12000mah portable solar power battery pack laptop

Hi all,

Once I saw a photo here on the SOTA reflector of a OM who used next item:
12000MAH PORTABLE SOLAR POWER BATTERY PACK LAPTOP

http://www.ebay.com/itm/12000MAH-PORTABLE-SOLAR-POWER-BATTERY-PACK-LAPTOP-/140590759320?pt=AU_MobilePhoneAccessories&hash=item20bbdcbd98

Is this OM still QRV with this battery pack during SOTA or other /P activities ?
I would like to know what its findings will be or are there others who also use this item.
If OK, I would like to purchase a battery pack like this but only if it really meets for /P use with the FT817.

Or has someone else an idea that is better … should also be able to keep up with the airplane without any problems and must be ultra light-weight.

Maybe a reply about this item over the sota relector or via mail.

on6dslatskynetdotbe

73 Luc ON6DSL

Hi Luc,

I am using this battery, its not a 12.000mah battery at 12V, its a 12.000mah at 3,7V. Inside there is a power boster and that the way to have diferents outputs.

I am using this battery with the FT-817 I never had this battery empty before to finish a activation, and keeps the 5w output without any problem.

I do recomend if you want for a activities like SOTA.

The solar panel also can help to recharge the battery but without any radio conected.

I have a 2700mah battery at the ft-817 and with this 2 battery is more than enought for a activation.

My last activation was Sunday 19th and you can watch a video at:

This is a spanish video, but look at my other activations and will find english too, with info about the battery.

73-72

Esteve EB3EPR

In reply to EB3EPR:

Hi Esteve,

I want to thank you for the answer.

About your video’s … I’ve seen them all.
Great to enjoy via this way the SOTA activities.

Normally I always use a SLAB-12 V-7 AH but the weight is too heavy to take along on holidays and during SOTA-BOTA and other / P activities. Sometimes the SLAB give some problems at the airport. I have lost already 2 times a SLAB at customs airport surveillance in Greece. They do not trust those things.

Well I’ll consider ordering soon.

Thanks again for the answer and HPE to work you some day at SOTA activities.

73

Luc ON6DSL

In reply to ON6DSL:
The solar panels are so small that it will not help you at all, or you have to spend at least a few days charging it in bright sunlight(summer).

Jani OH9FZU

Hi Jani,

Well in this case this battery has a 3,7V battery inside, so the solar panels do not need to be very big to charge the battery.

The customer say that are a 300mah solar panels for this battery, anyway you need a few hours to charge.

I use to plug the power supply for charge or also have a folder solar panel that can conect to the battery, and help to charge the battery.

Its a good battery for portable activities with the FT-817.

I forgot to say before do not try to use with a qrp radios that drain very poor mah this battery need 200 or 300 mah to work in other case will shutdown automatically, its the only problem that I found with my KX-1 its necessary to plug the VX-8 too if not its not working.

73-72

Esteve EB3EPR

In reply to EB3EPR:

The customer say that are a 300mah solar panels for this battery,
anyway you need a few hours to charge.

73-72

Esteve EB3EPR

Hard to believe that, the panels are just too small no matter what the voltage of the battery is.
Of course I can be wrong so it would be great if you could test how long it takes to charge with those small panels.
But you may want to wait, the panel effeciency will be really poor at winter.

If the battery is only 3,7V/12000mAh then it gives roughly the same runtime as your internal 2700mAh pack, depends a bit of the inverter efficiency.

In reply to ON6DSL:

www.nkon.nl for cheap Eneloops, and stay away from the high capacity ones(2500mAh or more) those are overpriced, fragile and short lived.
I know that NiMH is ancient technology, but even the new Elecraft KX3 uses them…

Jani OH9FZU

In reply to ON6DSL:

Just a thought for a direction that you could explore.

Last year I tried adding mirror reflectors to a small solar panel. The idea was to increase the solar capture area. It was possible to increase the current output without much additional expense or weight. I used a4 perspex mirror material and also aluminium foil as reflector materials. I also tried making an offset parabolic reflector for the panel. The solar panel was placed behind the focus point so that the whole panel was illuminated rather than a single point. The problems are in building a lightweight support structure and the potential for reduced life span of the solar panel. But with a little ingenuity …

Nigel.
g6sfp.