Solar charger for mobile phones

[Space monkey]

Hi,

My mother is going to the Olympics in Greece for the summer, on her bicycle…
Now we want to keep in touch to hear if everything is ok so she is bringing a mobile phone with her. But to charge the phone she needs to buy a solar charger (they costs 109 euro’s in Holland)
Do any of you guys have any experience with a solar charger?
If you do maybe you can give me some practical information about it, like:
- how long will it take to charge a normal phone with a Li-ion battery
- Do you need a lot of sunlight
- Do they break easily
- Basically, are they any good?


Many thanx in advance!

Ps. i'll give her my old 5110 with a Echo Li-ion vibra accu to take with her

[vultura]

Not sure exactly what output level you would need, but a quick search found these....

http://custom1.farnell.com/cpc/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=cpc+catalogue&category%5Fname=&product%5Fid=274300

http://custom1.farnell.com/cpc/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=cpc+catalogue&category%5Fname=&product%5Fid=277556

Am sure someone with a little technical knowledge could sort out the connection modifications needed to plug in phone, maybe using cigarette lighter (in car-charger) type connection to phone.

[Space monkey]

Thanx Vultura!


I dont think these solar panels are compatible with mobile phones, but i found something else. A wind-up charger for phones for only 12,95 euro! so i think i'll buy her this that way she can still call even if there is no sun :lol:

[Hunzol]

I've seen battery packs which you can put AA batteries in it to charge your phone, so if you use like Energizer E2 batteries maybe that will do the trick.