[bymy141]

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Late this summer we will be spending a number of weeks in Zambia.

Since we will be staying in tents and have no electricity available, we are looking into solar power options for charging batteries etc.
Digging into the Internet it looks like you can get various options with output voltages between 3 and 5 volt.
In addition to that we would need a dc-dc converter and a third party Pentax battery charger with a 12 volt car input.

I am worried about the total weight, volume and if the solar cells will have enough power output for the third party charger. The solar cell output is specified, the chargers input requirements not.

Is there anybody there with some experience in this direction? Or should we just buy 10 spare batteries?

Any advise is much appreciated.

- Bert

[Ex Finn.]

Solar Battery Chargers for Pentax

Check these out, might be something of use.

Cheers, Mike.

edit; They only list DL series batteries, might be adaptable however?.

[ve2vfd]

Be VERY carefull when dealing with Lithium Ion batteries... they require very precise charging voltage and current and only a proper charger should be used (you can't just plug 4 volts from a solar cell into the pentax battery and hope for the best).

My suggestion would be to get a 12v car charger for the K10d battery (like this one BRAND NEW BATTERY CHARGER FOR: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo)

Then get a small 12 volts sealed gel cell battery (the size of a small brick) and a small solar pannel to recharge it.

The average *small* solar pannel won't supply enough current to run the pentax charger, but a pannel plugged all day into a gel battery will charge it, and then the gel battery will put out the needed current to run the pentax battery charger for the 1-2 hours it needs.

Talk to someone who is good in electronics and they'll be able to calculate the ideal size of gel cell battery and solar pannel for you to keep the cost and size to a minimum).

Pat

[Ex Finn.]

" Or should we just buy 10 spare batteries"

10 spares would probably be the cheaper route.
You could also get a 20 watt roll up panel
and a car charger for the batteries.
Lugging around a AGM or gell cell battery "brick' will get old real quick.

(This stuff is not cheap)

PowerFilm Foldable 20 Watt Solar Charger F15-1200

Cheers, Mike.

[reeftool]

I'm assuming you will have access to an automobile from time to time with this suggestion. They make 120v ac inverters you plug into a lighter socket that will charge batterys, run laptops, run power tools. The one I have from Snap-On has 400watt output and also a USB port to charge things like cell phones and I Pods.

As I was about to post I checked and saw you are in Holland so nothing you own probably works on 120vac. Perhaps check your local hardware store and tell them what you want to do and they may have a similar product in stock for your charger voltages.

[ve2vfd]

Reeftool, why didn't I think of that!!! If he has access to automobiles, then it's soo simple!

The charger that came with the camera runs off 110-220V and pulls under 1/4 amps, so in theory the smallest inverter he can find will work fine and it makes no difference if he buys one that converts 12vdc to 110vac or 240vac!

Something like this: E150W 12V - 240V Economical 150W Inverter (Cheap 150W Inverter) would be more than good enough.

Pat

[bymy141]

Thanks for the hints and tips guys!
No, we will be hiking and canoing for several days, I guess we will do the many batteries option.

- Bert

[Ratmagiclady]

I actually know just the guy to ask about this, but he's not online right now. Someone who happens to have taken up the additional hobby of ...Making solar cells do things, including charge his camera batteries.

And, my friend's coming with some interesting stuff about the solar options, if those are still of interest.

[Leighgion]

Hi, I'm the guy Ratmagiclady knows to ask about this, and I'm now online. I'm actually not a Pentax shooter, but I figure my experiences dabbling with solar battery charging cross company lines. It's a matter that concerns us all.

Getting a solar setup to charge DSLR batteries is actually quite simple. All you need is a charger for your camera battery with a 12v car plug and a panel that both offers a female cigarette socket adapter AND will punch out enough juice to get the charger going. The later is a concern, but not a huge one. More on that later.

