Solar charger for cloudy days?

[konicaman]

I am looking for a solar charger that will also charge on cloudy days. I have so far only found the Solio Xcellerator, but it is considered very dangerous high-tech that should not fall into the hands of terrorists or rogue states and is therefore not shipped outside the U.S. 😀

Anybody know of a similar device that can be bought in the EU?

Edited to say that it should be portable, not car or boat mounted...

 

[f16sunshine]

Search marine oriented products sites and businesses.
The boating world has been using dc solar devices for decades.
I had a small 12"x12" trickle charger on my boat that did a great job of keeping 12v batteries topped up year round.
Even with pumps running during the rainy winters it was never an issue.

There are even smaller ones now.

 

[Sarcophilus Harrisii]

I am looking for a solar charger that will also charge on cloudy days. I have so far only found the Solio Xcellerator, but it is considered very dangerous high-tech that should not fall into the hands of terrorists or rogue states and is therefore not shipped outside the U.S. 😀

Anybody know of a similar device that can be bought in the EU?

Edited to say that it should be portable, not car or boat mounted...

Are you sure?
This seller lists Denmark as a shipping destination. They are in Arizona.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Solio-Xc...551?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ae32e3687
Cheers
Brett

 

[konicaman]

Marine equipment - good idea.

Well I saw a couple of sites, including Amazon, that noted export restrictions, but there is another problem getting stuff from the US to Denmark: The price will app. double going through the Danish customs services...

 

[sevo]

The issue is panel size. In overcast weather, the global radiation is down to 100W/m² or worse, which breaks down to 0.5W from the best and most expensive postcard size panels, i.e. 100mA@5V. But that is less than the power consumption of the average smartphone or camera - so you'd have to charge all day (more or less motionless) to use it half the night, which goes against all habits and likely requirements. What is more, most chargers require the USB standard 500mA@5V to work, so you could not use a panel that small to drive a generic charger, but would need a special charger.

Stuff like http://www.swisssolarcharger.com/10...Search=&nCurPage=&sStartPageNext=&caller=list (sorry, German only) would do - at a price. But it does not get much more pocketable and travel compatible than that...

 

[konicaman]

The issue is panel size. In overcast weather, the global radiation is down to 100W/m² or worse, which breaks down to 0.5W from the best and most expensive postcard size panels, i.e. 100mA@5V. But that is less than the power consumption of the average smartphone or camera - so you'd have to charge all day (more or less motionless) to use it half the night, which goes against all habits and likely requirements. What is more, most chargers require the USB standard 500mA@5V to work, so you could not use a panel that small to drive a generic charger, but would need a special charger.

Stuff like http://www.swisssolarcharger.com/10...Search=&nCurPage=&sStartPageNext=&caller=list (sorry, German only) would do - at a price. But it does not get much more pocketable and travel compatible than that...

Interesting - and yes a bit expensive to put it mildly, still worth giving it a thought, I would say.

BTW: Most Danes understand German to a certain extend, both written and spoken as long as it is not some strange dialect. Speaking it is another matter though - our grammar and syntax: Yikes! 😀