Freeloader Solar Charger
 

Hi, has anybody had any experience of using the Freeloader Solar Charger with the N800? How well does it perform?

Thanks.

Chris.

Re: Freeloader Solar Charger
 

I have a solio charger and when it charges the n800 it can drain the internal battery quickly. I figure this works the same way. I would suggest purchasing 2 of these if you're serious about using solar. Cloudy days can wreck your charging habits. This defintely is cheaper thaan my Solio though.

Re: Freeloader Solar Charger
 

I bought a Freeloader a couple of weeks ago and have had it sat on the dashboard of the car charging since then. It has never got to the point where it reports to be fully charged.

Today, I tried connecting it to my N800 and got a charging indicator on plugging in, but that soon vanished. I then charged the Freeloader from a USB port on my desktop for a couple of hours. When it was fully charged I connected it to my now fully discharged N800 and there was still not enough strength to start a charge. The N800 is now back on the mains charger and the Freeloader is successfully charging my phone.

The problem seems to be that the battery in the Freeloader is only 3.7V which is not enough for the N800 but OK for a phone. The solar panels themselves are rated as 5.5V and 120mA so in bright sunlight they might extend the battery life, but they are not going to keep it going indefinetly. However, in bright sunlight you probably couldn't read the screen anyway.

Re: Freeloader Solar Charger
 

Sounds to me like the Freeloader is designed to charge old phones that could be charged with < 5V (and the charger for my old Nokia phone w/plug converter can't charge my N800 either, because of the lower voltage level).

To charge the N800 you will want stabilized 5V DC.

Re: Freeloader Solar Charger
 

i'm looking for a DIY solar panel, this one looks promising
but it's only 100 mA, i don't know enough electronics to know if a regulator can easily be built to charge N800 (according to the label on the wall charger it gives 850 mA DC @ 5V)
http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/sto...oductId=228161

Re: Freeloader Solar Charger
 

A year ago I bought the soldius solar charger.
http://www.mysoldius.com/products.shtml#
It doesn't have a battery, and is rated at full sunlight 6.58V- 320mA.
I bought it for a bit over 50 bucks, and from the site now it is 100$
but you might be able to ebay it cheaper or find it from a 3rd party site....

It works wonders on the N800, charging it fully in 2-3 hours...
It really seems to give the proper jolt, and even in partial sunlight will still manage to charge it, albeit slower.

dcarter

Re: Freeloader Solar Charger
 

thats pretty cool. i saw it on ThinkGeek http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/travelpower/7d34/
but wasn't sure if its powerful enough...

now i want it!

Re: Freeloader Solar Charger
 

Thanks guys, this is exactly what I have been looking for. Ordering mine tomorrow! :)

Soldius 1 Solar Charger
 

Me too!! :)

Cheers!

Re: Freeloader Solar Charger
 

if you're getting soldius, you'll also need an connector/adapter tip for N800, unless you already have an old to new Nokia charger adapter, or a USB to power adapter.