If you just want to one-stop shop, Sundance Solar is bundling folding panels and Pentax chargers:

Solar Charger for Pentax with SunLinq 6.5 Watt Foldable Solar Panel
Solar Charger for Pentax with Sunlinq 12 Watt Foldable Solar Panel

I own the 12w Sunlinq and I definitely recommend it over the 6w model. While I assume Zambia is going to be getting some pretty healthy doses of sun in late summer, additional output potential is always a plus with small-scale solar gear and the double fold 12w model isn't meaningfully heavier than the 6w. In either case, there's newstand magazines that are heavier, so they're not much burden to throw in your pack. If your budget can afford one per person, that's handy so if necessary you can charge more than one battery at once. Folding panels are pretty much only going to power/charge one thing at a time even under the best of circumstances and, under less favorable sun conditions, it's possible to wire a pair in together with a Y-cable so you can try to eke out some juice even when it's a bit cloudy.

The charger on offer looks identical the ones I have for my (Nikon and Casio) camera batteries, a couple of which I bought under the "Impact" brand, but one generic off eBay. They're nice units that are 110/220v autoswitching with folding wall plugs in addition to the detachable 12v car plug. I pretty much just use them full time for both solar and wall charging and put my OEM chargers away.

You probably could get a slightly better deal if you carefully shopped for the panel and charger separately, but I haven't been shopping them lately so I don't know what the going prices on the panels are. I know I paid less, but that was months ago.

Now, quick word about sufficient power output.

If you get yourself one of the aforementioned panels or other branded equivalent, your only concern is getting enough sun and you'll have the necessary power to charge up. The only case of a solar charger with a cigarette socket adapter being unable to keep up that I've run into is the Solio, which is a great little device, but it simply isn't built to provide the juice that DSLR batteries need.

During last summer, once I had all the hardware figured out, I was charging my DSLR batteries in the sun full time and not plugging into the wall at all. I live in the Pacific Northwest too, which isn't renown for the strongest solar intensity. Zambia's going to have much more efficient solar intensity, but I'd still keep a couple spare batteries just to ensure you got power.

[bymy141]

Hi, I'm the guy Ratmagiclady knows to ask about this, and I'm now online. I'm actually not a Pentax shooter, but I figure my experiences dabbling with solar battery charging cross company lines. It's a matter that concerns us all.

Getting a solar setup to charge DSLR batteries is actually quite simple. All you need is a charger for your camera battery with a 12v car plug and a panel that both offers a female cigarette socket adapter AND will punch out enough juice to get the charger going. The later is a concern, but not a huge one. More on that later.

If you just want to one-stop shop, Sundance Solar is bundling folding panels and Pentax chargers:

Solar Charger for Pentax with SunLinq 6.5 Watt Foldable Solar Panel
Solar Charger for Pentax with Sunlinq 12 Watt Foldable Solar Panel

I own the 12w Sunlinq and I definitely recommend it over the 6w model. While I assume Zambia is going to be getting some pretty healthy doses of sun in late summer, additional output potential is always a plus with small-scale solar gear and the double fold 12w model isn't meaningfully heavier than the 6w. In either case, there's newstand magazines that are heavier, so they're not much burden to throw in your pack. If your budget can afford one per person, that's handy so if necessary you can charge more than one battery at once. Folding panels are pretty much only going to power/charge one thing at a time even under the best of circumstances and, under less favorable sun conditions, it's possible to wire a pair in together with a Y-cable so you can try to eke out some juice even when it's a bit cloudy.

The charger on offer looks identical the ones I have for my (Nikon and Casio) camera batteries, a couple of which I bought under the "Impact" brand, but one generic off eBay. They're nice units that are 110/220v autoswitching with folding wall plugs in addition to the detachable 12v car plug. I pretty much just use them full time for both solar and wall charging and put my OEM chargers away.

You probably could get a slightly better deal if you carefully shopped for the panel and charger separately, but I haven't been shopping them lately so I don't know what the going prices on the panels are. I know I paid less, but that was months ago.

Now, quick word about sufficient power output.

