Greenbatteries.com - Responsible Renewable Energy: 05/06/2007 - Greenbatteries.com - Responsible Renewable Energy - batteries - information on rechargeable batteries and battery chargers

Hi Marcie,

There are many ways to recharge batteries with solar power. They will all charge your NiMH batteries depending on how you have them set up and how fast you need the batteries to be charged.

The simplest way is to get a single unit solar charger that will charge the batteries. Unfortunately this is also the slowest way to charge the batteries because of the small size of the solar panel. We have a unit like this and you can only charge 1-2 batteries in a day of sun - if you tried to charge all four high capacity AA NiMH batteries they will take a couple of days to charge.

http://www.greenbatteries.com/batterysaveraa.html

Another way to use a solar panel to charge the batteries is to get a separate solar panel and a smart charger that has a cigarette lighter adapter (CLA) that you can plug it into and charge all your batteries in a few hours. This solution can be from 1-3 hundred dollars to get al the components. The more power that you need from the solar panel, the faster the charger will charge your batteries.

http://www.greenbatteries.com/por1rosopa.html

http://www.greenbatteries.com/feciliad.html

http://www.greenbatteries.com/echcarcp-4.html

Do you know yet what you r usage requirements/expectations will be while you are at a remote location?

Sincerely,

Curtis

Responsible Energy Corporation
Curtis Randolph - CEO
16157 Galena Meadows Drive

Reno, NV 89511

direct 775-852-3883

toll free 800-790-7866

fax 815-301-3958
cell 775-722-9901
www.greenbatteries.com

From: Marcie Neuburger
Sent: Sunday, May 06, 2007 7:50 PM
To: info@greenbatteries.com
Subject: solar chargers

Hello,
I am looking to buy a AA and AAA solar NiMH battery charger. I am going to be camping and travelling for several months and need an easy way to recharge my digital camera batteries. Which of your products would you suggest, and will they work with the NiMH batteries that I already have? Thanks a lot,

Hi Patti,

The mah of a battery will not "overamp" the device. The mAh ratings on a battery are more like a measure of potential, not actual current flow.

The voltage of both NiCD and NiMH batteries are identical - rated at 1.2 volts - and can commonly be used interchangeably without harm to the device BUT this is definitely in the realm of custom experimentation and all manufacturers will tell you it is not advised (this is to avoid liability more than an explanation of what can and cannot be done)

This being said, your primary concern is to make sure that your device can safely charge the battery without grossly overheating the battery and/or device. NiMH and NiCD batteries have different charging requirements and as long as your charger is not a fast charger, at or below 10% of the battery capacity is typically considered a trickle charge, you can be pretty safe with your battery experiment.

Hope that helps.