UKH

Hi. 

Anyone able to recommend a solar charger for camping. Multi-day of course. Doesn't need to be super light. To power up smart phone, headtorch and Bluetooth speaker.

Ta

Solar panel or solar powerbank type thing? I used a combo on a recent camping trip to Scotland - 2 10,000mAh powerbanks to charge our phones, headtorches etc and a solar panel from Decathlon to charge the powerbank. A lot of electrical items are fussy about a continuous power supply when charging so the panel manufacturer don't recommend charging your phone straight from the panel. I didn't get much chance to try it as a) the first campsite had a plug in the utility room and b) it mostly rained but the little use I did get seemed to work well. The panels are light and fold up neatly and a 10,000mAh powerbank is pretty small nowadays. 

I did some research into solar powerbanks and the impression I got was that they were a bit pointless. Too small an area of solar panel to be of any meaningful use.

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/usb-solar-panel-15w-slr900/_/R-p-324491?mc=85...

I'd use a solar panel and a power bank, wouldn't try and charge a device straight off a panel.

I've got an anker solar panel and a power bank. All work fine. 

Are you going somewhere sunny? At the moment in the UK it is taking 4 days to charge a 10000 mah power bank using my alpkit solar charger. If the sun properly comes out it's much faster, but this is the UK....

Even on multi week trips around Europe, I’ve found a power bank to be fine as a backup to do all that on its own. Assuming you’re in a car, charge your devices from that. Otherwise it’s rare for there not to be a handy socket in pubs and cafes and I’ve never had a polite request to use one refused if you’re a paying customer. Lots of campsites have charging facilities now, worth checking.

Depends on how wild you want your trip to be. I often go away for two weeks without visiting anywhere with a pub or cafe. A solar panel works well for me even in cloudy Scotland. 

I looked into this a few months back. This is the best comparison review I found: https://www.outdoorgearlab.com/topics/camping-and-hiking/best-solar-charger...

The idea is to charge the power pack from the panel, then your devices from the pack.

A cheaper way to go would be to have several power packs, fully charged. Though probably heavier than one pack and a panel?

Size? Pointing it at the sun as it moves? I’ve got a 30W panel and 100wH bank. Basically can get a full charge most days IF you are attentive to the panel position… but also becasue o have a nice panel:powerbank ratio. If you use a low power panel and a big powerbank, of course it will take ages.

Same as others, I have a panel and powerbank for family camping, all Anker. In reality, the power is from the banks and the solar panel just keeps them topped up (-ish).

With good charging management (don't charge to 100%, don't leave your phone on charge overnight etc, charge in car when possible) we could probably do without the panel but with quite a few devices (watch, 2 of phones, walkie talkies (these get hammered by the kids), camera, torch, lamps etc and the fact getting my wife to adhere to my "charging rules" is a lost cause, it helps to top up from the panels.

If I pick a decent overall position/angle fore the panels, the banks are normally back to full charge after a day out and about.

 > Size? Pointing it at the sun as it moves? I’ve got a 30W panel and 100wH bank. Basically can get a full charge most days IF you are attentive to the panel position… but also becasue o have a nice panel:powerbank ratio. If you use a low power panel and a big powerbank, of course it will take ages.

It's only a small 10w panel, but can easily charge a 10000 mah power bank in a day in strong sun. The 4 days figure was based on recent white cloud and sunny spells weather that is perhaps more frequent in the UK. I guess my point was that while solar panels are good, they do need good light to be effective. Outside summer, they are likely to be dead weight on many short uk trips, for example.