In most cases, I do not need a huge power capacity. Power outage here are rare and always very short. Even if they are long, I barely use power in my house (my power bill is a whopping 50 cent a month) and the potential loss of the contents on my fridge is very low. So in most cases it's just an empty phone battery to charge.
In the past you were able to use AA's or AAA's in most devices. Mine first mobile phone used three AAA's NiMH batteries and would accept AAA alkaline. However most new devices have switched to a Lithium based battery, which are not easily switched.
A few methods I use to keep my electronics charged:
- Spear (phone) battery. The smallest and lightest option, however it does require you to turn off your device first and can generally only be used on one device. This obviously will not work with phones without a removable battery. For other electronics, I have plenty of AA batteries ( I try standardize my batteries). Lithium AA batteries for long term storage and critical equipment and plenty of charged Eneloop batteries for other electronics.
- Power-pack. A external battery pack which will charge your device, usually by USB port. When looking for the battery capacity of these packs, you need to know that the battery power needs to converted to 5 Volts, to match the USB output. Then the power is converted back to a lower voltage to charge the battery. This wastes some of your battery capacity. This is however my favorite everyday emergency charger.
Both a spear battery and power-pack generally uses a Lithium based battery, which degrade with age. So generally you won't be able to use them more than 3 or 4 years.
- Solar charger and battery pack. I have had some small solar panels in the past, which were totally useless. You need a decent size solar-panel to charge something. If you only have a solar-panel, the output would vary a lot. This could be a problem with some electronics, whom need a stable input.
Currently I'm using the Goal Zero Guide 10 Plus Adventure pack. I choose this model because it uses AA (or AAA's with a adapter) NiMH batteries in it's battery pack, has an USB output and is flexible in use. NiMH are not as age sensitive and the AA's are easily obtained and replaced. You can also remove the AA batteries and use them directly in any devices. Being a bit of a battery nerd, I don't like the fact that the batteries are not charged in independent charging bays, but you can't expect that from a solar charger which does not have a constant output. Due to it's design, you can only charge 4 similar sized batteries at a time. However my devices rarely uses 4 batteries at once. You can mix full and empty in the battery pack, but I prefer to stick a separate USB charger in to the pack (yes this is inefficient). I have a Sanyo Eneloop USB charger, which has 2 independent charging bays to do this.
Although the manufacture says the pack can be charged in 2 - 4 hours, mine takes much longer in full sun light. So don't expect to charge lots of electronics with just a solar charger. The black color of the entire system also absorbs a lot of heat when you let it sit in the sun for long periods of time.
If solar is not a option you can charge the battery pack by USB or take the batteries out and charger them separately. Since it uses AA NiMH you can also just insert charged NiMH's and continue charging.
These three options give all the power I need in my applications (lights and phones). I really don't use much electronics, if you are I would suggest a larger setup.
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