Solar Panel for backpack hunting

[jjw1]

Can anyone recommend a bomb-proof simple and lightweight solar panel system for backcountry hunting? I am not familiar enough with it to really know the ins and outs and who makes a good product. There is a lot of stuff out there but figured folks here could tell me what's garbage and what's worth the money. Thanks in advance.

 

[GunsAreFun]

Solar technology is not worth the weight yet. Your better off carrying that weight in portable chargers like Anker.

It may take more than a day to charge a mid sized battery pack from a solar charger that is out of the open and regularly reoriented to the sun. If you’re hunting, you won’t get nearly as much direct sun.

 

[Touchdown88]

I bought 2 of these a few weeks ago. They seem to fit what you need.

Goal Zero Nomad 7 Plus Smart 7-watt Solar Panel Camping Fan Flashlight Charger for sale online

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[THBZN]

Can anyone recommend a bomb-proof simple and lightweight solar panel system for backcountry hunting? I am not familiar enough with it to really know the ins and outs and who makes a good product. There is a lot of stuff out there but figured folks here could tell me what's garbage and what's worth the money. Thanks in advance.

A lot depends on what you need to charge up. I really only use one for my phone (OnX navigation and a few photos) and I can get two charges out of it, which will last me me about 5-6 days of phone nav use.

 

[MightyWhitey]

I used that goal zero nomad on a elk hunt last year and it never did fully charge my phone. Maybe charged it 20% in direct sunlight for 2hrs. I wore it on top of my pack while hunting in and out of tree cover All day and it didn’t charge it at all. Maybe I got a bad one, but I hate it. Waste of $100. My partner bought some off brand from amazon for $50 using it the same as I used mine and his worked great and it even had a led light on it that he used in his tent at night. I need to find out what that was.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

I used that goal zero nomad on a elk hunt last year and it never did fully charge my phone. Maybe charged it 20% in direct sunlight for 2hrs. I wore it on top of my pack while hunting in and out of tree cover All day and it didn’t charge it at all. Maybe I got a bad one, but I hate it. Waste of $100. My partner bought some off brand from amazon for $50 using it the same as I used mine and his worked great and it even had a led light on it that he used in his tent at night. I need to find out what that was.

Goal zero makes an external battery that charges devices as well. You can plug the external battery into the solar panel back at camp all day then use the external battery to charge your devices at night.

 

[MightyWhitey]

Goal zero makes an external battery that charges devices as well. You can plug the external battery into the solar panel back at camp all day then use the external battery to charge your devices at night.

Hmm. Not a bad idea. But I kinda got my feelings hurt over the whole deal. Not sure I’ll give Goal Zero% any more of my money. Thanks for the idea though

 

[jjw1]

Thanks! Are the Anker chargers expensive?

 

[GunsAreFun]

Thanks! Are the Anker chargers expensive?

No. Most models are under $50 on amazon.

 

[jjw1]

Awesome! Thank you!


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[Elkdreamer]

Hmm. Not a bad idea. But I kinda got my feelings hurt over the whole deal. Not sure I’ll give Goal Zero% any more of my money. Thanks for the idea though

Same here. Carried a Goal Zero small charging pack last year. It killed my phone battery over night. Never again. I carry a Jackery know. Works awesome

 

[TheGDog]

Mama bought us all 3 one of those deals where it's got a panel, it's a large size battery, the other side is a light, it's got 3 Usb ports on it. They're heavy-ish, but for somebody needing to charge a lot of devices, like if you're filming maybe? This model would work pretty cool. It also can wirelessly charge your phone if your phone supports that. That part is pretty cool actually. They're like $49 if you buy the 3 of them. It was some offer that was being pushed in Facebook for a while there, I remember. When I get a chance tomorrow I'll take a pic and look for the info of the manufacturer for you.

First thing you'd need to do is define and figure out how much of a charge you'd need each day. For all the intended devices. Figure out if they need a 1A or a 2A USB port also. Some have 1 or the other, some have both. Typically phones= 1A, Tablets = 2A.

It wasn't this company, but the product was basically this...
https://www.amazon.com/Charger-25000mAh-Battery-Portable-External/dp/B07MR5RPLL/

 

[Backyard]

Solar technology is not worth the weight yet. Your better off carrying that weight in portable chargers like Anker.

It may take more than a day to charge a mid sized battery pack from a solar charger that is out of the open and regularly reoriented to the sun. If you’re hunting, you won’t get nearly as much direct sun.

My Goal Zero doesn’t have any of those problems. As a matter of fact I like it. It works well for me. I set it out to charge all day while Im hunting and come back to a full charge pack. No problem. And the entire system, charge pack included weighs 16 oz.


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[NMframed]

My wife bought this one on Amazon. We used it for the first time a few weeks ago on a 4 day backpacking trip and it worked great, when the sun is out it recharges the power bank fast and it will charge my iPhone from 20% to 100% in less than an hour. It also has a bright led light that was nice in the tent. It not very light weight tho, weighs about 1lb 3oz with the chord. I’ll know more about it durability after September and October.

 

[NMframed]

Also bought this one and it is a lot lighter weight 6oz but takes forever to charge a phone but the light is bright and awesome inside a tent or outside around camp

 

[GunsAreFun]

My Goal Zero doesn’t have any of those problems. As a matter of fact I like it. It works well for me. I set it out to charge all day while Im hunting and come back to a full charge pack. No problem. And the entire system, charge pack included weighs 16 oz.


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How many mAh is the battery?

 

[Pk_in_Dallas]

I have a Goal Zero NOMAD 20 and love it. Leave it out all day and it charges my Sherpa 100 battery pack.


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[Backyard]

How many mAh is the battery?

I'm not sure, it's small, it came with the Nomad 7 set. Called a Switch 10. It does what I need it to do an then some. Charges my phone and my watch after a days hunting with charge to spare.
But I do know that the solar panel will charge it from almost dead to full in about an hour of full sun.

 

[tdot]

A few notes on solar panels and probably some of the reason that there is such a variation on their success. (Some may be obvious)

Your location relative to North/South will have a significant effect on the performance of any solar panel. Texas and North Dakota have very different angles to the sun. Any shading on the panel will significantly decrease its output, roughly 5% shading can roughly decrease output 50%-75%. 10% shading can knock output down by 95%. Having a panel that is not actually pointed at the sun can also significantly decrease output.

Personally, I can pack in 20,000mAh in a 13ounce package. Thats good for 10 days if I'm not careful. Longer if I am careful. As a result, solar panels have no use for me in a backpacking scenario... and just to preface this, I love solar panels (in the right scenario) we used to live full time on a boat and were almost 100% reliant on solar output

 

[MOHunter]

The Goal Zero Nomad 7 has an output of 1.4A. My 26,800mAh power bank has an input requirement of 2A. Will the Nomad charge the bank?