MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Looking for info about the SOLIO Solar Charger

CommanderROR · 10-02-2007, 06:55 AM

I'm afraid I won't be able to do a "real" review after all...

Tribble sent me a Solio for testing purposes that I could then buy (for a slightly reduced price) or send back after the review, just as I see fit.

I was all ready and eager to do all that, but when I received the Solio it was raining hard here for two days...so no testing then.
After that we had almost two moderately nice days...and that was it.

What I found out about the Solio is this:

It works fine as a battery-pack. The 1600mAh battery is strong enough to nearly double my PDA-Phone (Fujitsu-Siemens T830) Battery life. That's not bad. It can recharge the Iliad (even though you have to use a slightly annoying go-between (universal car charger) to connect it to the Iliad and gets about 3/4 full charge into the Iliad from the battery alone (that fits with the specs of the two batteries).
It can easily charge the STAReBOOk (and it should be the same for the Sony Reader, Cybook gen3 and similar low-power devices).

BUT:

It's not a battery pack. It's actually a Solar Charger. And this is where I ran into problems...
I was planning to use this thing on a train, to recharge my mobile phone. I thought I could just stick it to the train window and as long as there is a fair amount of light outside it would happily recharge my phone.
Well, that is where I overestimated today's Solar Technology apparently.
While it will recharge itself in direct sunlight, it NEEDS direct sunlight.
As long as you have it pointing directly at the sun, it recharges the internal battery and gives you power for your mobile device. Even then though it only delivers enough power for something small, like the STAReBOOK. The Iliad and my Phone would not even start charging then.
This already ruled out that I'd buy the device for my own use, because it would have been a pretty high price for something that is basically not much more than a battery pack for me.

I could have continued the testing anyway, but since the weather has gone back to miserable again, I don't really see any real chance of getting any useful results in a realistic timeframe.

So, with apologies all round and especially to Tribble who supplied the device, I'm giving up on this one.
It might be ideal for somebody who likes to go camping and/or lives in a sunnier country, but for me it just is not the right device and it also does not work well in a grey german autumn...

I'm sending back the device to Tribble today and will keep watching the scene to see what interesting new developments will arise in this area.
Maybe somebody will develop new, high-output solar cells or something completely new and revolutionary...who knows...maybe somebody will develop an interface that enables your gadgets to recharge from your own body...then all you'll have to do is bring along an extra lunchbox so you don't run out of bioenergy when using your laptop and drop dead while your laptop happily continues running SETI...

10-02-2007, 06:55 AM	#8
CommanderROR eink fanatic Posts: 2,022 Karma: 4924 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Germany Device: STAReBOOK, iRex Iliad, Sony 505, Kindle 2	I'm afraid I won't be able to do a "real" review after all... Tribble sent me a Solio for testing purposes that I could then buy (for a slightly reduced price) or send back after the review, just as I see fit. I was all ready and eager to do all that, but when I received the Solio it was raining hard here for two days...so no testing then. After that we had almost two moderately nice days...and that was it. What I found out about the Solio is this: It works fine as a battery-pack. The 1600mAh battery is strong enough to nearly double my PDA-Phone (Fujitsu-Siemens T830) Battery life. That's not bad. It can recharge the Iliad (even though you have to use a slightly annoying go-between (universal car charger) to connect it to the Iliad and gets about 3/4 full charge into the Iliad from the battery alone (that fits with the specs of the two batteries). It can easily charge the STAReBOOk (and it should be the same for the Sony Reader, Cybook gen3 and similar low-power devices). BUT: It's not a battery pack. It's actually a Solar Charger. And this is where I ran into problems... I was planning to use this thing on a train, to recharge my mobile phone. I thought I could just stick it to the train window and as long as there is a fair amount of light outside it would happily recharge my phone. Well, that is where I overestimated today's Solar Technology apparently. While it will recharge itself in direct sunlight, it NEEDS direct sunlight. As long as you have it pointing directly at the sun, it recharges the internal battery and gives you power for your mobile device. Even then though it only delivers enough power for something small, like the STAReBOOK. The Iliad and my Phone would not even start charging then. This already ruled out that I'd buy the device for my own use, because it would have been a pretty high price for something that is basically not much more than a battery pack for me. I could have continued the testing anyway, but since the weather has gone back to miserable again, I don't really see any real chance of getting any useful results in a realistic timeframe. So, with apologies all round and especially to Tribble who supplied the device, I'm giving up on this one. It might be ideal for somebody who likes to go camping and/or lives in a sunnier country, but for me it just is not the right device and it also does not work well in a grey german autumn... I'm sending back the device to Tribble today and will keep watching the scene to see what interesting new developments will arise in this area. Maybe somebody will develop new, high-output solar cells or something completely new and revolutionary...who knows...maybe somebody will develop an interface that enables your gadgets to recharge from your own body...then all you'll have to do is bring along an extra lunchbox so you don't run out of bioenergy when using your laptop and drop dead while your laptop happily continues running SETI...