Extreme Condition Vaping

[Myrany]

I am so glad the solar thing seems to be working for you. Like I said before my little one works but I am not doing the wilderness thing. It is only a hurricane emergency thing. If we were going to be out of power for more than a day or 2 we would be getting out of dodge for a hotel a couple hundred miles north.

 

[revco]

I am so glad the solar thing seems to be working for you. Like I said before my little one works but I am not doing the wilderness thing. It is only a hurricane emergency thing. If we were going to be out of power for more than a day or 2 we would be getting out of dodge for a hotel a couple hundred miles north.

I haven't started down the solar path, yet. That might have to wait for spring/summer here...or June...whichever comes first. Just testing the battery at this point, but that Anker solar unit will work to recharge this battery if needed. Depending on the results of this testing, I'll weigh the two options of carrying two redundant batteries or a single battery and the 14W solar array and that might change based on the trip. If I can prove this system to be reliable and functional in the field, it might make sense to get into the higher-end field grade batteries/solar units mentioned earlier in this thread. Appreciate the tip on these Anker's though.

 

[Padre]

not sure how well it would work, but I just bought a Stanley Jump it portable jump starter for my vehicle. 700 amps and 350 cold crank amps for dead car batteries, but it has a USB port to power USB devices. Charge it at home and bring it along with you. Might not be portable for hiking, but could stay in your car. I think it can also be recharged by your vehicle if needed.

 

[revco]

Well, the results are in on the first round of the Anker 15kmAh battery mentioned previously! I was a little disappointed in the results and it's clear that there's definitely either some significant loss in the transfer or the manufacturer isn't quite being honest about the capacity of their battery. (Or both, more likely.)

Nonetheless, I was able to get about 8.3 charges on a pair of Kanger 1100mAh VV batteries before I depleted the Anker battery completely. These eGo batteries last me approximately a half day, give or take at 4.0V, so a single charge of the Anker would really only get me about 4-5 days in the out-of-doors. In a redundant configuration, I could maybe push 8-10 days...but that's not really redundancy. Nonetheless, perfect for a weekend or even an extended weekend.

Testing methodology started with a fully charged Anker battery, topped off to 100% from the factory. I charged one Kanger VV battery at a time from full depletion to full charge, which consistently brought these batteries to a ready state in 3.5 hours. No other devices were charged from the battery during the tests. The test procedure did experience a 3 day delay on the final battery charge due to some work travel...but this wouldn't have made a statistically significant impact in the results, I'd imagine.

Here's the tracked results, in case you're interested:

My next test will involve Kanger 1100mAh non-VV batteries, which tend to perform a little longer for me than the VV versions. I can usually push 10+ hours from these batteries and two will last me a day and a half easy. I'm not sure if I'll get similar results, that's the point in testing so I can determine if one or the other is actually better for field use.

If there's any other testing you'd like to see on the Anker, let me know.

Edit: I also forgot to mention that I found this, which is a decent vehicle solution for the 18xxx series batteries. I've been considering a 4-bay charger, but would like to get something that's interchangable with DC...this would fit the bill.

 

[ScottP]

Very nice. Interesting results. If you could add a dial panel to that Anker to give it back some charge during the days that could definitely extend the total time. Even a small panel that would take 4 days to fully charge the Anker would effectively double your 4 day excursion into 8 days.