Ep 20: Solar Powering Your Bug-Out Bag
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- Опубліковано 11 вер 2024
- All about solar chargers, solar panels, power banks, everything you need to take into consideration and be aware of. Different types, different styles. The ones that perform well and why, and the ones that perform poorly, and why. The proper way to use a solar charger and the wrong way. The absolute best portable solar charger on the market that I know of. Watch me test out several different types: Flexsolar 20W Solar Charger, Flexsolar 40W Solar Charger, BigBlue 28W Solar Charger, Libra 40W Solar Charger, various solar power banks. Building redundancies into your approach to things - expect gear to fail on you and plan accordingly.
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#flexsolar #bigbluesolarcharger #flexsolar40w #flexsolar20w #solarpowerbank #bugoutbag #emergencybag #civilunrest #societalcollapse #disasterzones #solarchargers #portablesolarpanels #solarpanels #preparedness #preppers #bushcraft #survival #backcountry #backcountrycooking #firemaking #campfire #forest #woods #camp #shelter #appalachia #appalachian #liabasolarcharger #flexsolarcharger #bigbluecharger #backpacking #backpackingsolarcharger #watts #amps #volts #electricity #survivalsituation #disasterzone
Came here from the Amazon review. Stayed for the humble advice. Direct, across the table, and explanation of what principles you are following. Very well done.
Well this is the sort of feedback I really enjoy. Thank you very much. Also, thanks for watching!
This is probably the best and most informative comparison video on portable solar panels I have seen. Excellent work.
Well I don’t get compliments like that very often. I’ll take it! Thanks! I appreciate you saying so.
@@practicalwoodsmanno worries mate, well deserved. In fact because of your review I will be purchasing the BigBlue. Interestingly I’ll be buying it from here in Queensland Australia via Amazon US off a vendor in Germany. Talk about globalism.
I also ran across this video from your Amazon review. I just want to thank you for taking the time to do this and to educate those of us who are not familiar with solar power, backup bricks, electricty, etc. I found it very informative and also comments are very helpful. Everyone's experiences are a little different and everybody has some good input and it makes for educating the public in general. You took the time to help. Thats key! Thanks again.
Why thank you very much for not only watching the video but for taking time to share your comment. Since I made the video there has been even more things that I’ve tested out and tried, so I may have to do an update sometime soon.
What I finally bought that is perfect fit for my new 40w FlexSolar panel👍
"Boy, that would really put a hair in your biscuit" 🤣🤣🤣
And it would, too.
I found your channel from your review of the Flexsolar 40W. I'm so glad because I learned a lot! Thanks. I wasn't going to buy one of the power banks with the solar panels attached but now I will because what you said about them makes sense! I have a Nekteck 28W solar charger that I like but I think I will buy the Blue and compare them! I don't know if you mentioned this or not in your video since I skipped ahead a lot because i didn't have time to watch the whole thing, but you can't charge a device that takes 40 Watts to charge with a 28 watt solar panel. I found that out the hard way...
Hey! Welcome to the party! I considered the Nekteck but went with the Big Blue. Very happy with them.
I believe there are ways to harness the power of multiple Big Blues together at the same time. I’ve seen others do this in hurricane areas.
@@practicalwoodsman would watch a video on how to do that❤
Awesome discussion of mini solar panels!
Thanks! I appreciate you saying so.
Something to be aware of with batteries, it takes more energy to fill the last 15% of a rechargeable than it does the rest of the battery due to there being more resistance to the flow of energy (because it's so full), so charging from 85% and up won't be indicative of what say, 50%-65% takes.
On top of that, due to the last 15% having more resistance, that last 15% charge produces more heat which wears the battery out faster. So to prolong the life of a battery for as long as possible, it is best to keep them between 30% and 85%.
Thank you for taking the time to contribute these insights to the discussion. Very useful information to have, and information I was not already familiar with. I’m sure others will appreciate reading your comment as well.
