so would something like this serve my needs better?
http://www.woot.com/offers/gorilla-16-800-mah-battery-pack-w-led-screen-11?ref=cnt_dly_imgor possibly a combination of both? the solar for the times i can reliably charge in the sun and the other above as a back-up?
As I said, my intended use for this is charging phones, maybe an ipod or tablet, in the event I am away from power at a primitive campsite or at home in the event of a power outage. Now, what that means in how much "juice" I need to accomplish that, I have no idea.
For short outings, just go for an external battery pack. Do check the following with batterypacks:
- Power output: tablets often require a 2.1A, 2A or at least 1A power output. Check if the powerpack has this output. Regular USB has a 0.5A output.
- Check the capacity of your devices and look at the capacity of the powerpack. The amount of charges you can get is the total amount of powerpack (example 16800 mah from the one you linked at) – charge losses (converting the battery output to USB output and back, batteries heating up, cable resistance, etc) which will be in the 30% area (depending on the quality of the devices) divided by the capacity of your phone.
Note; lots of cheap Chinese batterypacks have inflated capacity numbers.
For longer you can add a solar panel, but use it to charge a batterypack, not directly to your device (unless the sun output is very consistent) . The problem with solar in inconsistent power output. Interruption of the power will stop Iphones from charging and requires you to unplug and re-plug the cable. With my android phone that doesn't seem to be a problem, but when hovering at the minimum required power input my phone will keep giving the vibrating and sound of being connected and disconnected continuously. Which eat more power then it’s getting.
Two links explaining what to get (no affiliations):
http://www.outdoorgearlab.com/External-Battery-Reviewshttp://www.outdoorgearlab.com/Solar-Charger-Reviews
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