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I ordered this thing from Amazon, was only $11 (Free shipping) so I thought “What the hell” got the thing, the box contained the solar charger, short USB cable, a ziplok bag containing a few tablet adapters and a carabineer. No instructions or spec sheet.
Placed the thing in the afternoon sun and saw that the little green indicator was on, Indicating it was producing some amount of voltage from the small panel.
Ok, let it sit in direct sun, (Actually moved it around to follow what sun I get at my place. When dark I set it under an incandescent lamp. it stayed there for over the weekend.
Brought it to work, set it up in my car and it got 6+ hours of direct sun.
Measured the battery voltage, and it was 3.48VDc Ok.
Plugged it in to a cell wall wort, 5VDC at 170Mah out (Solar charger says 5VDC at 200M
mAh input) 170mAh is close enough. Leave it plugged in over night.
This morning I arrive to find the little blue LEDS not blinking so I think “Great it charged up and stopped” unplugged the cell wall wort, and that’s when I felt it! The micro USB port was really loose.
(Hey $11 what can I expect?) I turn on the battery by pressing to power button, and only 1 blue LED lights up indicating only 25% charge!
Well I tested the micro USB port again by trying to plug in the cell wall wort micro USB plug and I can get in in, but it’s not charging unless I move the thing around to reconnect it to the board inside!Well this aint good! Time to tear it apart and see if it’s at all repairable. Figured out how to get into the thing, and once I had the little circuit board exposed, sure enough I could see the micro-USB port had come off the board fell out of the case!
With a magnifying lamp, I soldered the microUSB port leads back onto the board, then carefully tested by plugging in the wall charger, and the blue charge indicator LEDs came on! Great! next mixed some 5-min epoxy and glued the snot out of the port I just repaired, and the 2 USB ports as well. There not coming off the board any time soon!
waited for a few hours, then carefully put the 2 case pieces of the charger back together again, then plugged in the power cord again. The charge indicator LEDs cane on. a few minutes ago I measured the battery voltage again, it was at 3.6VDc the charge indicator only shows 2 blue LEDs or 50% hopefully tomorrow, It’ll show all 4 lit up or 100%
If not I may have to change the battery out, or at least check that the battery is getting any kind of voltage before I change it out.
I held out getting this thing back when I first started looking at them, A because they were over $30 then, and B, the size of the panel I know is very small. ( I use solar at my house, I have 22A from 5 panels into a charge controller then to my battery bank) I’m not new to using solar.
I have, though on occasion had to use another “PowerBank” battery to charge my phone, so, when I noticed this solar charger was only $11 now I thought “What the hell” go ahead and get it’
Well tomorrow I’ll know if it’s junk (Which I suspect it will be) or the darn thing charged up!
Oh haven’t even plugged my phone into it yet!
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