Talking About Adventure In Small Boats
DolphinGal
Member
Appreciate input on good (tested) battery-operated cell phone boosters. I bought one from Radio Shack, the only one they had, and after 3 hours there was only a slightly perceptible rise in battery level ... the pits! It's being returned today.
Thanks,
DolphinGal
I have two:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0013G8PTS/ref=oh_o01_s00_i00_details
and:
The IMP500 is about the size of a deck of cards and seems to work pretty well, however has not undergone extensive testing (only used a couple times). The Microlink does not charge the phone from it's onboard battery, you need to crank it to charge, so it probably isn't the best option. However, it also contains a small flashlight and receives NOAA weather channels.
- Macatawa
TwinSpirit
Member
http://www.oyama-mobility.com/html/ProductView.asp?ID=42&SortID=128
I bought this at a local battery store. It is solar powered or can be charged with a usb port. I took it along on the NCC but didnt need to use it. It will charge my Phone in about an hour. It takes a good day of sun to charge the battery in the unit.
Twinspirit
DolphinGal
Member
Macatawa: I'm more looking for something that doesn't itself need charging - something that uses AA batteries to charge a phone. And yeah, ha, the Microlink with the hand crank is not the best option.
TwinSpirit: Did you give the unit a "getting splashed while paddling and soaking up sun to store a charge" test? Spending a day on shore to sit and watch the charger charge up isn't an option ... need to do anything solar while paddling, or use AA batteries while setting up camp or sleeping.
I use this Energizer unit--takes 2 AA Lithiums. You can get them cheaper.
Well, I carry it--never had to use it yet, so can't attest to how well it charges. But is small and light.
KB
TwinSpirit
Member
DolphinGal,
The I phones require a regulated voltage. Putting AA together doesnt regulate it so the I phones /I pads have a circut in them to not accept the input if it is not correct.
The solar panel/Battery I have is not water proof so I made a Cuben fiber dry bag that the suns rays will go through and it still works . This way I can strap it on the deck when I need to charge it.
Twinspirit
Cwolfe
Member
There was a great post last year that use a rechargeable 12 volt battery, an otter box and simple electronics attached to a car iPhone charger. A little heavy but a lot of energy and could be trickle charged with solar.
Spidennis.... I believed you posted it. Do you still have link?
Cwolfe
HonuSail
Member
Check out the stuff from Goal0 (zero). Their stuff works with iphones and ipads and I'm sure Androids as well. Their small unit uses AA batteries as the "bank". You can recharge by solar or outlets or simply change out the batteries. Call them, they are real helpful. I have the Sherpa 50, but will eventually get one of the smaller units and a small solar array as well.
Randy
SandyBottom
Member
For the 2006 UFC I found it easiest to just have an extra charged phone battery. I recharged phone and camera batteries (I had a couple extra of those too) while doing laundry at the Checkpoints. For my Android, I have 2 of the extended batteries, and the original battery the phone came with, I'll start the challenge with all batteries fully loaded.
Dawn
I bought a Chinese made 5000mAH external battery portable power pack supply power station from e-bay (~$20). Charged my I-phone a couple of times no problem. Should be plenty for EC. To recharge I have a small I-phone USB 120V Charger and if really bored or desperate a hand crank charger from e-bay (~$3).
Paul...
Cwolfe wrote:
There was a great post last year that use a rechargeable 12 volt battery, an otter box and simple electronics attached to a car iPhone charger. A little heavy but a lot of energy and could be trickle charged with solar.
Spidennis.... I believed you posted it. Do you still have link?
Cwolfe
Cwolfe,
Hopefully the beauty in this new forum is that we'll be able to go back and find all that great info that all of us have been finding, I'm sure I got the link somewhere ........
Anyway, all the rage is with the mirage drive but for me it misses on quite a few points and I'm still favored to the typical bike peddle prop idea and with that method I could possible incorporate a hub dynamo?
http://youtu.be/Y8RFlznzmTE
I'll try and dig up all that past info I had going on but technology is advancing and there's always something new happening.
One cheap idea is to use a walmart D cell to 6 v lantern battery adapter, use 2 and you got 12 volts. I'll try this out sometime as I also want to power an electric bilge pump. I'd not mind the weight if it all tied in together. Are there rechargable D batteries?
MicroTom
Key Master
This was another related thread on the old forum.
http://www.watertribe.com/Discussion/DiscReadMsg.aspx?strThread=7436&strNumReplies=5
BioLite CampStove. A camp stove which burns wood that heats your food and charges your mobile devices. Heat generated from the stove is converted into electricity, allowing you to plug in via USB and charge your gadgets. Soon to be released, but probaby not in time for the EC/UFC.
KB
zenkayaker
Member
hello dolfingal !!! why don't ya try a "solar-charger" for your battery prob's.I cannot remember many place's on the east coast that Verizon wireless doesn't have coverage .maybe in the glades proper but not many other places . if I remember correctly you could buy some some flat piece to supposedly increase the antenna strengh [however] never found one that works .hope this helps.later zenkayaker PADDLE ON
This one looks promising: http://www.ladyada.net/make/mintyboost/
DolphinGal
Member
Thanks everyone for the great input! I've narrowed it down to either the solar unit TwinSpirits mentioned (and thanks for the explanation of why AA's don't function) or the GoalZero Guide 10, which is solar and/or battery (HonuSail, I'll let you know how it works if I get it). Ladyada looks neat to make - might try it at a much later date.
DolphinGal
Im just home from a cupal of days away, had a chance to do a bit of windo shoping on my way through to whear I was paddeling, I looked at a solar/batery caled a power monky, one of the units had a dedicated solar pannel , which is abel to charge the latest smart phone all I need now is a smart phone !!!
MadDog
Member
Feks wrote:
Im just home from a cupal of days away, had a chance to do a bit of windo shoping on my way through to whear I was paddeling, I looked at a solar/batery caled a power monky, one of the units had a dedicated solar pannel , which is abel to charge the latest smart phone all I need now is a smart phone !!!
I got the Power Monkey, Mike. It has connectors for just about everything, but only everything that runs 5V. The Power Gorilla covers 5V-24V if you need more, such as for running a laptop too. Yes, both have solar charging panels.
As for smart phones, rumor is that intrinsically waterproof iPhones and Andriods (with hydrophobic coating) will be available this summer.
It's just a rumor, but I'd bet money that there are several devices on the market by this summer. I hope to have one for the NCC. I remember reading a triber post that AT&T sucks around Cedar Key, so I'm also keeping this in mind.
Danito
Member
I just got last week the New trent 11000 mobile power pack. It might not work for the UF participants but for the EC should work. From full charge to 0% in total of 6 days. Charged the following 2 Iphones 3 times each and my digital camera twice. I'm impressed with it so far. Going to get a pelican 1010 case for it today.
Danny
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