Solar Camera Charger Update

Update: View the latest on how to charge cameras from solar and any USB power supply here.

In a previous post, we showed you how to charge your camera battery by connecting the battery to a camera cradle and the camera cradle to one of our chargers.

There are a lot of different camera batteries out there and we do not currently stock cradles to cover them all. This post will show you which ones work with our chargers, how well they work and which additional connectors you might need.

Our cradles we currently stock look like this and connect to the output of the solar panels via the 3.5×1.3mm adapter that we include with our camera chargers.

Another option is to get a cradle that looks like this:

There are a lot of these out there and it appears that they come from the same manufacturer even if they may have different brands on them. We’ve tested several of them and we’re getting 2.6-2.9 Watts flowing into the cradle from our 4 Watt setup, which is reasonably efficient.

To find one of these cradles for your battery, search on ‘[battery model] car charger” on Google or Amazon. For example, if you have an LP-e6 battery, type in “LP-e6 car charger” into Google and you’ll likely see one of these.

Connecting to the Cradle: To connect from our chargers to this cradle, you’ll need our 3.5×1.3mm adapter. Connect the cradle to the output of our panels on one of our chargers (similar to the picture above) and set the Voltage selector to “12V” or “18V” depending on your model. Make sure to disconnect your battery while charging your camera for the most efficient charge.

Testing Recommended: We highly recommend testing your equipment before you go. To test charging your camera battery, drain the battery fully in your camera. Then connect it to the charger and leave it outside on a sunny day for 5-6 hours. Pointing the panels directly at the sun will give you the most efficient charge. In most cases, it should be close to full. If you have a really big battery, it should have made good progress toward being full.

As always, feel free to shoot us questions at support@voltaicsystems.com