C Crane Solar Charger?

[jonnyfgroove]

Anyone have experience with these? It was only $25 at REI so I had to grab one. :grin2:

 

[ChrisGarrett]

What's the solar panel's charge rate/amperage? If that panel outputs 300mA, I'd be surprised. I bet depleted Eneloops will take at least 6 hours and probably more, but test it out and let us know.

My two 30w panels, my 12Ah SLA and my Morningstar controller should be here this week, maybe by next Monday, so my portable solar charging sytem is coming to fruition, however, it won't be as portable as your new unit!

Chris

 

[Illum]

The C. Crane solar will only charge 2 cells at a time I hear, plus charge time will be greatly varied by the intensity of sunlight and the duration of sunlight it was subjected to. Commercial products likes to design products involving energy conversion only to the "break even" point. Which inefficiencies from variations in discrete components as well as production would quickly overrule the designed parameters. The only way to ensure batteries are accurately charged is to:
1: Use a larger than needed solar panel that can compensate for low/intermittent light throughout the day
2: A Battery bank that the PV is charging that acts as a stable power source to which the charger IC can accurately monitor the batteries in charge
3: In a system that involves the first two steps will quickly realize that without a proper charge circuit [pre-charge circuit] the internal batteries will die very quickly while the PV will last a life time. A charge controller is therefore necessary to prevent overcharge/overdischarge of the onboard battery to ensure the batteries your charging always gets charged on time, every time.

My two 30w panels, my 12Ah SLA and my Morningstar controller should be here this week, maybe by next Monday, so my portable solar charging sytem is coming to fruition, however, it won't be as portable as your new unit!

Chris

:lolsign:

Lucky to know someone shares the same idea of going about charging Eneloops by solar.
2x Solarex 10W panels, 3A charge controller, 7.5AH SLA, Recom DC/DC 5V Stepdown, 2 Eneloop USB Chargers... USB connectors are configured so that my iphone charges off of it just fine. My panels are mounted on a portable tripod via a 2-piece system. All cables have proprietary connectors, The onboard battery, charge controller, DC/DC converter, fuse block, and voltmeter is built into a 30 caliber ammo can.

In upgrade is due because the SLA without PV support will only support charging [2-4 at once] while charging the iphone for only about 4 hours. 50W PV, 10W MorningStar 10A, 35AH SLA is in the works... I just can't find a ammo can big enough

 

[Sub_Umbra]

I bought that model charger from CC quite a few years ago. At the time I bought it it was so cheap and I liked CC so much that when I got it I never even fired it up. I put it in the storm kit as I hoped to get two different uses out of it in an emergency -- and I did.

In the six weeks my power was out post-Katrina I was both entertained by the charger and I charged cells with it. For what it does it is worth every penny.

The downside is a drag for many but not so much CPFers -- it's a dumb charger so you'll have to note your cells specs to figure out how long to charge them and you'll have to temper charge times with your own local conditions.

If you have kids buy three (or more) of the solar chargers, give the kids a math/battery lesson and give them the job of tending chargers the next time the power goes out. Really. Entertainment is very important in emergencies. Your's and their's.

I was glad I had that cheap charger and I still have it, packed away in the storm kit, even though I've upgraded my solar charging setup.

 

[Illum]

The downside is a drag for many but not so much CPFers -- it's a dumb charger so you'll have to note your cells specs to figure out how long to charge them and you'll have to temper charge times with your own local conditions.

I can't speak for Katrina because I wasn't there, but for days after Frances passed through us in 2004 we didn't have a hint of sunlight. I'm glad that worked out for you!

When you speak of a dumb charger, does that mean a voltmeter needs to go along with your kit? That sounds like an interesting predicament, but at least overcharged NIMH's are not as violent as Li-ion.

