UKC

Just wondering what means others use for recharging when there's no access to mains. Is there any alternative to solar such as the Power Monkey range?

In reply to mypyrex:

There's the Brunton Hydrogen Reactor. Haven't got or used one myself but have heard really good things about it from a friend. It doesn't come cheap though.

Alternatively, I find a spare battery quite useful.

In reply to Welsh Kate:


Did look at those some time ago but decided that with the expense there was no real advantage over power monkey

In reply to mypyrex:

I use a Anker Astro (google is your friend) it charges up my smartphone battery about 4 or 5 times.

It's a little heavy but works great.


cheers

Gaz

In reply to mypyrex: The lightest option is flexible solar panels but you need the sun and the discipline to set them up on your sack or tent etc. Used these in Nepal to keep my camera going in Nepal for 4 weeks with 2 batterys.

Keeping a smart phone or tablet going without access to major base camp facilities sounds like a challenge.

Can I ask why you wish to stay fully connected when out in the hills? I find it relaxing to leave these things on hold with the security of turning on my hill brick if required.

HTH Davey

In reply to mypyrex:

What sort of phone are you using? phones where the user can change the battery <Samsung galaxy etc> can just have one or two spare fully charged batteries. they are very cheap off t'bay

In reply to Gazlynn:

I also have an anker astro and would recommend

In reply to Mountain Llama:




Not so much a matter of "staying connected". I now have most of my maps on my tablet as well as intending to load e-versions of guide books. I take my phone purely for emergency use.

In reply to wilkie14c:


Samsung Galaxy Ace

In reply to mypyrex:

I have one of the larger battery packs, cost me about 50 quid. It'll happily charge a smartphone daily for a week.

Neil

In reply to Neil Williams:



What, an Astro Anker? What size and weight roughly?

Ta

In reply to mypyrex:

A quick search of the popular auction site shows you can get a genuine Samsung battery for £3 inc postage and if you look at item number 131263212172, its a stand alone charger and a battery for a fiver! you can have one charging in the phone and one charging in this charger to speed things along, perhaps taking 3 spare batteries out on a 24/48 hour trip for very little weight and cost and without reliance on another device (powermonkey etc) Something to consider perhaps. I'm not so lucky as I can't change my battery without a screwdriver as I have an iphone but its normally turned off unless needed and like the other night in Wales, it was on all night as I needed the alarm clock set, it was in airplane mode which doubles the battery life as it isn't searching for network/wifi etc. If relying on charging from a car make sure your charger is 2amp as many car usb leads are only 1.2 or something amps and charging is fairly slow (item number 321519280375)
Hope this helps!

In reply to wilkie14c:


Thanks, I'm talking about a prolonged trek circa two weeks.

In reply to mypyrex:
This one:

http://www.veho-uk.com/main/shop_detail.aspx?article=129

There's a yet larger one as well.

Does an HTC One S for a week, the figure it gives is a fully discharged iPhone 5 for 4 charges, though.

Neil

In reply to Neil Williams:

Thanks

In reply to mypyrex:

Ah I see! Worth keeping one of those spare batteries with you though

In reply to mypyrex:

Put it on airplane mode so you can still use camera etc and only phone mode when you need to call MRT

In reply to Mountain Llama:

This is what I use. It's excellent and lasts at least a week.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/PowerGen-12000mAh-External-lightning-Blackberry/dp/...


Wouldn't it be boring if everyone thought the same? Personally, I like the freedom of the hills but I need to be connected to my emails etc as well. I also like posting photos to Instagram when I'm out and about. Should I feel ashamed of that?

In reply to mypyrex:

I have had a power monkey explorer for a couple of years now.. When fully charged, it just about charges my Galaxy S4 fully (handy for overnighting with a group) but that is it. It doesnt charge well from the solar panels or from a vehicle. When it broke, Powertraveller were not interested in looking at it - Just selling me another (why would I spend my hard earned money on another?!).. so I took atapart and fixed it..

Great if you have access to mains power (of any flavour) as it comes with loads of adaptors. rubbish otherwise.

In reply to mypyrex:

I've got a Veho Pebble Smartstick which is great for an emergency charge of my smartphone when running Strava on an all day bike ride - the GPS function on the phone is notoriously power hungry.

They also do a Pro XT model which offers up to 10x the charging capacity
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Veho-13200mAh-Portable-Blackberry-Smartphone-Black/...

In reply to Lord of Starkness:
Correction, I just checked mine and it is the 13200mAh one you link to, not the smaller one linked above. That would explain why it does a week easily!

Only way I'd want it improved is that it'd be nice if it had two or three USB ports for multiple devices rather than just one.

Neil

In reply to mypyrex:

There are a number of 'recharging pot' systems that use thermoelectric generators to drive a USB charging point. One is the Biolite wood-burning stove, and there's a simple pot one, too; can't remember its name.

I'm not completely convinced by the logic of these, as you'd have to run a stove for a long time to charge a phone at USB rates, and that might be a pain. I did some 'fag packet' sums on a thread some time ago that showed it wasn't quite as stupid as I first thought. Can't find the thread, though...

In reply to mypyrex:

We've got a powermonkey extreme, which has been fine - charge the battery before you go and then top up from solar panel - certainly reasonable if you can expect reliable bright sunshine.

There's also http://www.genneo.com/ but I don't think they've launched yet (and I haven't got my head round how much tablet use you might expect out of a day's walking).

In reply to captain paranoia:

Here's the PowerPot, formerly a KickStarter project:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/david-toledo/the-powerpot-x-most-relia...

And my musings on it (scroll down to my second, more considered post):

http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=567457&v=1#x7549587

And the Biolite system:

http://biolitestove.com/

Still not entirely convinced by either; given the additional weight of the generator pot/stove and the extra fuel needed, a spare battery may well be lighter and less faff.

In reply to mypyrex:

Another one vote for a external battery. I get 3 charges from an online anker astro slim which is smaller than my phone.

Standard spare batteries are cheaper but far more hassle.

In reply to mypyrex:

Charge it from everyday background noise

http://abrition.com/2014/08/14/background-noise-can-now-charge-smartphone/

OF course having gone to the hills to get away from the hubbub, this might fail

In reply to Blue Straggler:

My bobbins detector has just fired. The amount of power carried by sound is tiny. The thing might produce 5V off-load, but stick a real battery charger on it, and it'll drop to nothing. There simply isn't the power to extract.

Unless your background noise is a machine gun*...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_power

* and even then, your generator would have to completely surround the machine gun, and convert all the acoustic power to electrical power to get your 10W.

In reply to captain paranoia:






Indeed. I was flicking through the magazine (or is it a trade paper?) "The Engineer" and there was an mini article on it. In fairness they were talking about vibrations in general (like those Seiki Kinetic watches I suppose) but for some reason chose to big up the "sound" aspect of it.
Maybe in the distant future it would work a bit....?

In reply to mypyrex:
Search ebay in mobile accessories for external battery bank. 50,000mah gives equivalent to nearly 20 charges, under 20 quid.