Anker 21W Dual USB Solar Charger
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$179.50
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$209.99
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This thing is really saving my tail here in Puerto Rico after hurricane Maria. Bought it after Irma only to have it arrive the day I regained power. Little did I know big sister Maria was lurking.I have used it every day to charge my Anker battery (the big one I forget which size) and a mofie case for my iPhone 7 red 120GB. On a sunny day I can charge my phone twice or more fully. On a rainy day, maybe once or less. I would not recommend leaving it in the rain. It has gotten damp from time to time or soaked in tropical rain storm momentarily. Works fine although the rivets immediately rusted. I also love 10 feet from the ocean in northernmost San Juan. So salty to be fair.I do wish the pocket that holds the devices being charged were a little more hefty and durable. And that they would close completely with say a HEAVY duty zipper (military grade).Otherwise this has been one of the best purchases I have ever made. It let me have communications through almost all of this (or once google started floating project loon). Kept me connected to information, family, news. I'm so glad they developed this tech. What an amazing age we live in 2017, despite everything!
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I used my galaxy s7 edge to test this charger. At first I was nervous because I was using the usb cable it came with and it only charged 2% in 20 minutes. So I switched my own usb cable and saw the difference instantly. I was on my porch and it got cloudy and charging estimated time was 3+hours. When the sky cleared out charging time changed to 2+hours. Then I moved the charger to my bedroom window and apparently the Sun hits better there becuase charging time changed to 1+hours. Phone was charged 100% within estimated time. I love this thing! I'm sending it to my parents in Puerto Rico. After hurricane Maria hit they still have no power and this will be extremely useful to them.
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It works. I tested the Anker 21W USB Solar Charger with the Anker 20100 PowerCore, and with Apple iPad Air 2. All tests were run with a single device (i.e. only one USB output was in use.) For comparison purposes, I also tested with the 12 W Apple 110V AC -> USB wall charger. Current and voltage measurements were made with the DROK USB 2.0 meter, in-line between the power source and the device to be charged. Solar panel testing was done at mid-day, under clear skies, with the panel oriented for maximum solar exposure (toward the sun and at about 40 degree angle from horizontal)..The solar charger delivered 2.12 A at 5.02 V (10.6 watts) to the PowerCore, and 2.31 A at 4.96 V (11.4 watts) to the iPad. The Apple wall charger delivered 1.98 A @ 5.05 V (10 watts) to the PowerCore, and 2.12 A at 5.06 V (10.7 watts) to the iPad.I also tested PowerCore to iPAD, which delivered 2.35 A at 5.06 V (11.9 watts).Note that this Solar Charger is specified to deliver up to 2.4 A at 5V with one USB port, up to a total of 3 A at 5V with both in use. I've read elsewhere that this 15 W maximum deliverable output is a limitation of the USB chip. You will not get 21 W delivered power. This PowerCore is specified to accept input power of up to 2A at 5V, i.e. 10 W. I was not able to find an input power specification for the iPad Air 2. For reference, the battery capacity in the PowerCore is 20,000 mAh (72 watt-hours), and the iPAD Air 2 has 7340 mAH (26 watt-hours).I also tested the Ikea USB LED light. This small light yields 10 lumens (not a lot), but only draws 0.26 W, so would run over 200 hours on the PowerCore.Conclusions.The solar panel will meets its designed 12 W output from one USB port. The PowerCore will accept, and in fact exceed, its designed 10 W input. The PowerCore will deliver its designed 12 watts outputs (at least to a an IPad).A rule of thumb for solar panels is that per day you get about 5 x max power, so this panel might be expected to yield 40-50 watt-hours / day, if it was run all day with some care. That's enough to provide 55-70% of a PowerCore charge.Use of the solar panel is quite technique sensitive with respect to proper alignment to the sun. Something like the DROK current and voltage meter is almost required to ensure the panel is operating at maximum potential. Power also drops off very rapidly out of direct sunlight, and significantly if not angled for maximum sun exposure (i.e. flat on the ground). I would probably run the panel into the PowerCore, and use that to charge phones or tablets, simply because the PowerCore is less sensitive to breakage from getting dropped at the panel is moved around, but the PowerCore is not required to use the solar panel.My primary interest in the solar panel is as an emergency backup power source. This meets my requirement for a small, lightweight solar panel that would provide enough power to keep phones and tablets going. It and the Ikea USB LED are going into the Hurricane Box. Its cheap insurance.P.S. A comment on the 21 W panel vs.15 W delivered power. I think this is a reasonable design choice, given the sensitivity of panel output to operational technique, but it took me a bit to realize what to actually expect. What you are really getting here is roughly the 10-12 watts you would get from the Apple USB wall plug, which is quite good, but its not 21 usable watts. I think Anker could have made that a bit clearer.
