Tweet
Well... we're getting into Candlepower territory here, but generally AAA's are not as robust as AA's, and frequently murdered by poor quality charging systems. That includes most garden variety, and even vendor specific chargers found at supermarkets. You know the deal - good cell / bad charger = confused consumer.
I tell ya' it's a conspiracy - after all these years semi decent cells can be found locally, but the chargers are crap, tempting the user back to the thousands of AA primary alkalines to throw back into the dump.
But back to solar - the reason I mention poor charging is that the Powerfilm 4AA charger is actually very smart. Not only does it handle real-world solar charging with it's possibility for frequent shadowing preventing overcharge, but also is smart enough to NOT pump all the available current into a discharged / flattened cell. It will error out on abused cells that have just become resistors, but will attempt to revive good cells (using extremely low current until a normal cell voltage is reached before allowing for full panel current) that have just been flattened, but *revived in time* - asap. Ie, not left flattened for days, weeks, months.
So this is why I recommend the Powerfilm 4AA to most consumers - it actually knows how to handle solar properly at BOTH ends of the SOC spectrum. The ability to recover flattened (but not abused or aged trash) cells smartly makes it even a nice tool for the candlepower fanatics like us that have a smart charger that doesn't recognize this condition and zap the poor cells (resting voltage usually well under 1v) with full panel current. You may want to get one as another tool in your nimh arsenal.
Unfortunately, it only charges in pairs, (2 or 4 at a time) but as far as simple camping-style solar chargers go, it is the only serious solar contender if one really likes their cells.
So that's my reasoning for a 3-cell AA holder, a handful of eneloops, and the Powerfilm - it will take care of things that most consumers or solar newbies aren't aware of yet.
I tell ya' it's a conspiracy - after all these years semi decent cells can be found locally, but the chargers are crap, tempting the user back to the thousands of AA primary alkalines to throw back into the dump.
But back to solar - the reason I mention poor charging is that the Powerfilm 4AA charger is actually very smart. Not only does it handle real-world solar charging with it's possibility for frequent shadowing preventing overcharge, but also is smart enough to NOT pump all the available current into a discharged / flattened cell. It will error out on abused cells that have just become resistors, but will attempt to revive good cells (using extremely low current until a normal cell voltage is reached before allowing for full panel current) that have just been flattened, but *revived in time* - asap. Ie, not left flattened for days, weeks, months.
So this is why I recommend the Powerfilm 4AA to most consumers - it actually knows how to handle solar properly at BOTH ends of the SOC spectrum. The ability to recover flattened (but not abused or aged trash) cells smartly makes it even a nice tool for the candlepower fanatics like us that have a smart charger that doesn't recognize this condition and zap the poor cells (resting voltage usually well under 1v) with full panel current. You may want to get one as another tool in your nimh arsenal.
Unfortunately, it only charges in pairs, (2 or 4 at a time) but as far as simple camping-style solar chargers go, it is the only serious solar contender if one really likes their cells.
So that's my reasoning for a 3-cell AA holder, a handful of eneloops, and the Powerfilm - it will take care of things that most consumers or solar newbies aren't aware of yet.
Comment