Solar Powered Radio (good, light, winter, emergency)

[hey teach]

Does anyone here have one of the solar radios? Do they really work well?

[MissingAll4Seasons]

We have solar/hand-crank NOAA/AM/FM radio flashlights from Ambient Weather, and they work pretty good. In a pinch, you can even charge a cell phone or mp3 player. The solar works fine if you remember to put it out and it's a sunny day, but I like that it's also hand-crank just in case I forget or it's cloudy. It will also charge up from an AC or DC adapter, and is small enough to fit in the glove box, backpack front pouch, or largish jacket pocket (mine fits in my rain jacket pocket easily). The reception is decent for AM/FM (depends on signal strength) and I've never been anywhere that I couldn't get the NOAA emergency channel after walking around a few feet (not even in the middle of Alaska!).

[Nor'Eastah]

It is SOOOO easy to power any radio with solar.

In our case, we have 2m ham radios, CB radios, SW, and weather radios - in addition to AM/FM. Most of these are "mobile" units, meant to be used in a vehicle, thus they can run on 12V. Any 12V auto battery with sufficient amperage for your radio(s) can be hooked up to one very easily, and that battery can then be hooked up to a small solar panel (25w should be enough for most applications). The panel with keep your battery juiced, and the battery will keep your radios juiced.

This not only works well for radios, but also for LED lights, battery chargers, and lots of other small applications that don't require mega-units of power. Experiment. You don't need to spend big $$$ on a huge solar panel...get one of the small ones. You can start with a used auto battery from one of your vehicles, one that wasn't dead but you wanted to replace it for winter. Just ask at the shop that changes it if you can keep the old battery.

[Grandpa Pipes]

Originally Posted by Nor'Eastah

It is SOOOO easy to power any radio with solar.

In our case, we have 2m ham radios, CB radios, SW, and weather radios - in addition to AM/FM. Most of these are "mobile" units, meant to be used in a vehicle, thus they can run on 12V. Any 12V auto battery with sufficient amperage for your radio(s) can be hooked up to one very easily, and that battery can then be hooked up to a small solar panel (25w should be enough for most applications). The panel with keep your battery juiced, and the battery will keep your radios juiced.

This not only works well for radios, but also for LED lights, battery chargers, and lots of other small applications that don't require mega-units of power. Experiment. You don't need to spend big $$$ on a huge solar panel...get one of the small ones. You can start with a used auto battery from one of your vehicles, one that wasn't dead but you wanted to replace it for winter. Just ask at the shop that changes it if you can keep the old battery.

Solar power is where I put my money also. Then I picked a really good AM/FM/SW radio for it to feed juice to.

The all in one units are not so much a good idea let alone one I stake my life on.

[lifelongMOgal]

Originally Posted by Tightwad

Solar power is where I put my money also. Then I picked a really good AM/FM/SW radio for it to feed juice to.

The all in one units are not so much a good idea let alone one I stake my life on.

I'm pretty certain that is exactly why you see them offered with the hand crank. I bought a cheap one and got what I paid for. The solar panel is just larger than 2 on a calculator. It will run quite awhile on the handcrank, on the built-in solar panel, not so much.

Brunton has a nice variety of portable solar panels and solar storage devices.

http://store.bruntonoutdoor.com/portable-power-page-2/

[Grandpa Pipes]

Originally Posted by lifelongMOgal

I'm pretty certain that is exactly why you see them offered with the hand crank. I bought a cheap one and got what I paid for. The solar panel is just larger than 2 on a calculator. It will run quite awhile on the handcrank, on the built-in solar panel, not so much.

While hand crank can work well quality hand crank parts cost to much to put in sub $100 radios.

Small under rated solar panel are just a "nice" to sell the product since common sense should tell the buyer that larger the better solar panels will catch more sunlight.

[Shankapotomus]

Originally Posted by MissingAll4Seasons

We have solar/hand-crank NOAA/AM/FM radio flashlights from Ambient Weather, and they work pretty good. In a pinch, you can even charge a cell phone or mp3 player. The solar works fine if you remember to put it out and it's a sunny day, but I like that it's also hand-crank just in case I forget or it's cloudy. It will also charge up from an AC or DC adapter, and is small enough to fit in the glove box, backpack front pouch, or largish jacket pocket (mine fits in my rain jacket pocket easily). The reception is decent for AM/FM (depends on signal strength) and I've never been anywhere that I couldn't get the NOAA emergency channel after walking around a few feet (not even in the middle of Alaska!).

Do you find it difficult to charge devices using the hand crank? I bought a small hand crank charger and no matter how much I turn it the battery indicator doesn't gain anything even though it says that is charging.