Goal Zero solar power

[StG58]

Got a chance to depend on our Goal Zero solar panels for electric power this past week. We have a pair of Nomad 7 solar panels and a pair of Guide 10 power packs. They work. Set your expectations to have almost fully charged cell phones and enough battery power to keep "AA" cells charged for a pair of GPS units and a camera though. When we added the "AA" cells for the flashlights into the mix it really pushed the system close to it's upper limits. With more cloud cover we would have been limited to flashlights / headlamps and the GPS units. Goal zero says 3 to 6 hours to charge 4 "AA" cells from a deep discharge. Plan on it being closer to 6 hours than 3.

Get a good USB outlet plug for the cigarette lighter in your TJ, rigging the solar panels to the Jeep when you are out and about was worthless. With the combination of the USB adapter and the Goal Zero's, we had a surplus of power available, and came back with charged cell phones, fresh batteries in the GPS units, fresh batteries in the lights and a couple of spare fully charged battery sets. Get a good high out put USB charger adapter, they are pretty cheap in the grand scheme of things. The whole setup including the spare batteries is smaller than a ream of paper, and about the same shape. It weighs about nothing as well.

 

[Chris]

Very cool! I'm glad you brought this up, because this is something I was actually looking into last month, that I think I'd like to purchase in the near future.

Heck, I'd like to actually get solar panels for the roof of our house, but I'm not sure if the initial cost will outweigh the benefit or not.

 

[Rob5589]

I have the same, picked up on sale from Sportsmans Warehouse. Also came with their rechargeable speaker for tunes in camp. Very handy, I find the Guide 10 to charge my phone very well and much quicker than the panel itself, which makes sense. It will even charge a full size Ipad from 10% to about 40%. Not a ton but will get you some added time. Works well to recharge my Fenix headlamp and flashlight. Keep the panel in the blazing sun as much as possible, hard to do where you guys were with all the marine layer/fog that is common.

 

[StG58]

That's what we discouvered as well. It doesn't take much to really cut down on the solar output. Plug the Guide 10 into the phone and it does a good job of charging it up. When we bought our setups they threw in a pair of those little LED light bar do-hickeys as booty. They work great for playing cribbage and getting light into the tent at night. We've been aquiring the Panasonic / Sanyo eneloop Ni-MH AA and AAA batteries as they go on sale. So far they have been working out very well. When I get anything electronic now, it has to run on AA, AAA or have a USB charge port.

Good to know about the iPad, though we standardized on a different system. I'm working on a more useful navagation system using a touch screen tablet, so it's good to know that I'm at least in the ball park for keeping it charged.

 

[EJD]

I've got a ton of Goal Zero stuff, we took to Africa for a year and it helped quite a bit in the middle of the Kalahari desert. Especially the fan!

 

[TJ4Jim]

Had a solar guy in for estimates and even with the generous subsidies available in NJ it seems like they were doubling the price then offering a 50% credit. They wanted 40K to do our house which meant the payback would be long after I was dead and buried.