Saturday, August 31, 2019

Folding solar charger keeps devices going



A gizmo that we used all summer while building our cabin could be of use to people in power outages such as those caused by hurricanes. The Coleman Folding Solar Charger kept our cell phones and other small electronic devices working just from the power of the sun.
The 7.5 v unit is about the size of a book when closed and opens to display two flexible photovoltaic panels. You can charge things with either a USB or a 12 v accessory plug.
Besides our flip phones we charged my Fitbit, Olympus camera and Brenda's e-reader.
I have just purchased an Android smartphone (easier for texting while at the cabin) and have also charged that although I found the panels had to placed in full sun outside, not through a window as we have done sometimes for those other devices.
A word to the wise, judging from on-line comments, this charger may not work with I phones or other Apple products.


2 comments:

joe overman said...

How do get a signal at camp?

Dan Baughman said...

There are places around the lake where you can get a signal. One place is the eastern entrance to the bay next to the museum. That's the bay that has the tiny opening leading toward Trout Bay. This is the bay on the right as you head toward Muskrat Bay, just past the islands at the entrance to West Narrows. Another place is the prominent point on the north shore of Trout Bay. Basically, you are looking for areas that have long vistas to the east where the cell phone towers are located.

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