[pct-l] Re: Recharging batteries on the trail?

[dilorenz at hotmail.com (Mike DiLorenzo)]

again, no personal experience.  i know leif (the cat who runs trail 
journals) did this in 2001 on the CT.  you might want to get in touch with 
him.  i think he is an on-line type of dude.

cupcake/john b. turned me on to a company who makes these types of things.

check out http://www.aurorasolar.com

to quote their website:

the POCKET-PAL Solar Charger #SC101 (4 oz.) will "charge a 500mA battery 
pack of 2.4Vdc-3.6Vdc in less than 2 hours when placed in the SUN and 
attached to this unit".

a device i was looking into recharging was the e-digital odyssey 1000 
MP3/WMA player.  this device has a 3.8V  Lithium-Ion battery with a 1500-mA 
minimum capacity.  so this device would take 6 hours to recharge  (it has 3 
times the capacity of the hypothetical battery mentioned by aurora solar).  
assuming the voltage is not too much for the POCKET-PAL to hadle (3.8V vs 
3.6V as stated by aurora).

and finally, one other important point brought to my attention by 
cupcake/john b. is that you'll need to ensure that the battery can be 
charged in the device (so that the POCKET-PAL can be hooked up to it) vs. 
batteries which require a docking station.

my research is ongoing...
d-low

>
>no personal experience, but there is a section
>on this in the latest version of "the complete walker"
>that made it sound very promising.  perhaps reading
>that would be of some help.
>
>
>--- Tom Griffin <griffin@u.washington.edu> wrote:
> > On my late summer section hike in the Washington
> > Cascades, my hiking partner
> > want to bring his digital camera but is afraid he
> > will use up his batteries
> > before the end of the section. Has anyone used a
> > solar recharger on their
> > hikes? (Of course, having a solar recharger could be
> > a big mistake in the
> > cloudy Pacific NW.) Any brands to recommend or
> > avoid? Thanks,
> >
> > Tom Griffin
> > Seattle, WA
> > http://staff.washington.edu/griffin/pct.html
> >

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