Solar gadgets + AA's

[andrewc]

Powermonkey Extreme now appears to be available.  Not cheap at £120, though use your CTC discount at Cotswold and it comes down to £102.

On my recent Scottish trip my plan to sneak power from campsite shower blocks was frustrated. None of them had available 3 pin outlets, however they all had 2 pin shaver sockets (in the gents at least!)  Annoyingly my travelling USB plug wouldn't fit them. The 2 pin continental plug is just slightly different from a shaver plug  

[thing1]

Pwermonkey Extreme now appears to be available.  Not cheap at £120, though use your CTC discount at Cotswold and it comes down to £102.

Looks like that has a few improvements. Proper USB out socket rather than relying on silly barrel connectors and those cumbersome / easy to loose adapter tips. And "Users can also simultaneously use the solar panel to charge the powermonkey-eXtreme whilst it is charging their device" sounds promising. Wonder if that's only from the  panel (?) or would work from mains too.

    Battery weight: 242g (c.f. 83g for the explorer version). (From cotwolds outdoors)

It's a bit of a brute.   But then...

   Output: USB port: 5V 700MAh ad DC port 2.1A

700 MEGA amp hours? 3.5 Giga Watt hours. Sounds enough to send a Delorean through time and space.
Yeah, that'll do.

(I think they actually mean "USB port: 5V 700mA.")

[Charlotte]

You only need 1.21 gigawatts for that 

[Kim]

You're not thinking fourth dimensionally!  As anyone who watched the third movie knows, it's 1.21 gigawatts to power the time circuits and the flux capacitor.  To move though space at speeds in excess of 88mph the DeLorean still needs the internal combustion engine, a push from a friendly locomotive, or the hover conversion's unspecified (but presumably vulnerable to lightning damage) power source.   


9000mAh battery though.  That's more like it.   

[thing1]

You only need 1.21 gigawatts for that  

 

Well..... 3.5 GWh @ 1.21 gigawatts is getting on for 3 hours of sustained time travel. Perfect! (although I'm slightly nervous in my usage of 'time' to measure a quantity of movement through 'time')

[Greenbank]

9000mAh battery though.  That's more like it.  

9000mAh battery = 460g (according to that page but I'm guessing that includes cables/etc), £102 with CTC discount

or, 3 Portapow battery packs (3400mAh, 120g, £31.50 each) = 10200mAh, 360g, £94.50

But only the Powermonkey Extreme has the 2.1A output that the iPad requires.

For PBP I'm still unsure as to whether I go for a e-Werk or just another Portapow battery pack (each one can do a 600). The chances of me reusing the e-Werk in the next few years is almost none, so it's probably better to hold of buying one until the price has come down or the technology improves slightly. A second Portapow batterypack will be lighter than the e-Werk plus all of the cables too.

Looks like I've just talked myself into another Portapow battery pack.

[thing1]

I think the 460g would include the solar panel too. That's why I went with 242g from Powertraveller Powermonkey Extreme

It's _unlikely_ we'll use the e-Werk for PBP... if we don't you're welcome to borrow it.

Between signage and StokerNav^TM I'm not that worried about GPSing it. I'll likely just carry the Garmin as a backup.
The phone on the other hand would be nice to leave powered so it can Latitude and Tweet and whatnot as we go. I'm not sure I want to tamper with the lighting system for such frivolities though.

(Must every thread turn into PBP preparation discussion?      )

[andrewc]

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/u6l8V2SjDv4&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/u6l8V2SjDv4&rel=1</a>

A brief  demo of the PowerMonkey Extreme and another review  here

[andrewc]

Another large solar panel aimed at the outdoor user.  Works out at £66 inc shipping from Amazon.com , though if customs pick it up you may get hit with duty & admin fees on top.   Lots of enthusiastic reviews but one comment that they have an active marketing programme...

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=1r4vFZo&doc_id=9258&v=EH

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/Eg2U6tF7Rqw&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/Eg2U6tF7Rqw&rel=1</a>

And this looks like a nicely chunky battery pack New Trent IMP1000