glassing. I’m all about counting ounces in weight but figure if I need to hump a couple more pounds I should be in better shape.