Thanks for the great review. I've been looking particularly at the Big Blue 28 and the Flexsolar 40. Another review found that one issue with the Flexsolar 40 was that its efficiency drops when it gets hot (solar panels are less efficient when hot). On the flip side the Amazon reviews for the Big Blue 28 have several people reporting the charging to be faulty. I read an interesting article on static solar panels recently which suggested they should be mounted vertically so they stay cooler even if the initial power generated is lower, so that it doesn't drop off as much. It would be interesting to see how that affects portable panels like these and see if that is a factor too.
As for testing, I think it should really be done with the powerbank at the same level for each panel. Charging is sometimes affected by charging profiles and how different cells in the powerbank react. Finally, as mentioned by someone else using USBC with a suitable power delivery powerbank may also make a difference over USBA. However, your results for the Big Blue and the Flexsolar were broadly in line with the other review I recently watched.
I appreciate this very much. Thank you for sharing your findings and some additional ideas. I think I will be doing an update to this video sometime soon, just to polish the experiment up a bit.
I like this channel and the cool info you share in addition to the product review. You should add chapters to your videos to differentiate topics
Thank you, I am going to see what I can do about that.
One of the best videos on the topic of portable solar chargers on UA-cam. A lot of golden tips and knowledge as well from someone who actually uses them in the elements. I thought those power banks with the built in mini panels were worthless but you brought up many valid points to consider. Have you tried the new upgraded versions of the Big Blue panels?
Thank you for watching and for expressing your appreciation for the video. I spent a lot of time that day trying to be as thorough as possible.
To answer your question about the updated Big Blue, I haven’t specifically done a detailed review of it or anything, but I feature it in the following video where it performed surprisingly well on a fully-overcast day back in the mountain wilderness:
Adventure 14 Part 6: Insane Woodsman Tricks in Mountain Backcountry!
ua-cam.com/video/Om2NNLq2Keg/v-deo.html
@@practicalwoodsman I forgot to specify the upgraded Big blue panels are the newer designs with a built in kickstand. The SolarPowa 30 seems to be a better alternative to the FlexSolar 40. No worries. I have a 28w charger from a brand called Luminiser that needs to be replaced. It's pretty much the same thing as the Big blue 28 canvas model. It has been used and abused over the last 4+ years and the damage is starting to show. These things are tough, but they can only take so much sun before they start coming apart especially if they are used daily. But thanks to your practical wisdom you shared I will take better care of the next one I replace it with. I will do my part and give the video a like so the algorithm can present it to others. Thank you sir.
If one is already carrying a powerbank, why not go with those which can jump start a car and also work as regular powerbank?
thanks for the videos, fyi the reason your having problems with the solar flex is because your using the usb a plug, not the usbc. a guy did a test and found out that you get only 12watts from the usba on those and 32 watts from the usbc.
Not only that, but also the chip within the PowerBank usually charges very fast from 20% up to let's say 60%, than os charges slowerrrrr in order to increase the battery life. Maybe the reason why the big blue came on top, was not only the cloth and the USB,-A, but also the point where it started charging, very different from the others.
@@tiagon19 Batteries are a lot like springs, the more compression, the more work required to compress more. All batteries have this issue above around 75%.
@@Vagitarian01 It makes sense!
I saw your review on amazon of the Flexsolar 40w solar panel and came here to see what you were comparing it against. I'm wondering, were you using a PD 3.1 cable when you were performing these comparisons? If not, you would only have received roughly 15% of the power draw from the Flexsolar panel compared to some of the smaller 10-20w panels that are only PD 1.0 compliant. The same goes for the power bank that you were using. Some charge at 5w, some at 15w, some at 100w. It depends entirely on the cable + bank combination. My Flexsolar 40w panel charges at 28-30w from about an hour after sunrise to an hour before sunset. It's the best performing solar panel that I've ever used in the form factor, and I've used lots of them, several dozen. I use the Anker 737 power bank, which can both output and charge at 100w. If I use the wrong USB C cable, it will only charge at 7. If any of these things are things you did not take into account you may want to perform these tests again!
