Max Solar Backpack (Black/Teal)

Recently I acquired a Sun-Plugged Max Solar Backpack. I have had solar powered devices before and never found them to be all that useful beyond anything novel. The Sun-Plugged backpack however has become a resource I use everyday now.

The battery is super light and with the tons of adapters, I can recharge my iphone, my android, or camera.  (Yea, I’m nothing if not armed with electrics.)

This  three compartment backpack features a waterproof, scratch resistant, high efficiency monocrystalline solar panel and acts as a mobile renewable energy power station designed to charge virtually all hand-held electronics. Surprisingly the removable solar cell’s weight is hardly noticeable. Given how fast my smart phone and iPod batteries die, the backpack is a life saver for this techie.

It comes with a variety of plug adapters, and any device that charges with a USB cable can plug directly into the super light-weight recyclable Lithium-ion solar battery.

With a nice look, padded back support, light-weight feel, and good solar battery, I easily give this backpack a 9 out of 10.

Sun-Plugged was founded in 2008 by a group in Monterey, California and has a variety of bags (tote, laptop, messenger) they offer that all have embedded rugged, lightweight, waterproof recyclable solar panels.

The specs on my Max Solar Backpack:

Price: $159.00

The solar panel produces 4.5 watts of power, so 1 hour in direct sun will power over 3 hours of iPod playtime or 1.5 hours of cell phone talk time.

Battery Specifications
Capacity: 5000mAh
Input: 5~10V/1A via Mini USB
Output Voltage/Current: 5.5V/500mA
Dimensions: 4″ x 2″ x 1/2″, 99 x 70 x 15mm
Weight: 5.64 oz, 160 g
Compatible Devices: most mobile phones, iPod/iPhone 2G/3G/3GS/4G, PSP, MP3/MP4, NDS, GPS, PDA, Etc.
Output: Standard USB
Indicator: On/OFF PWR LED Charge Light

Solar Panel Specifications
Power: 4.5 Watts
Type: Monocrystalline (9” x 5”, 23 x 13mm)
Weight: 10.5 g (3mm Alum/Plastic Substrate)
Cell Efficiency: 16%
Open Circuit Voltage (VoC): 8V
Peak Voltage (Vpm):7V
Peak Current (Ipm): 650mA

Bag Specifications
Dimensions: 19” x 14” x 6”, 48 x 36 x 17mm
Volume: 7.67 gallon / 29 liters
Materials: 600D Polyester, fully padded laptop sleeve (14”), high density foam padding on shoulders & back, 10 or 20 Gauge Zippers available

Charging Times
6-7 hrs direct sunlight for full battery pack charge
4-5 hrs direct sunlight for full cell phone charge
4-5 hrs direct sunlight for iPod & iPhone
4-7 hrs direct sunlight for low voltage digital camera

A few posts ago, I talked about the unhappy discovery that the car charger I have been using with my first iphone, does not work with the iphone3G. I placed a few links on replacements included the one in the image.

Here’s the deal folks. I ordered it a bit ago, got roped into buying a few ‘the bad plus’ CD’s but that is another post. Anyway, I bought this for under 5 bucks and it works. It has a cheap feel, but thats ok. What do you want for five bucks? Now I have not tried the cigarette lighter part yet, so I’ll up date when I do that.

{update} Grr… put the car adapter in and it charged…. for 1 sec! Then died. Well, I will try to get it replaced, else, time to crack it open and get the soldering pencil.

{update 2} Sigh, now the power supply is not tripping over to apply voltage.  I checked and its still putting out 5V, but the phone is not accepting the power. Hmmm… The cable still works, so its still worth the money. But this is getting odd.

{update 3} I was sent a package from the ‘MyNewDeals’. Everything seems to work great.  More here.

What I like about this package is that not only do you get the car charger, which you can use for anything else you need to recharge via USB, but an extra wall socket plug and the cable retracts. Basically, an overall great traveling compliment for the iphone.

Also for the perhaps 1 out 1,000,000 people who even think about these things, the cigarette lighter also accepts 24v which is useful if you plan to use those common off the shelf 12v solar panel rechargers. Really good for keep your car or bike charged if you do use it that often. I bicycle and walk a lot.