I have carried a folding solar charger for years and it works. This one looks to be pretty inexpensive and if does what it claims would be handy for charging iPads, cameras, etc. while at strips with no power.

http://amzn.to/1EklCIs

TD

I carry a lightweight 40W unit that has a cig outlet on the end. I have it trickle charging the battery (it spits out at least around 2 to 2.5A, even when it is a bit cloudy), charging up headlamps, ipad, radio, speaker, etc. I have had to loan it to other pilots to charge their dead battery in their plane more often than I've used it for any of the above. It will charge a really dead 12V plane battery on sunny day.

Good find. I bought this one on a whim one day but I'm positive there are better setups. 7W is just enough to charges phones and tablets, but if I'm standing around with nothing else to do, might as well charge batteries. That one you linked looks better for less money. I did buy an Anker brand wireless keyboard once that was cheap chinese junk, but what isn't now?

http://www.goalzero.com/p/11/nomad-7-solar-panel

I think it's overpriced and there have to be better pre-packaged solutions, because I think the market is heating up (rimshot...)

Zzz wrote:I did buy an Anker brand wireless keyboard once that was cheap chinese junk, but what isn't now?

Reminds me of my very first trip outside the US to visit a friend in Poland. We were walking in the main square and I saw a kid wearing a "Proud Navy Mom" t-shirt. It reminded me that I had seen a lot of shirts with english on them while walking around so I asked my buddy why english shirts were so common.

He replied, "Well, you have to understand, we get all our clothes the same place you do... China."

http://solarjoos.com/products

I have been shopping around also and found this one got high marks on a variety of adventure type magazine tests. It has a solar charger plus battery pack.

http://solarjoos.com/products

I have one that I got as a gift. It weighs a ton and is very slow. Using a folding charger gives you more Watts and you can use one of the light portable batteries to save lots of weight if you want to store the energy instead of charging directly.

Zzz wrote:Good find. I bought this one on a whim one day but I'm positive there are better setups. 7W is just enough to charges phones and tablets, but if I'm standing around with nothing else to do, might as well charge batteries. That one you linked looks better for less money. I did buy an Anker brand wireless keyboard once that was cheap chinese junk, but what isn't now?

http://www.goalzero.com/p/11/nomad-7-solar-panel

I think it's overpriced and there have to be better pre-packaged solutions, because I think the market is heating up (rimshot...)

I bought a goalzero 13w setup about two years ago. I leave it on the glare shield of the 170 between sunshade and the windscreen. It's wired through a plug to the battery. No more flat batteries when I don't fly for a while

I don't see it on their side but here are some pics.

I use this roll up panel, it is light but spendy. The controller takes care of overcharging issues. I use a cheap motorcycle battery on the ground for cell and ipad charging. It hooks to the light weight battery in my PA11 to charge it for radio use.

We used the Powermonkey Extreme on our trip to Alaska last year. It's a handy size and weight and great for backpacking or weekend trips, but I found myself wanting more panel area when we the whole family was in the boonies for extended periods. Would be awesome if one of the larger panels could plug into it. No complaints besides the slow-ish solar charging of the battery.

lesuther wrote:I carry a lightweight 40W unit that has a cig outlet on the end. I have it trickle charging the battery (it spits out at least around 2 to 2.5A, even when it is a bit cloudy), charging up headlamps, ipad, radio, speaker, etc. I have had to loan it to other pilots to charge their dead battery in their plane more often than I've used it for any of the above. It will charge a really dead 12V plane battery on sunny day.

How big a roll-up are we talking here? 40W is pretty powerful for this market. Where'd ya get it?

Most of you guys have pretty good sized airplanes, why screw with those high priced inefficient roll ups? It's not like you're backpacking or on a bike. A hard framed 20 or 40 watter will outproduce any of those little rollups, last forever pretty much, and be a fraction of the cost. Way under $100.00. Get A GOOD charge controller (excellent choice Robert, MorningStar makes good stuff, been dealing with them for years and zero problems). True they are more fragile then a rollup, but nothing like some may think and certainly no more then your other camping items like a stove or lantern.

ANY solar gizmo of any type is lots better then nothing, it still seems like magic to me! Here's a setup for a customer that he is using to, among other things, charge his Tesla. A little over 10 KW, magic! About 45 amps @ 240 VAC after it goes through the grid tie inverter.

If you want to store the energy from your solar gadget, this little battery is really pretty nice. 5000mAh.

http://intovate.com/products/

I keep my Gps and MiniPad2 topped up with these batteries on long flying days. I am not sure how well it would do on the MaxiPad.