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I was pleasantly surprised with this. It works great. I was skeptical. Solar power can be hit or miss when it comes to these devices. I ran two different tests on it. The first was done at noon with the Sun at its best angle and even though I did not use the phone I left it on so all the apps were still functional. I plugged it in when the battery was down to 41% and it took exactly 58 minutes to charge it the 59% it needed to get back to 100%. The second time I again plugged it in when it was down to 41% only this time I did it at 5:30 at night when it's still had sun but not nearly as premium is earlier in the day. The second time with less sun, it took 1 hour and 44 minutes to charge it all the way back to 100% but with much less sunlight to work with. Overall I am very happy with the results and I'm very confident it will suit me well when I take it hiking.
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Not a "technical" review. I live in Seattle. Recent sunny day (no clouds, 90F all day long). My Samsung Galaxy S5 was at about 25%. I was on a 50km bike ride. Stopped in the shade, put the charger in the sun and plugged in the phone. Took a 2 hour nap. Phone charged to 100%. I see no issues with this item. Highly recommend. Light weight for the duties it can perform. I can say this, it is definitely part of my survival pack. Looking to purchase another one soon.
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This solar power supply is great. I got it for my birthday because I go camping often with Boy Scouts in places with no power. (And when there is power, all the assaults fight over the ports to charge our phones.) but now I have the upper hand! It charges my iPhone 6s and my lg g-pad. In a half hour, with slightly hazy skies, it took my iPhone from 50% to 70% charge while adding 6% to my lg g-pad tablet.I have been using this charger for a year of Boy Scouts camping now, the other leaders see me pull it out and hand me their phones. I have charged 2 iPad mini’s at the same time with this in a clear bright day. Sometime on my lunch break, when my phone gets low, I pull this out and plug my phone in while I relax in my car. I have noticed at recent camp outs, the other Boy Scout leaders pulling their own solar panels out of their cars to charge their phones, but mine works better. They all went with cheeper models but they do not work as well!
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I wondered why my Anker PowerCore 20100 power bank would never charge from this solar charger, but would charge from a wall charger. So I performed some tests and found that if a cloud passes then the 20100 will drop to a trickle charge for the rest of the day. The 20100 dynamically reduces its charging current draw, but does not increase it.For example, if the sun is out the 20100 will charge at 2.0 Amps from this solar charger. If a cloud passes and the solar charger can only produce 0.25 Amps then the 20100 will reduce is current draw to 0.25 Amps (as it should). However when the sun comes back out the 20100 will still only draw 0.25 Amps, even though more than 2 Amps are available. This was verified using both the YZX Studio ZY1266 USB power monitor and the Drok Pocket Digital Multimeter.Anker support said the 20100 power bank was defective. I replaced it with a second one that behaved the same. I tested my older out of production Anker batteries: the Astro 3E also doesn't increase its charge rate, but the Gen 1 Astro E5 does. The E5 immediately responds when the sun comes back out and draws all available current from the solar charger. I again contacted Anker support and asked for a list of batteries that have been tested with and charge properly from the Anker solar charger. Anker could not produce anything so I was on my own.I purchased some other batteries to see what would work.The EasyAcc Monster 26000mAh Power Bank worked properly. Plus this battery has two charging ports so it can connect to both solar output ports and charge at greater than 2.0 Amps when enough sunlight is available.The Anker Astro E7 26800mah Power Bank works perfectly with the Anker solar charger.The RavPower 26800mah Power Bank works properly in almost all conditions with the Anker solar charger. However if the sunlight drops too low and the charger produces close to 0 ma, but then the sun comes out before the solar charger powers off, the RavPower would not charge anymore. None of the other batteries had this particular problem. I also have the ChoeTech 19W SunPower Solar Charger so I tried the RavPower with it and found that the ChoeTech will reset the USB connection within a few seconds of this happening. So the ChoeTech/RavPower combination works fine. But if you use the RavPower with the Anker solar charger you might come back to your battery at the end of the day to find it didn't charge.
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