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I've seen a number of threads in the past month about this topic. That ridiculous gimmick thermoelectric stove thread prompted me to make this one in order to help people figure out a practical, cost effective way to keep devices charged in the wilderness.
The first consideration is, don't bring shit that needs electricity if you can possibly avoid it. Anything you're thinking of bringing that's electric, if it has a non-electric/analog equivalent, bring that. You'll thank me. A watt conserved is a watt generated.
The second consideration is, how long are you realistically going to be away from the grid? Don't design a power solution assuming you're going to be spending years innawoods if, be honest, you're usually only away for a few days at a time.
Fuel cells are expensive gimmicks. Wind turbines of a portable size are useless. Basically the only things you should be looking at are solar panels and batteries. You only need solar if you're actually going to be away from civilization longer than a week. If so, you'll also want a battery pack so your device isn't tethered to the panels while charging, and excess energy can be stored up, allowing you to charge at night, have power on cloudy days and so on.
When buying solar, overbuy. You need roughly 3x what you think you do based on napkin math. The rated output of the panel is peak, under ideal conditions. You will only ever get a fraction of that. It is possible to have a good experience with solar PV, but only if you spend the money necessary to really do the job. For a smartphone I recommend no less than 5 watts, preferably between 10 and 30.
For batteries, don't buy prebuilt ones. That's 90% of the market because it's profitable as fuck to shove some 18650 cells (pic related, what's in your laptop) into a stylish enclosure and overcharge for it. Then if a single cell dies the whole thing is kaput and you go buy a new one, if you're dumb. (continued)
The first consideration is, don't bring shit that needs electricity if you can possibly avoid it. Anything you're thinking of bringing that's electric, if it has a non-electric/analog equivalent, bring that. You'll thank me. A watt conserved is a watt generated.
The second consideration is, how long are you realistically going to be away from the grid? Don't design a power solution assuming you're going to be spending years innawoods if, be honest, you're usually only away for a few days at a time.
Fuel cells are expensive gimmicks. Wind turbines of a portable size are useless. Basically the only things you should be looking at are solar panels and batteries. You only need solar if you're actually going to be away from civilization longer than a week. If so, you'll also want a battery pack so your device isn't tethered to the panels while charging, and excess energy can be stored up, allowing you to charge at night, have power on cloudy days and so on.
When buying solar, overbuy. You need roughly 3x what you think you do based on napkin math. The rated output of the panel is peak, under ideal conditions. You will only ever get a fraction of that. It is possible to have a good experience with solar PV, but only if you spend the money necessary to really do the job. For a smartphone I recommend no less than 5 watts, preferably between 10 and 30.
For batteries, don't buy prebuilt ones. That's 90% of the market because it's profitable as fuck to shove some 18650 cells (pic related, what's in your laptop) into a stylish enclosure and overcharge for it. Then if a single cell dies the whole thing is kaput and you go buy a new one, if you're dumb. (continued)
