Solar Battery Chargers (good, panel, prevent, prices)

[teachertype]

Indispensable, but I've yet to find one that wasn't a piece of junk from China. There's also the exploding no-name batteries from China.

What are you using for solar for A, AA, C, and D cells?

[Steve Bagu]

Solar Battery Chargers?...no but do have rechargeable AA, AAA, C.D, batteries. Bought a charger couple of yrs ago and a charge the batteries as needed. I still feel that they have been used over and over in my battery needs and have saved me money over the throw away stuff on the mkt today.

[DannyL]

Check out Brunton's line of chargers. I have the SolarPort and it works as advertised.

Brunton Solar Panels (http://www.brunton.com/catalog2.php?subcat=500 - broken link)

If you have the money, check out the Solar Rolls, they're REALLY good. Shop around, the prices listed are retail, I paid 105.00 for my SolarPort.

For batteries, I only use AA and AAA. Sanyo Eneloops are the best I've ever used.

SANYO ENELOOP AA 2000 mAh 4 Battery Pack Ultra Low Discharge..

Your charger is important, for these this is the one to get:

Maha MH-C401FS-DC Battery Charger - White Model AA and AAA C..

[jdavid93225]

I also don't use a solar charger, but did think of an idea. Why not use a solar trickle charger for keeping a lead acid (vehicle type) battery charged, and run 12 VDC chargers from that battery for your small batteries. This could be set up for use either in or out of a vehicle. This could be set up easily for little cost, but it would be necessary to ensure that any gases produced from the battery be properly vented to prevent explosion.

Something like this is what I have in mind:
Northern Industrial Solar-Powered Trickle Charger — 5 Watt | Amorphous Solar Panels | Northern Tool + Equipment

[DannyL]

Here's another good site. I've bought from these guys before.

Sunbender Build-It-Yourself Solar Battery Charger Kits