If you get yourself one of the aforementioned panels or other branded equivalent, your only concern is getting enough sun and you'll have the necessary power to charge up. The only case of a solar charger with a cigarette socket adapter being unable to keep up that I've run into is the Solio, which is a great little device, but it simply isn't built to provide the juice that DSLR batteries need.

During last summer, once I had all the hardware figured out, I was charging my DSLR batteries in the sun full time and not plugging into the wall at all. I live in the Pacific Northwest too, which isn't renown for the strongest solar intensity. Zambia's going to have much more efficient solar intensity, but I'd still keep a couple spare batteries just to ensure you got power.

Thanks for the elaborate answer.

I've looked at the Sunlinq solutions. They offer Pentax battery chargers not compatible with my K10D battery.
Perhaps the KM NP-400 (what is the same battery as far as I know) they offer will work.
Also, Sunlinq offers 110-120volt external charge options only (I live in Europe....)

The Sunlinq's are sold in Europe as the E-Sun mats.
They offer 12volt output on a female carlighter plug here as well.
The problem then is to find a third party battery charger with 12V input. You can get them here, but I have no clou at all if there is enough amps generated to make the charger work.
Perhaps I should buy/try the charger first, measure the power intake and then decide over the purchase of the mat.

Thanks again,

- Bert

[Ex Finn.]

AnsmannANSMANN AG: Digicharger Vario looks like possible solution.
For some reason I can not open their PDF spec. file.

But normally, most low amperage car chargers are designed to operate without having to run the engine.So with this in mind, as long as the cell can maintain about 11vdc output at up to 1 amp. it should be fine.
A 6 watt panel will not cut it, 12 watt might be just enough except on a overcast day.

Nothing beats a pocket full of energizer lithium's .
Cheers, Mike.

[pacerr]

If you are going to be flying, check the security issues before you get too committed to excessive electronics or a lot of batteries. Those look a lot like boom-making materials to security screening.

And they also have to consider that any one person may be only carrying a few parts that seem innocent as separate items.

You don't want to have to throw away high value/critical parts at the last minute to make a flight connection. It may be more economical to arrange for something to be bought or loaned on site.

H2

[glenfender]

Hi I too am interested in finding a solar charging option for our visit to Botswana. we will be on safari for 10 days and I don't think we will be anywhere near mains electricity. The Freeloader Pro claims to be able to charge an SLR camera battery - by charging up all day then you plug in the camera charger attachment. Does anyone have any edxperience of this gadget. If this is not an option - what are the thoughts on using cheaper non pentax DLI90 batteries for K7 - and how many I should think of buying to last for 10 days!!!!!
cheers H

[bymy141]

Hi I too am interested in finding a solar charging option for our visit to Botswana. we will be on safari for 10 days and I don't think we will be anywhere near mains electricity. The Freeloader Pro claims to be able to charge an SLR camera battery - by charging up all day then you plug in the camera charger attachment. Does anyone have any edxperience of this gadget. If this is not an option - what are the thoughts on using cheaper non pentax DLI90 batteries for K7 - and how many I should think of buying to last for 10 days!!!!!
cheers H

Hi H,

Spending 3 weeks in some *very* remote areas in Zambia I can tell you that all camps we visited have some sort of solar panels and power converters, if not generators.
I did pack a lot of AA batteries for my K-7 grip, and was forced to leave them out by airport security. You can only take so many batteries in an airplane.
2x6 rechargeables plus 2 chargers (4 + 2) with 230v / 12v connections and 2 x DLI90 LiIons got me through the trip.
If you ask politely, you can charge your backup batteries during the day.

With 4000+ photo's I never had to be worried about the battery capacity left.
Make sure to bring enough memory cards, a small laptop for selections and image backup, a rocket blower and fast / long glass!

This year Africa for us will be a short trip to Uganda, next year we will do Botswana, Namibia and South Africa.... Please save some of the wildlife for us!

= Bert