Posted by: "Greg Simmons"
>
> For AA and similar, there are numerous solar powered battery
> rechargers available that could be a viable option. With three
> duplicate sets of batteries and one of those solar powered rechargers,
> you could be recording for a very long time, and you won't be going in
> with a ton of live batteries and coming out with a ton of dead
> batteries.
The thing to realize about solar is that the ratings of the panels are
in full sun on the entire panel with it all facing the sun. Think of it,
a 300ma panel will have to be aimed at the sun all day to charge one set
of high capacity AAs. And if it's not full sun the time is much longer.
It takes a lot of panel to charge batteries in a reasonable length of
time. I've found anything less than about 10 watts of panel to be hardly
worth it. If you are going to be in a fixed base and have a large panel
and it's sunny weather then it will work. Better is to have several
panels in case of failure or poor weather where the charge times are
much longer. Many panel designs can be hooked together to get more power
if needed making for a more flexible system.
There are quite a few small solar AA chargers around, but if you look
into the specs you will find you may take days to charge a set of
batteries with them. The amount of usable power per day of use is quite
small.
If you will have vehicles you are using, then 12volt chargers off their
battery will be much more effective. I use solar panels that produce
12volts so the same chargers as from my vehicle also work with the panels.
Not trying to be discouraging, but using solar panels requires planning.
And try your system in actual use before you make your trip.
Walt
"While a picture is worth a thousand words, a
sound is worth a thousand pictures." R. Murray Schafer via Bernie Krause
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