Portable Battery Pack [Built-in Solar]
If you know me, you have seen me using a portable charging pack, but with a solar twist. I’ve tested and gone through a few of these over the last five years, so this is the updated article now.
In this article I will cover the primary reasons I use and carry a portable charger and the different styles of portable chargers, including solar-charging solar options!
First, a more high level question, will our phones ever be fully self powered? The idea that one day solar panels will be embedded under the screens and back glass allowing our phones to continuously trickle charge would be great! Apple currently holds a patent for this so maybe one day, but until then a portable batter pack with built in solar panels will also work.
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Now lets cover why travel with a portable charger and squid cable.
Always have a charge - at airports and while traveling you never know where you’ll find power.
Charge anywhere - you don’t want to be tethered to the one set of chairs or one wall that has outlets / USB charging.
Security - USB skimming is becoming more common and having the portable charger helps avoid this.
I’ll describe each of those in a bit more detail. I enjoy not worrying about when I’ll find a charge to top off my phone during a busy travel day, having a fully charged battery pack gives you that peace of mind that you’ve got charge to get where you’re going. I also always find it funny when you see people sitting along the wall connected to an outlet.
Finally the cyber security aspect, I find this is still new to a lot of people. I’ve been on a number of trips where the Uber / Lyft drivers offer cables to charge or there are stations in the airport that have chargers at a podium or finally the USB’s in the hotel room. It seems like there is charging everywhere…. but… these can be malicious. There have been cases of data being stolen, phones being copied, and downloading malware. By having my portable charger I never have to connect to a foreign USB port.
This portable solar battery pack is a great size and capacity. The five (5) watt solar cells maintain and provide a boost on charging while a phone is connected. The 25000mAh internal battery can maintain two cell phones easily over a two day business trip without wall charging. I personally travel with this battery pack and the squid power adapter to keep mobile and limit all the power bricks and cords when traveling.
Although the solar cells can’t keep up 1:1 with the discharge of powering a phone, the concept of small contained power source is becoming more real. In a short time, a portable battery pack with efficient cells that make it entirely independent charging could be available.
As I mentioned I’ve had three different styles of these. The first had the fold out solar panels and worked very well until one day it stopped working after just over a year. The second two had just a single solar panel built into the back side. These seemed more rugged but also didn’t provide as much solar charging. One of those I ended up dropping it while charging the pack and the USB port got really lose and ended up breaking, so I replaced that one. Point is, they are solid but careful while things are connected.