[Philmont]: Solar Chargers

> your eyes? Maybe, but I'm not seeking approval. I'm guesstimating that
> the GPS, spare batteries, and a solar charger will be about 2 lbs. And if

This comment caught my attention. I'd like to hear any info you currently have on using a solar charger. And, if you do take one, I'd be very interested in seeing a report on your experience.

Jeff Knoll and I looked into using solar chargers last summer. We found what looked like a decent one. I think the manufacturer is Brunton, and REI among others carries them. I think they can charge 4 batteries and hold 4 spares. Jeff and I ended up on separate treks and thus couldn't share a charger. We didn't think the weight was worth it for one person, so neither of us ended up taking one.

There were two issues that we came up with. One was weight. We were taking lithium batteries (which weigh less than recargeables) and calculated that we could take more than enough spares for the weight of the charger.

The second issue was charge time. It took some digging, but I think we came up with a figure of two days to charge 4 batteries. If you had cloudy days, add more time. This would be okay as long as everyone didn't start running out of battery power at the same time.

Anyway, I don't want to discourage anyone from using renewable energy sources. I am curious to have any experience reports, or to know if anyone has any better information than what we had last summer.

David DeLano
Phoenix, AZ
Troop 5
Crew 124

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Received on Fri Mar 28 11:05:49 2003