Battery pack with solar

[02rangeredge]

I'm going on a 5 day kayaking trip in august with some friends, and sadly this time around we're going to need phones and a few other rechargables, we're looking at a rugged battery pack and a way to remotely charge, personally I'm leaning towards the waterproof Goalzero Venture 30 and a Nomad 7 plus panel. Does anyone have experience with these or any experience with other options?

 

[tarditi]

I have them - great units - rugged and simple. Consider the larger 13 or 20 versions of the nomad to make sure the venture charges fully

 

[02rangeredge]

I was going to do my research on panels to be sure about my panel choice, what are you charging your venture with? how long does it usually take?

 

[DaveInDenver]

I have them - great units - rugged and simple. Consider the larger 13 or 20 versions of the nomad to make sure the venture charges fully

I have an older Nomad 13.5 and agree with you. A 7W panel is a little small for a ~8A-hr pack IMO.

 

[thefishhawk]

5 days isn't super long, i'm not sure you need to deal with using a panel. For a lot cheaper you could go with normal battery packs. 20-25k mah portable chargers are less than $40 now. One or two should get you there easily just charging phones and gopros and what not. Charging generally happens at night so a dry bag or pelican is fine for the day. don't know what kind of kayaking you are doing but also saves having to worry about submerging solar panels during the day when they would need to be out. The price of that little 8ah charger just for some waterproofing seems crazy to me. just a thought.

I regularly do 1-3 week rafting trips and this type of question comes up on the whitewater forums quite a bit, might be a good place to search. These overland guys seem to be the kings of solar though Probably some good info over in the power systems forum.

 

[DaveInDenver]

thefishhawk makes a good point. I bought a 12A-hr Jackery pack for $20 and I only got it because it uses Panasonic batteries. If I was less concerned about the guts the packs with random (usually LG) cells are like $40 for a 20A-hr pack. Those Goalzero packs are $80 for 8A-hr and the only difference I can see is they add some rubber bumpers to the case. Stick your charger in a portable hard drive padded carrier and done.

 

[02rangeredge]

I have an older Nomad 13.5 and agree with you. A 7W panel is a little small for a ~8A-hr pack IMO.

so what mAh should I be looking for size wise?