Hey folks at Anker,
Have you given any thought to a water proof solar charger? I spend lots of $$$ on trying to keep my phone dry, but I need to keep my charger dry too when I kayak! Any ideas? Combining this with a pocket solar charger would be the ticket!
Always interested in what is new!
Have you thought of just a Powercore slim in the waterproof bag with the phone?
Solar, when I do the size and volume calculations it doesn’t come up with Solar being worthwhile until you’re talking more than a couple of days and its somewhere sunny and you can control pointing the panel directly at the sun for hours. For example if you took just the weight of a solar panel, it is about the same weight as roughly 20000mah which would take in perfect conditions about 2 days of sunshine, so therefore you’d need >2 days trip in a sunny situation to warrant just on a weight basis. On a volume basis its even more of a case for battery.
That’s a really good idea! I always figured you could convert a back up charger into something that would be at least water resistant by having rubber stoppers that could fit into the charging and usb ports. Probably wouldn’t cost too much to wrap a charger in rubber, or something that is solid enough to keep out water with some attachable plugs for the ports. Just like the plugs that come with Otterboxes or Lifeproof cases… Just a thought!
Re: the solar panel, it never hurts to build up some juice when you are out back packing. That way you have a back up battery just in case!
Thanks for the feedback
Solar - take the example of the Powerport Solar 21W it is 14.7oz / 417g so then look up a battery of that weight, say Powercore 26800 is about 18oz or Powecore Speed 20000 is 14oz.
I like the idea of having a water proof charger for outdoor uses but I feel like making it waterproof and solar would be too much unless you would be willing to spend a lot of money.
Thanks Sjpower124, i can see your point. Maybe just start with the waterproof charger…
Here is an example:
I know the innovative folks at Anker can put out a better product than this!
AGREED. I get that solar chargers aren’t the quickest way to “re-fuel” devices, but they’re a great back-up when you’re on the go (and can easily be left on your dashboard to charge during a work day)…!
Now that would be some innovation!
Remember that HEAT ages a battery permanently lowering its mah
Be careful in consideration of how you charge your batteries if you’re using them with solar panels you may well be causing your battery to age faster. Good example would be the battery low down cooler in shade some distance away from the panel and not right next to the hot solar panel.
Maybe a turbine version. Saw one that you can use in a small stream, but maybe a small wind turbine
Good call!
A stream would be better, because the density of water is higher than air so more force and near ground the wind force is tiny.
I was thinking for someone on top of a mountain or the AC vent lol
So top of mountain, the energy to carry the windmill up the mountain vs the energy to carry a battery up a mountain is…?
(hint: do the math)
For the purpose of a human climbing a mountain, gravity barely alters in the few K feet moved. So Force in easily assumed a constant.
Energy = Force x distance.
So take say a turbine, say assuming a super efficient strong perfect wonderful turbine, you can design able to withstand the winds of a mountain top, somehow you figure how to anchor it so its not blown over, and so it weighs 1Kg.
Let’s assume you raise it up 3000ft / 1000M, against the gravity (not actually a constant but pretty constant so near Earth) of 9.8m/s2. So energy to raise up the mountain is 1Kg x 9.8m/s2 (the mass x gravity = Force) x 1000M (distance) = (Energy) 9.8KJ
Watts = Energy / time.
Then let’s pick say a time that turbine is there, say a lunch spot, shall we call that 1000 seconds or 16.7 minutes? So then the Watts = Energy / time = 9.8Watts.
So now we are getting there, Watts = Volts x Current (V x A) so let’s hold the Volts at 5V, so the amps need to be (9.8/2) = 2A.
So now your perfect super light, super strong, turbine is needing to make 2A output to make just the electrical energy to match just the perfectly efficient human’s energy to get that perfect turbine up to that mountain.
A 10W turbine is currently … ( I could not fine one so find a nearby match)
I found a 15W turbine, weighs 12oz excluding all of the necessary attachments to hold it down, this is just the blades and generator part. So it sounds like you can’t actually build such a device.
Then compare to carrying a battery.
Not a windmill, but a small fan
Get into physics.
I don’t need to get into physics. This is about ideas and what elements can be used
Physics is about reality.
Volts, Amps, Watts, Joules, Time, Distance.
There is only so much energy in a specific source, whether solar, wind, water, and then efficiency, then the energy you burn to get to that energy.
Phones, energy, batteries, generators, it is all physics, and most of it is 400 years old. Only slowly, slowly improving.
If you want to go unreal… well Brexit, Trump, Telekinesis, perpetual motion engine, free money, etc. you know where that ends.
I know what physics is.
“small fan”