Will this be good for solar charging? Also, is this 100% memory-free?
1800923
A better choice for solar charging will be a deep cycle marine battery. As far as "memory" effect, it is not like nickle-cadmium batteries. Lead-acid batteries like to be stored in a charged condition, not uncharged. Hope this helps.
1904002
Yes.. As long as the heat generated does not melt the plastic housing and you use the correct base. No problem... except.. this is solar powered and the power consumption will run down the storage cell requiring external storage
56632
Yes, but I would recommend changing the charge controller if leaving it unattended - only because it looks so small and flimsy with tiny wires, and mine only worked sporadically. I would pay $8 for a sunforce 7A charge controller - these seem to be the best value Ive found. I have several of them between solarpanels and car batteries in different applications and they work great and are efficient e.g. I leave one charging 4 car batteries on my boat 24/7. example...http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=controllers+sunforce
1895637
My guess is that they last as long as any rechargeable better that recharges via electricity, which is not forever. I did have an issue with the Ambient solar-powered radio. Their response to me may be helpful if you are using this battery for that radio:"The solar collector was meant to be a battery life extender but was never intended to fully charge the battery. Thus, we recommend you "hard charge" through the USB port once every few weeks. Best practice is to leave it plugged into the power port all of the time. It will not damage the radio." per Ambient
2257380
Hi Getpreparedstuff,Are you able to share with me the model of the solar charge controller that you use? Thanks. -David
470803
I can't answer that. We purchased this and built an emergency solar box to charge necessary items in the event of an emergency. It works great for charging our cell phones. Currently it is stored in our emergency preparedness kit.
148161
Of course friend, the panel is high efficiency, full sun generates 22 volts, you need a charge controller 12 Volt so you do not overload the system, it will keep you charged and when the battery is charged, disconnect, which prevents damage to your batteries!
2079125
That's a good question. I THINK it works by either charging the connected device from its battery, or by charging the battery. There's an on/off switch that powers the USB connection. So that's a way to differentiate this from a true solar charger. With this you can charge and store, with a solar charger you have to leave the device connected to the solar charger and in the sun to charge. I could be wrong about that. I may ahve to test that the next sunny day.
2233949
You can use any kind really. I started with with a PWM charge controller, but now have an MPPT charge controller. The Morningstar SunSaver MPPT charge controller is nice, but in general MPPT charge controllers cost more money.
2079126
That's a good question. I THINK it works by either charging the connected device from its battery, or by charging the battery. There's an on/off switch that powers the USB connection. So that's a way to differentiate this from a true solar charger. With this you can charge and store, with a solar charger you have to leave the device connected to the solar charger and in the sun to charge.I could be wrong about that. I may ahve to test that the next sunny day.
1895636
My guess is that they last as long as any rechargeable better that recharges via electricity, which is not forever. I did have an issue with the Ambient solar-powered radio. Their response to me may be helpful if you are using this battery for that radio: "The solar collector was meant to be a battery life extender but was never intended to fully charge the battery. Thus, we recommend you "hard charge" through the USB port once every few weeks. Best practice is to leave it plugged into the power port all of the time. It will not damage the radio." per Ambient
1199237
Yup. But the higher Wattage you get the better, and more powerful devices it'll charge faster. Also, if you get a power bank, and change it with the sun, that works even better, becasue then you don't always need to be in the sun. Hope this helps!
207400
Hi Steven, yes the strong Arizona sun would be much better for solar charging. Also make sure to protect your device from the heat by wrapping it in a shirt or towel. --Nika
205165
I actually use mine with a voltaic solar charger while biking. I find it charges faster than the computer and is free when it is very sunny. However, it could also depend upon the batteries. The batteries that came with it didn't last long, so now use the rechargeable energizers. The heat from the sun may have sped up the degradation of the original batteries, too. Love the recharger and gave a couple as gifts.
1083111
Solar charging it is actually useless. It's more of a high capacity portable battery charger. I read 60 hours via solar energy to recharge. Don't know if it's true. It also depends where you are. Here in IL. it's cloudy - not much powerful sun light whereas AZ. does have scorching sun light. There is a new one that says it does it in 12hrs via solar light. "YcPower Mp-s23000 II Solar Charger 23000mah" This one says 12 hours recharge via solar energy. I use the XTPower MP-S2300 to recharge my GoPro Hero2 HD Camera (Just got Hero3 Black Edition) & Hero2 it can recharge 16 batteries. My ASUS Netbook I use it for too. Solar charging it is actually useless. It's more of a high capacity portable battery charger. I read 60 hours via solar energy to recharge. Don't know if it's true. It also depends where you are. Here in IL. it's cloudy - not much powerful sun light whereas AZ. does have scorching sun light. There is a new one that says it does it in 12hrs via solar light. "YcPower Mp-s23000 II Solar Charger 23000mah" This one says 12 hours recharge via solar energy. I use the XTPower MP-S2300 to recharge my GoPro Hero2 HD Camera (Just got Hero3 Black Edition) & Hero2 it can recharge 16 batteries.... » Read More Solar charging it is actually useless. It's more of a high capacity portable battery charger. I read 60 hours via solar energy to recharge. Don't know if it's true. It also depends where you are. Here in IL. it's cloudy - not much powerful sun light whereas AZ. does have scorching sun light. There is a new one that says it does it in 12hrs via solar light. "YcPower Mp-s23000 II Solar Charger 23000mah" This one says 12 hours recharge via solar energy. I use the XTPower MP-S2300 to recharge my GoPro Hero2 HD Camera (Just got Hero3 Black Edition) & Hero2 it can recharge 16 batteries. My ASUS Netbook I use it for too. « Show Less
693766
Yes! It won't be overcharge on my home energy at 24hr 7d week all year round. It will be safe to charge with solar panel. It only charge on day time and night time none. As long it's a twelve volt charger to charge these batteries.
1133084
It's an amorphous product not a photovoltaic cell product. Works well as a trickle charger to keep our batteries charged when not using the camper