Keeping phone, gps, etc charged

cfdjay

WKR
Joined
Feb 21, 2016
Messages
804
Shooting for 7 days at a time on the mountain. What have you guys used as a charger for your devices? Solar? Lightweight?
 
I turn my phone to airplane mode and try to be mindful of how much I use it. My inreach only comes on when I am sending or checking meassages. I can usually get three days out my phone this way, so 1 full charge and have never needed to charge my in reach.

I.carry a single Pocket Juice power bank and have never had any dead batteries.
 
I have a solar panel, never used it yet. Kind of depends on how much you use your electronics. I carry a Dark Energy Poseidon and an extra battery for my phone, I think I could make it a week unless I have good internet reception then all bets are off! Could definitely go a week with two Poseidon's and do about whatever I want within reason. I always have one of those 12V power packs like you jump your car with at the truck and I don't camp more than a mile or two from the truck so I can go charge up if I need too.
 
I started with a New Trent 10,000 mah and it worked good for 3 seasons before crapping out on me this year. I now use Dark Energy and has worked well around the house.

If you keep your phone on airplane mode and turn it off at night, I have made 14 day backpacking trips and it will fully charge the phone 3 times and then about 75% charge on the 4th.

But that was before I started using InReach (used to use spot) that also has a battery that needs to be recharged (the only shitty thing about it). I wouldnt hesitate to go on a 7 day trip with a 10,000 mah charger and an inreach and iphone though.

Next best thing if you arent going solo is to have a partner carry a goal zero and share the backup charger and use the goal zero to recharge it.
 
I usually carry 2 dark energy chargers with me on a 5 day-ish trip. I can charge my phone, my A7, inReach, watch, etc. Usually I only need to charge my camera batteries starting on like the 3rd day, and if we have service I'll have to charge my phone once throughout the day. 2 chargers usually gets my through that 5 day window comfortably and I could be a little more careful with how I use things and stretch that for sure. I used to bring a panel in, but with how relatively light the battery packs are I just pack those.
 
I use a New trent power pack. Think the bigger one is 11000mah. Charges my 5se several times. Its about 9 oz. just bigger than my 5se. Also have a lipstick charger I take sometimes. I can do 7 days with just the New trent.

GPS has a battery pack that takes AA's so after its dead I put on the battery pack.

Mostly I conserve power. Turn off all apps not in use, turn off letting apps use your location except for your mapping app. Turn off any Siri or other location based suggestion stuff. Put the phone in Airplane mode unless using cellular so its not hunting for reception. Turn the volume down, vibrate off, and dim the screen as low as possible.

For the GPS I turn the radio down to 2 watt, dim the screen, and don't have it on when I'm not using it.
 
I use this beast. It carries several charges. Even comes with jumper cables for starting a car.
760111413d8b534bc7897ff1173f010e.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I have two Dark Energy poseidens that I taped together. Gets me through a 10 day hunt no problem.
 
If you keep your electronics as warm as you can, the battery life won’t suffer as much.
Putting them down in your sleeping bag at night works good
 
$45
Largest of the battery packs, and lighter than most with double storage capacity.
Amazon.com: Portable Charger RAVPower 26800 Battery Packs 26800mAh Total 5.5A Output 3-Port Power Bank (2A Input, iSmart 2.0 USB Power Pack) Portable Battery Charger for iPhone, iPad, and other Smart Devices: Cell Phones & Accessories

26,800 mah

I carry one and it charges everything. My phone, GoPro, Head Lamp, In Reach.

I liked it so much I got 2 of these. Both are working great and keep a charge even a month after charging. It will only lose about 10-15% of it's charge.
 
I've got the Goal Zero Nomad 7 solar panel, and I use it with generic 10,000mah iphone travel charger. I'll leave the panel out charging the battery all day, and when I come back to camp at night, I plug in and wake up in the morning to a fully charged iphone. So far, its worked great. This is hunting mainly Colorado high country, where you are likely to get good sunny days in late Aug. and early Sept.
 
Anker PowerCore 26800. Enough power for about 7 days. Weighs about a pound. Around $65 on Amazon.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I have the Ravpower 22000. I can charge my Rino twice, probably the phone 1 1/2 times, inreach once. I am picturing about 7 days in. I only have my phone on at night for a bit to listen to music. The Inreach only comes on for comms and then off. I have packed the old Nomad charger, but I can't tell if it is really doing much. My Rav power pack is pretty slow to charge up. Keep in mind this is the old original Nomad 7. It may just be lacking.
 
I am laffin.

can I make a sarcastic remark?

many above would gladly carry more than 2 lbs of electronics but complain that a stainless steel spork weighs one tenth of and ounce more than a titanium spork.
 
My electronics seem to stay charged during a hunt, while left locked in the truck.....

Well, not using a GPS or Inreach for safety you must be pretty confident in your skills and knowledge of the area. I've never been to the area and being a firefighter/medic, I like to be prepared for emergencies.
 
It ain't that... I go to the woods to get away from alla that crap. Never felt a need to be entertained, or to have the latest trinkets to screw with. But, if I was so worried about not being able to find my way around a strange area, or 'emergencies', or talk to folks while I'm gone, maybe I would be more inclined to be a worrywart and turn into a vidiot/gamer/music/gps'er/cellphone dependant type hunter. I reckon I was bornt a hunnert years too late......
 
Back
Top