I charged the reader last night on a usb cord
so it was fully charged this morning. Right now the unit is outside playing music and is attached to the solar panel, its overcast and it is charging at 11-12mA. Should get sunny later on and then I can see what full sunshine will do. I'll report about that later. Maybe I just let it run down on music until completely empty and see how long it takes to be fully recharged.
I wonder whether there are higher efficiency solar panels out there.
As far as the assembly is concerned, it is really simple you just have to make three solder connections. You buy the B-plug from Radio Shack, the mating cord which has two ends and solder one end to the left side of the solar panel then solder a diode to the right side of the solar panel and the other end to the second wire of the power cord. The picture on the right showe all connections to be made. The only trick is to get all polarities lined up. When the tests are finsihed and you are still intersted I'd be glad to make you a plan. The total cost was $33.50 (incl SH) for the panel and $9 for the plug assy.