Solar Charging The iPad

Photo
It's not going to be often that I will want to take the iPad out into the wilderness. Still I like to know I can if i want to and that while out in the middle of nowhere I won't need to worry about power. 
I have all kinds of little solar solutions that will ensure my MiFi maintains a 3G Wifi connection. (If there is 3G that is) but as yet I have done little experimenting with solar charging the iPad.
I have a variety of panels and power solutions but by far the best portable solar set up I have is the Solargorilla plugged into either the Minigorilla or Powergorilla. Not cheap, but fully spec'd and built to last.
I found after much faffing around that different USB leads behave in different ways and so for this test used either the USB lead that either came with my Powertraveller tech or the white Apple lead that came with the iPad.
As it stands I can power the iPad during light use or charge the iPad if the screen is off. At no point will you see the charging icon with this set up. In fact it may say 'not charging' in the top right. It is charging though. Just not as fast as the 10 Watt wall charger supplied.
So with the screen off for example, I have the Solargorilla charging the Minigorilla and the Minigorilla acting as a reservoir charging the iPad. I tested this with both the Minigorilla and the Powergorilla and in 10 mins the battery capacity would increase about 5%.
The main issue it seems is the amp-age required from the USB socket. Not all USB ports provide the same amount of power. USB ports can provide anywhere from 100 milliamps (mA) to as much as 1,000mA.  I have since found the Power Jolt from Griffin and have ordered it to see if the 2.1 amps stated is sufficient enough for me to use the cigarette lighter socket adapter to speed up the charging process.
I hope to field-test this current set up and something similar with a few interesting modifications in the not too distant future.
I will either post the results here or on one of my other two main blogs Documental.ly or OurManInside.com
Either way I will no doubt link the post through my twitter account @Documentally

If you have been doing some off the grid Ipad experimenting please let me know your findings in the comments below. Especially if you have been using the folding flexible type of panel. Thanks for reading.

Power Monkey Explorer Solar Charger

This is my second Power Monkey Explorer Solar Charger. It's not a replacement. It's in addition to my first that sits in my pack and is my emergency iphone charger. Having two iPhones and a MiFi means I am always in need of portable power and this secondary solar powered charging device will certainly get a lot of use.

The detachable 'solar slave' remains attached to this one and at the moment it lives in the car constantly topping up the internal lithium battery. In the box with the Power Monkey Explorer is also an AC and usb adapter so you can easily recharge when, as is often the case in the UK, the sun is not shining.

If I'm out in the wilds i'll always have at least one solar device lying around soaking up the light. Occasionally my original grey device blends into the background. I don't think I will have any trouble with this one.

The box also contains a load of extras. So in addition to the battery and solar panel you get the AC and USB adapter, a variety tips for mobile devices (including ipod ) and 3 international plug socket adapters. I tend to select the bits relevant to the kit i have with me and pop them in the small cotton pouch that also comes with the device. This blue model also came with a velcro strap which i think is for fastening the panel to anything that takes your fancy. At the moment it's strapped under my sunroof in the car.

The  LCD display is pretty self explanatory. It shows amount of battery life left and there is also an LED to show charging and discharging.

It's certainly one of the better built devices out there and looks pretty weather proof. Mine has certainly not had a problem to getting very wet in the past.

It's a 2000mah battery and so takes a long while to charge in the sun. With moderate use being really careful I can keep an iphone topped up but for someone like me it's really only for emergencies. If you find yourself in a survival situation you will no doubt think the power explorer a godsend but as a heavy user of tech in the field I use it mainly as a backup and it has given me a much need full charge on more than one occasion. You can get about 1.5 iPhone charges from a fully charged Powermonkey. I am still testing it with my MiFi.

I've not really used the little solar panel on it's own but this can apparently be done. And my only criticism would be that I'd have liked for it to continue solar charging the battery as it restored charge into a phone, much like larger systems do, but for the compact size you can't expect everything.

To sum up, It's a great bit of Mobile charging tech and if you get lots of sun you will love the free power.  I like the build quality, compact nature and the fact it's given me power on many occasions when I really needed it. I've always had all the adapters that I need and like it's intuitive ease of use.