Does it exist?  I want one that can be charged via solar panel or USB.

Anyone know of one?

Anker solar chargers

I have one of their solar systems in my bug out bag.  Have used it and it works great.

Amazon example

There are a buttload of usb chargers out there.  Google usb eneloop charger.

This one might also meet your needs

Powerfilm
https://www.preparedirect.com/PowerFilm_AA_Foldable_Solar_Battery_Charger_p/1603000.htm

Edited to add there are two versions of this, a four battery charger and a two battery plus USB charger.  Get the four battery charger.

Goal Zero Guide 10 and whatever panel you want or have.

To clarify I need a charger that charges eneloops via USB and can handle the charge from a solar panel.

Any typical USB folding panel can work with most typical USB (5vdc) li-ion/NiMH chargers.

I would look to any panel above 20w and closer to 30w and I would probably stick with a 2 bay charger to get to a 1A charging rate, for faster charging, albeit with the only two bays.

Some panels have a ‘reset’ function that will reset the output to full after the clouds/shade pass, but some don’t and one just has to unplug the cable from the panel and restart after the sun is full.

The BigSky 28w panel that I went with in January, after I retired my Sunkingdom 14w folder to my gal’s place in downtown Miami, is well regarded. The Liitokala two bay chargers work well and are cheap, like their older 202 jobbies that do both li-ion/NiMH at 500mA and 1A.

Chris

Excellent post, very poignant to my needs.

Thanks, TBT

This will charge aa and aaa off of any usb power source.
I would suggest using the solar charger to charge a battery bank like an Anker and then using that to charge your batteries.

No problem brother.  This forum is what Originally brought me to Arfcom back in 2011.  Then I discovered what the rest of the site had to offer.  These guys on this forum are a wealth of knowledge and always willing to help/share.  They're good  peeps.

The above advice is solid.

There's a lot of small folding panels out there (5-7 watt range) and they're horribly under-powered for most applications
Anker has a nice 14W panel and that's the bare minimum I'd use. A 20-30W panel as above is the way to go, and they have a
nice 24W panel out now too.

Use a good USB charger with the panel and you're in business. As a bonus this setup will charge most phones and things like a USB Streamlight.
This setup is easily portable and will fit in even a small day pack, and all the cables are standard USB cables that you can't mess up.

The reason for the high wattage is that panels only produce their rated output under ideal conditions, and the small USB panels
are specing 500mA output (2.5W) on the USB port -- the minimum the standard allows. Makes for very slow charging if at all, since some devices will lock out if they don't get a solid charge current.

The next level up from this is to build a small 12VDC solar system -- so Panels + charge controller + battery (ideally a LiFePO4) and
use a 12V AA charger. This isn't anywhere near as portable but lets you get pretty serious about charging things -- you can do a
fast charge on a bunch of AAs at once at any time due to the 12V battery. If you get a big enough 12V battery you can start using
inverters and normal AC equipment, but at the cost of portability.

I neglected to say that I also have a 12vdc system with two 30w panels hinged together, a Morningstar SS-10L PWM digital controller and a couple of Chrome 22Ah AGM/SLA mother batteries and a 12Ah PowerSonic battery.

I charge those up with the 60w panel, bring them up inside and then use my 12vdc chargers to charge up my batteries and run my 12vdc fans during hurricane outages.

Substitute a quality USB power bank for the 12v mother batteries if you want to stick with 5vdc panels.

As always, get both.

Chris

I've been very satisfied with Suntactics solar chargers, but if you're don't have a large one, get a smaller single or two-battery charger.



Anything under 20W and good sun will be hard-pressed for a four-tray, USB battery charger.  I found this smaller 2-tray USB charger for Eneloops that works perfectly with the smaller watt panels as does a single-tray charger for larger 18650 batteries.  The only issue is to make sure you can charge your batteries out of the direct sun as it's not good for the batteries.

ROCK6

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D2SQ6W8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_DG2DTF2ZHM9MXEW63CMJ

Goal Zero guide 10

It looks like it takes a proprietary plug for the solar input.  Do you own this?  Does it only take goal zero solar panel plugs?

I have one, I wouldn't call it proprietary as much as non-standard. Goal Zero stuff works well with Goal Zero stuff, so you can
get a whole package that does solar AA charging from them. But IMO it's overpriced and not idea.

Also the Goal Zero 10 is underpowered IMO. They do have the Goal Zero Switch 10 which is a lithium power bank charged by
a 7W panel. Again, underpowered but at least with the power bank you'd be able to do a full charge of something.

A 24W Anker panel with USB out can be had $20 cheaper than a 10W Goal Zero Nomad 10, and half the price of a GZ 20W panel.

I would create a system that uses lifepo4 batteries to charge your enloops. Use solar panels to charge your primary battery system and run other critical stuff.

There are 2 input plugs, one is for the (older) Goal Zero panel, the other is the older mini usb connector.  So any solar panel (5W max) that has a usb output can charge the batteries in this with the proper usb to mini cable, which you probably have one lying around or could easily acquire.

I do own this and bought it years ago as a package with their solar panel. Goal Zero has updated the product to this:

https://www.goalzero.com/shop/solar-kits/guide-12-nomad-5-kit/

It looks like the new model only has one way to charge - via usb type c connector.

Just remember that the GZ Guide 10 (and probably the Guide 12) has a somewhat nasty quirk to it, which is to say that it lacks independent channels and charges things up essentially as a quad of batteries.

This is fine if all four batteries at the same SOD (state of discharge,) but can pose problems with batteries of unequal states of charge. Some might be over/under charged.

There are better solutions for less cash and HSD (high self discharge) NiMH AA batteries aren’t the best option for recharging other shit.

If you want something that is light and fairly compact, that will charge via USB-C and run 18650/20700/21700 cells for maximum capacity, look to the Xtar PBS2 charger/power bank and get some LG or Samsung 21700 cells. It is two bays, so buy a pair of spares.

Chris