potable solar charger

[royst1100]

has any one had anything to do with portable solar chargers as im going on the trip to wagga the end of this week and ive removed  and replaced my autocom with bluetooth. biggest problem is the rechargeing of phones, headsets, cb hub plus other stuff. i will recharge at night but my headsets are not as good as most other bt units.

[Couch]

Can you not connect up to the bikes battery and charge as you go??

[royst1100]

yes but thats being wired up again . may as well use autocom with annoying wires

if i can topup charge wilst stoped is all i want to do

[DaleMcLean]

Roy
What stuff you got??
Sounds like Sena, best bet is a ciggie lighter to USB outlet then use the USB lead for the headsets/hub to charge or top up when stopped.
A solar panel wont help a lot over night  (SORRY couldnt resist)

For all things Solar, my (now) 4 day a week job    http://www.solaronline.com.au/ have small panel's and reg's

[royst1100]

overnight not the problem. headset shark (wouldnt recommend look good hard to use short usage bla bla bla opps yea not happy jane) anyway just a topup when stopped for lunch or smokos for sharks  smartphones and camera

been looking at an auxiluary battery that tops up with solar. just backup power to be used on dayrides mainly as this trip will be motels at night

we have flatend battery in camera due to over use on an ozstoc rte

shark only lasted 10 hrs on first ozstoc rte we went on as we left them on all day due to the difficulty of useing  them. shark do not reply to emails with answers to questions "re not happy jane". wont recomend to anyone anymore as next set will be senna

autocom has a devise that bt to senna or similar but not in oz yet but will get from usa after holidays as nisi likes NO WIRES TO GET TIED UP WITH as she gets on and of the STead

[royst1100]

this may be the place and time to warn people that adding a USB point to you elec system may DAMAGE whatever you are trying to charge. as was pointed out to me that most USB devises are only 5volts max but you fit any of those waterpoof extensions some of us have looked and talked about lately as they are direct to 12volt bike power, smartphone fried and other stuff.

there are devises that fit to cigarett sockets but ive got 2 boat sockets on front of bike and none on back as ive allways had hard wired intercom. now ive gone BT new small problems are sticking there heads up as wer'e now liveing in a tecknical world of fast advancement so to find ways of keeping up is a must

[Whizz]

Roy,
All the cigarette socket extensions with a USB port on them that I have come across so far have stated on them that the USB outputs 5V as per USB standard, you can get adapters that actually plug into the cigarette socket which also contain a USB port but they are 5V as well. The same goes for the Cigarette socket to mini USB adapters that I've seen, so I'm not sure whether this is really a problem, the USB port circuitry has a voltage dropper in it to reduce the voltage to from 12V to 5V. Have you had any direct experience of these sockets blowing up USB devices?, if so I'm positive we'd all like to know what is at risk and from what blocks.

One other note, beware of the output current, most of the USB ports in the cigarette socket blocks are only 500mA (1/2 amp) which isn't enough to charge an iPhone for example, you need an adapter capable of outputting 1A to charge an iPhone.

Cheers
Whizz
 

[Whizz]

Roy,
Go to www.dealextreme.com and then in the search box put "Solar Charger ipad" and it comes back with a whole bunch of chargers suitable for the job for about $10 upwards.

Hope this helps

Cheers
Whizz

[saaz]

When my wall charger failed I used the car charger to top up the phone while stopped.  Plugging it in while stopped does not take that much power, and at least you are certain of it charging at a specified rate regardless of the sun being out.  I have one cigarette adapter that has two USB outputs so you can charge up two headsets while stopped.  Even if you leave it overnight I don't think it would drain the bike's battery.

[Couch]

I have 12 volt power from the bikes' battery running directly to a powerlet and cigarette socket that are hidden within my tankbag.
The tankbag doesn't have to be super large to be able to do this.  It's simply a matter of connecting the power from those sockets to my iPhone, Ipod, or whatever and they are continually charging while underway. They are connected via bluetooth to my Camos headset so no wires are visable anywhere. All my wires are hidden within the tankbag. I also use my iPhone as my GPS which can be constantly powered on. I cannot see the need to use solar power to charge items while on a day trip.................perhaps I'm missing something