 

[ChrisGarrett]

The C. Crane solar will only charge 2 cells at a time I hear, plus charge time will be greatly varied by the intensity of sunlight and the duration of sunlight it was subjected to. Commercial products likes to design products involving energy conversion only to the "break even" point. Which inefficiencies from variations in discrete components as well as production would quickly overrule the designed parameters. The only way to ensure batteries are accurately charged is to:
1: Use a larger than needed solar panel that can compensate for low/intermittent light throughout the day
2: A Battery bank that the PV is charging that acts as a stable power source to which the charger IC can accurately monitor the batteries in charge
3: In a system that involves the first two steps will quickly realize that without a proper charge circuit [pre-charge circuit] the internal batteries will die very quickly while the PV will last a life time. A charge controller is therefore necessary to prevent overcharge/overdischarge of the onboard battery to ensure the batteries your charging always gets charged on time, every time.



:lolsign:

Lucky to know someone shares the same idea of going about charging Eneloops by solar.
2x Solarex 10W panels, 3A charge controller, 7.5AH SLA, Recom DC/DC 5V Stepdown, 2 Eneloop USB Chargers... USB connectors are configured so that my iphone charges off of it just fine. My panels are mounted on a portable tripod via a 2-piece system. All cables have proprietary connectors, The onboard battery, charge controller, DC/DC converter, fuse block, and voltmeter is built into a 30 caliber ammo can.

In upgrade is due because the SLA without PV support will only support charging [2-4 at once] while charging the iphone for only about 4 hours. 50W PV, 10W MorningStar 10A, 35AH SLA is in the works... I just can't find a ammo can big enough

Nice, but where were you last week when I posted asking for info on the portable (roll/fold,) chargers, lol?

I decided to go semi portable by using rigid panels. Goal Zero, PowerFilm, Brunton and Solinq all have ~3 year warranties. Rigids will give me 10 years at 90%. As a guy over on AR15.com suggested, rigids will give you more bang for your buck, if you can forego a 'little' bit of portablility.

I would have gone with 40w, or 50w, but those panels are bigger and heavier. The 30w Soplays are 5.5# each and only 22x16.5x1, so even with two, they're right at the weight of the 40w and a pound or two, less than the 50w Soplays. I'll get some piano hinges and hinge them together, so that they'll fold into each other for easier carry, if I make some handles.

I just ordered a Plano 4 pistol gun case on Ebay for $25 shipped and that will hold the SLA, the Morningstar SS-10L, maybe a Tripp-Lite PV-375 inverter and perhaps a TecSun PL380/390 MW/FM/SW radio. I don't think I can get the Maha C-9000 in there, nor the BC-700, or Xtar WP2 II, so I may have to buy another case for them, or just get a plastic 50 bmg can like I have for my BO Box.

This is just something for when my power goes out for more than a day, which it hasn't the last 24+ years I've spent in my condo, but the GF, uncle/aunt and boss all lost power for a week to three weeks, during Wilma and Andrew, so one never knows?

The fun part is figuring out all of the cables/connectors I'll need! I'm waiting for the controller to come, before I start snipping wire and crimping on spades and blades.

Today I also ordered the cigarette adapters for the BC-700 and C-9000. The WP2 II came with one, so I'm good on those. I have a Coleman 6v 2 element lantern, but it's 12v AC and not DC, so I'm screwed on that without having an inverter. I would like a little 12v/1a cigarette USB adapter, even though I can do my cell from an 18650 on the WP2 II.

That should pretty much be it, I think?

Sorry about derailing your thread, OP.

I think for about $400 total, it's good insurance in lieu of spending $900 on a decent Honda/Yammie generator, which I just couldn't do right now.

Chris

 

[Sub_Umbra]

I can't speak for Katrina because I wasn't there, but for days after Frances passed through us in 2004 we didn't have a hint of sunlight. I'm glad that worked out for you!

My luck has been that days following big storms are beautiful.

When you speak of a dumb charger, does that mean a voltmeter needs to go along with your kit? That sounds like an interesting predicament, but at least overcharged NIMH's are not as violent as Li-ion.

By dumb I mean that the charger does not interact with the cell while charging. The operator must decide when to quit charging. If one puts a cell into it and sits it in the sun it will happily charge during all the sunlit hours for days until you stop it regardless of when your cell tops off.