I appreciate you coming over and taking the time to provide some feedback. I don’t remember exactly what cable I was using, but others have suggested I might get a better charge using specific cables. In fact, after creating this video here and running all of these tests, I gifted one of my two Flexsolar 40w solar panels from this video to a friend, and he claimed to have gotten a better performance than I did performing my tests. So perhaps in the coming weeks I will run all of these tests again, knowing what I know now - which I’m not really looking forward to, to be honest, because it basically chews up an entire day or more. But I’m happy to know when and if I’m doing something wrong. Having said this, the reality is that if these things are meant for a general consumer (and they are), one shouldn’t have to be an expert in electricity to get it to work right.
You don't need to be an electrician to read the output on each port...
So I noticed on the flex solar you plugged into the USB A port witch only supports up to 18 volts max if you get a USB Type-C to usb Type-C cable and a power bank that can support pd (power delivery) you will see significant chang in charging speeds the USB Type-C supports 40w max this is just my opinion but I don't think you gave the flex solar a fair chance I own both the big blue. 28w and the flex solar 40w the big blue is great bus as I said I don't think is a fair comparison I really enjoyed your video I thought there was lots of useful information and would love to hear your thoughts after you've tried what I mentioned above any way I just subscribed I see you have quite a few videos on topics that I'm interested in can't wait to see more
Thank you for taking the time to watch and especially for the good feedback. A friend of mine also made the same suggestion that you have made here. I did in fact try it off camera with the USB-C port, put I think the most important part of your comment has to do with having a power bank that supports Power Delivery - something that I was unaware of and unfamiliar with. I will be sure to continue some testing with the FlexSolar to see how to maximize its output.
I am currious if the charge profile of the power bank's BMS had an influence. Ex. it may change the charge amps from 50-60% charge. I'd like to see apples-to-apples with the bank at 30% for all tests and ideally all at the same time with the same sun.
As you say there are a lot of variables in charging power banks, mine take way less charge the last 20% to 30% charge remaining before full…this is to protect the battery and lengthen battery life..
I just got the big blue 20. So that’s good enough to use with a power bank, or do I need a 28 ? I’m trying to watch this whole thing but an hour is a long video and I’ve been doing other stuff while I watch but what I e gotten so far is that the big blue is a good one
I would have to say that those power banks with integrated panels are useless, and extra stand alone panels that are stored / carried separately from the primary panels makes better backup sense!
Two is one, one is NONE!!
I appreciate you watching and sharing your thoughts. I don’t claim to have all the answers or to be smarter than anybody else, but for me personally, I’m just not willing to carry around two full-size solar panels that are only any good 50% of the weather. They are better than nothing, but a few cloudy days and all power banks will be dead.
@@practicalwoodsman I agree the power banks are an absolute requirement, and enough reserve capacity to make it through an extended cloudy period, but the small integrated solar included in some power banks is too slow to be useful. Great video!!!
2nd video on here about FlexSolar 40W being terrible in the sun
Ive got 1 of those 40W flexsolar, charged my phone that was at 21% to 90+ charge in just under 2 hours. That being said it was mid day in a place renowned for its sun exposure. Not sure how well this will do in cloudy conditions.
Great content. What's the small white power bank you use and how is it, P88 something from what I saw on the back? What power bank is your favorite?
The power bank you’re asking about is here on Amazon: BLJIB Portable Charger 32000mAh,... www.amazon.com/dp/B0C3HB8NB2?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
To answer your other question, my preference depends on where I am and what I’m doing. For example, around home, I really enjoy using little magnetic power banks that I just snap to the back of my phone. These allow me to be mobile around the house and continue using my device, no cords required.
While traveling on the road, I really love the power bank seen in this video and that you asked about. It is heavy and full featured and can handle heavier loads.
My current favorite power bank for the outdoors is an iteration of this one here: Acelufly Solar Charger Power Bank... www.amazon.com/dp/B0C9M4VSFC?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share.
It is weatherproof, not too heavy but not too light, contains its own celular panels, and holds enough juice to get me through several days charging phone, headlamps, lanterns, and everything else for several days without a recharge. Still, even with a power bank like this, I unfurl my larger solar panel and try to top it back off in the mornings and evenings of each day.
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