How to choose a solar charger - buyers guide.

Now, you or your friend has decided to buy a solar charger, but do you know how to choose a most suitable one from thousands of similar products?

Don't really know what the specification is talking about? Well, that depends on what you want to know from it. Do you want to use it indoors on a sunny window sill? or do you just want to keep it until one day going to travel to use? Normal solar chargers are enough to be used anywhere but they do have varied features for special uses like the SC06 or SC07 solar charger that has urtal functions besides emergent charging.

Does it have a charging port? For example, you want to use the solar charger to charge a mobile phone. Whether you can use a universal solar charger to charge it depends on the input parameter of the mobile phone. Does it have a input charging port or do you need to take off the inner battery before recharging it?
If it supports recharged via a charging port then it can be charged by a universal solar charger. Mobile phones that require the battery to be removed and charged externally can only be solar charged by certain types of solar battery chargers, likes SC07.

Charging voltage, current, power,frequency?
Will the solar charger be of enough power? Look at the data plate on the original mobile phone charger. These data are the basic technical parameter engraved or stamped on the charger. All digital products should have these data.

On a typical digital product's charger you will see something like INPUT AC220V 60Hz 1.5A / OUTPUT DC5V 600mA. For us, only the output specifications is helpful while choosing a suitable solar charger for our digital product.

In this example of the mobile phone, we can see the output of the charger is 4V 500mA.

The output of a charger is the electrical power that is juiced to the battery charging circuit through the input port. Therefore, if we want to substitute the original charger with a solar one, then we need to ensure that the output voltage is higher than 4 V. It can be 5V or even 6V, but not higher too much or it might damage the battery or the circuit.

Likewise,an output voltage from solar charger lower than 4V would not have enough power to boot the phone's charging function.

The output current is not as important as voltage, it is only an indication of how fast the battery can be charged. Generally speaking, if the output current is halved, then it would take twice as long to fully charge a battery and if the current were doubled it would take half the time, all other things being equal.

Over current will lead to overheat of the battery during charging.Please note that overheating will shorten the life of a battery. But it is unusual for a solar charger to supply excessive current so you should select a solar charger with a higher output current.

Solar charger connectors
Will the solar charger have the adapter tips suit you digital device? The next consideration when choosing a unviversal charger(included a solar powered one) is to provide a suitable connection from the solar charger to the phone's charger input port.

The connector adapter ensures the positive and negative leads of the solar charger's output cable connect with the positive and negative terminals of the charger port on the mobile phone.

Most mobile phones have a charging port that accepts a round pin plug of about 3.5mm diameter (like NOKIA),or use universal input ports(like mini-USB or micro-USB).measure the diameter of the connector on the original charger and So choose an adapter that matches it.

A good solar charger will have basic set of connectors for various devices (Broadermind provides connectors for Nokia,Sumsung,Blackberry,Sony Erisson),and others can bought if the one you require is not included within the package.

What if the battery has to be charged externally? If you need to remove the mobile phone's battery so as to charged with an external charger, then that will need a high power solar charger that can generate 5VDC from 220VAC. There are solar chargers like the broadermind SC06 that can can recharge flat type 3.7V batteries externally as well as the usual solar charger functions, making it quite a useful charger.

Now that you know how to choose a solar charger, it's time to practise it.

Personal solar charger has an output voltage of about 5V and output current of 450mA-600mA. This will allow you to charge most mobile phones and MP3.

Some mobile phones require a bit more voltage, for instance,motorolas5.5V and Nokia 5.2V. However,generally speaking, just almost all solar chargers can charge up any mobile phone only if you have the right connector for the phone's charging port.

The latest solar chargers from broaderind.com will enable you to charge not onlymobile phones, but also other personal devices like MP3,MP4,PSP,GPS etc. These handy solar chargers enable you to use just one charger to subsititue the jumble of chargers and cables cluttering up your home.

Solar chargers range from pocket-sized solar cells with internal batteries that are suitable for charging mobile phones and personal devices to larger portable solar panels designed to charge up an external battery to provide power for portable appliances when traveling or camping.

Choosing the right Solar charger
When choosing a solar charger, the bigger,the better.

A larger solar panel will generate more current and charge up faster than a small solar one.

Similarly, a larger battery within the solar charger can hold more power ,the you can get more charges out of it.

Therefore a larger solar panel will charge up the inner battery quicker and a larger battery will hold more power and provide longer use before next charging.

Above is the common rule of choosing a solar charger. That's, choose the big guy!

A solar charger with a 2 watt solar panel will provide twice as much current as a 1 watt one and a battery with a capacity of 4 amp hours (Ah) will hold twice the charge of a 2Ah battery.

Check the output volts
Another important factor when choosing a solar charger is the output voltage.

Types of solar charger
Most mobile devices require about 4.5 to 5.5 volts to recharge so the solar charger needs to be able to supply enough voltage.

Some solar chargers output voltages are adjustable to supply different voltages to charge up a variety of portable devices.

Therefore you may need a charger that can supply 9 volts to charge up some digital cameras, but only need 5 or 6 volts to charge your mobile phone.

Larger portable solar panels supply 12 volts.

This is the same as a car's CLA socket so these portable solar panels are suitable for electronic devices and small appliances that can be charged or powered via a 12 volt CLA supply.

Visit broadermind.com for more other skill about: touch screen gloves/ iPhone screen gloves/ waterproof case/ solar charger/ bicycle holder/ iPad sleeve bag/ iPhone sport armband

HongKong Broadermind technology, your reliable partner in digital accessories!