Since you mention it I would recommend a cheap voltmeter in with storm gear. I also keep a small, cheap, ZTS tester handy which has saved me from countless headaches.

 

[jonnyfgroove]

Thanks for the info everyone! The charge rate is only 160ma in full light, so yeah, it's pretty slow. I agree with Sub Umbra though, it's worth it for what it does.

 

[ChrisGarrett]

Thanks for the info everyone! The charge rate is only 160ma in full light, so yeah, it's pretty slow. I agree with Sub Umbra though, it's worth it for what it does.

Like they say...'it's better to have it and not need it, than to want and not have it.

This being said, if you were really serious, you could put a small bit of kit together, for not a lot of ducats and really be the king of your own domain.

I looked at the 'solar radiation' map for the US the other day with its 30 years of study and showing every month, at different N/S & E/W orientations, along with 0*-15* tilts and at least you're in SoCal, so you're getting a good 5-8+ sun hours a day depending on time of year and obviously...cloud cover.

Most other places, one has to figure that there's only a good 3-5 hours a day, so 160mA x 3, or 5 hrs, isn't going to be a lot, once 'charger inefficiency' is figured into the equation.

Anyhow, not trying to rain on your parade.

Good luck, Chris

 

[Illum]

Nice, but where were you last week when I posted asking for info on the portable (roll/fold,) chargers, lol?

I decided to go semi portable by using rigid panels. Goal Zero, PowerFilm, Brunton and Solinq all have ~3 year warranties. Rigids will give me 10 years at 90%. As a guy over on AR15.com suggested, rigids will give you more bang for your buck, if you can forego a 'little' bit of portablility.

Powerfilms are wonderful, if I had a parts budget of >$200 I'd invest in one. My panels were salvaged, my battery was salvaged, everything else I bought or patched it together from different gadgets. I think for my setup it cost me maybe $80 [battery was from a UPS the company I work for retired after the MOV blewout from a recent surge, but now the battery is acting up a bit :green: ]. One drawback is that it is hardly portable, it is portable in the sense that it fits in the car :ohgeez:

 

[fiberguy]

I picked up the c crane charger about a month ago and threw it in the closet. I couldn't resist at the price online. I guess I'll have it for late December this year. :whistle:

 

[jonnyfgroove]

I picked up the c crane charger about a month ago and threw it in the closet. I couldn't resist at the price online. I guess I'll have it for late December this year. :whistle:

It works fine, just slow. All day in full sun to charge 2 eneloops.

 

[45/70]

These chargers came under discussion in another thread a while back. Not sure it was the C. Crane version, but this same basic charger is sold under quite a few different names.

I'll second (or third, or whatever) their usefulness. I believe it was hurricane Ike in 2008 that died down when it followed up the Mississippi and Ohio river valleys to Ohio. Somewhere before it got here it ran into a cold front, or some such thing, which resulted in hurricane force winds here in SW Ohio, with sustained winds of 75mph+ for most of a day. Damage was severe here, as we get localized gusts that high in thunderstorms and such, but not sustained winds anything like this.

Anyway my electric was out for 5 days after it hit. My brother had given me three of these chargers (not C. Crane's, but the same charger) some years before this and I put them to use. I had plenty of AA cells charged up, but near the end of the 5 days, these came in handy. As has been mentioned, they are slow, but did the job, even if only a partial charge was obtained. Also, at this slow rate of charge, overcharging is probably not an issue. I was more concerned at how hot the cells got in the charger, due to being in the direct sun. I'm sure this was more damaging to the cells than any overcharge would have been. Just the same, they did work and I'm glad I had them.

Dave

 

[fiberguy]

I was more concerned at how hot the cells got in the charger, due to being in the direct sun. I'm sure this was more damaging to the cells than any overcharge would have been. Just the same, they did work and I'm glad I had them.

Dave

Good point! I think I'm going to create something to shield the cells while in the charger. I can stick that in the box with the solar charger as part of my "just in case" set. Thanks!