Portable Solar Charger 28W with Digital Ammeter,25.4% High-Efficiency, USB-A/USB-C Ports, Folding Waterproof Solar Panels with Carabiners for Camping, Backpacking, Phones, Tablets, Power Bank

It’s solid. On the bright sunlight it charges two devices with 2.3-2.4 amps. Good enough to recharge two 10000 mah power banks within several hours. We took it to Yosemite and it did the job. I didn’t take it on the hike, not sure it would work well when attached to the backpack - the angle of the sunlight wouldn’t be good. Works perfectly if you leave it in the camp though. While we were hiking it was completely recharging our power banks. The main con is that if one of the panels is in the shade, the charging is closed to zero. The second one is that the pocket for the device is not insulated and, well, it’s black. So if you put your smartphone there, it will be overheated within a few minutes and will stop charging. At first I think it didn’t work properly though, so here a few tips that I’ve figured: 1. All the panels must be exposed to the sunlight. Even a small shade on the panels affects efficacy dramatically. 2. It’s better to use with powerbanks rather than charge your phones/tablets/whatever directly. 3. Whichever device you are charging, keep it off the sun. The pocket on the solar panel itself doesn’t work at all, and if your device has any overheat protection, it will stop charging pretty soon. If it doesn’t have a protection, it can just explode if the sun brights really hot. I was putting the solar panel on a camping chair with insulated pocket for a cold drinks and putting my power banks in the pocket. Works pretty well. 4. If the sunlight is good, there is no need to try to sustain the good angle (the closer sun rays fall to 90 degrees, the more power the panel will generate). But if it’s not very sunny, try to put something under the panel to keep it directed towards the sun. With that, I think it’s a pretty good solar panel, if you know the above and understand how to use it. Be safe outdoors!

I love this charger (BigBlue 5V 28W with readout) I use this to charge multiple battery packs and it is wonderful. I have charged my phone off of this all year so far. I bought a usb multi meter to check voltage. The voltage is regulated well and I have never seen it go above 5.1V. The lowest voltage I have seen on a cloudy day was 4.9, still well within range to charge my battery pack. I live in AZ and get plenty of sun. My battery packs are always charging at max input because this charger has so much power available. I built a stand which I set the solar charger on. The stand can change angles so it can be aimed for the best angle. I have used this to go camping and never needed to plug into the grid to power anything within my camp site. I truly can’t say enough good things about this charger. 1 year update. 12/27/18 Still as strong as the first day I received it. The fabric has faded however, that’s to be expected with as much use as this gets. The Arizona sun is relentless and will fade any fabric. I have used this solar charger to run all of my USB devices and I only need to use it every few days when paired with a proper battery bank. I am now using this charger to charge a ~26,000 ma battery bank (Anker). I charge at 4A and the pack is charged fully within 6-7 hours. This battery lasts my Wife and I 5 full days with both of our phones (3 year old iPhones) from dead to full charge. Even in December, I am able to pull 3.9 A at about 11:00 AM. If you are looking for a great product to help get away from the grid for any reason. This is what you will want. It has plenty of power to charge almost anything USB you can think of, especially when you pair it with a good storage bank. Update: 3/18/2023 Still working great! I have used this hundreds of times by now. Even being over 5 years old, it still puts out 4 amps. My cords are the limiting factor. I still take this with us everywhere. When we’re camping, we never need to worry about our USB powered devices going dead. I always have this charging several battery banks to ensure we are good to go. We truly enjoy this solar panel and have recommended it several times over to friends and family. One thing to note, as with any fabric, the color will fade with the sun. So it does not look “pretty” and new any more, but I think of it as a battle scar and how many good times have been had because it sat out and baked in the sun!

Works really well, i am impressed how well it charged battery packs. Very pleased with this for off grid recharging of small electronics.

Have only used this once and it was a partly sunny day (so, plenty of clouds). My iPhone 6S was down to 7% power. I just laid the Big Blue down on a table on the back deck (in full sun). About 15 minutes later, I was up to 22%. Another hour passed and I was up to 44%. Forty minutes after that, 73%. Fifteen minutes passed and I was at 82%. Thirty minutes later, up to 94%. Another fifteen minutes, 97%. When I last checked after another 15 minutes, I was at 100% (a total of just over 3 hours). The reading was typically at .2 and .3. If I held the charger up to angle towards the sun more, I would obviously get a higher reading. I previously used a solar charger with a built-in battery. The battery went bad after a while, so I decided to switch to just a solar charger. I can always get an external battery pack to charge up and then use later to charge a phone or something else when the light is not available. Anyway - this one seems to be nice and compact (as solar chargers go - it folds up easily), has a sturdy fabric cover (haven't tested water-proof qualities yet), and seems to work just fine on a fairly cloudy day. An important note to consider - at first I laid out my iPhone with the charger on the table. When I first checked it, there was a warning on the iPhone that it had gotten too hot and should be cooled down before using (never seen that warning before!). Makes sense, though....a black item sitting in the direct sun. So, I just moved it to some shade while I kept the solar charger in the sun.

I had high hopes for this BigBlue 28W SunPower Camping Solar Panel. Did a test run when I first received it and worked fine. Took it to the back country two weeks ago (what I bought it for) and the first two charging cycles went fine. On the fourth cycle the Digital Ammeter indicates 0.0 amps and will not charge despite full sun. Tried multiple times and no go plus now there is no return option on Amazon. I now have a $60+ dead brick. The support now is only auto "Set-up and troubleshooting tips". I would look elsewhere for a more reliable solar charging system. Update: Company reached out to me and sent out a replacement which I provide kudos for. Unfortunately, the USB power bank voltage regulator controller in the new 28W SunPower Camping Solar Panel was dead upon arrival. I am thinking the company had a run of faulty regulator/controllers (black square with blue face). I checked the voltage leading into the regulator/controller which was fine - just no power to the USB ports.

The first thing I noticed on unboxing is that this panel folds down very thin and more neatly than the previous charger I was using, which was a 14 watt made by Anker. This one is virtually the same size and has a very neat and thin feel despite the somewhat thick built-in ammeter, which is the main reason I chose this one. The second thing I noticed is that it had 'new car smell' which faded quickly but was nice. The pouch seems well designed with a good quality zipper with a rubber pull nub and elastic straps inside. I don't intend to use the pouch often but it's good to have and is convenient for storing cables. It came with a short cable and I supplemented that with some very short cables and a longer one for charging my phone at a distance so I can stay in the shade. The little hanging loop between the four panels and ammeter/pocket section is very handy for hanging it in a window early or late in the day. The main reason I wanted this product was to charge devices while staying at a mountaintop cabin which turned out to be a foggy and overcast weekend. Before heading there I tested it in the field on a couple of small islands and at home on a day when there was full direct sun with no clouds. On the islands there were some clouds and I only hooked it to some power banks I use while traveling. The charger is very easy to stow. I slipped it into a 2 1/2 gallon zipper bag, which could hold two of them or one and my large tablet, and folded it over as protection against water while heading there. It was easy to rig. Just propping it up on driftwood is easy but the carabiners that came with it don't seem especially useful. I carry some short loops of bungee cord that are handier for hanging it up. I don't intend to lash it to my backpack as I know some hikers do. Where I hike there are generally trees overhead and inconvenient sun angles. I've tested it in overcast conditions and it still puts out a few tenths of an amp without real direct sunlight. The ammeter is very handy and eliminates the mystery of whether something is really charging and how fast if it is. I notice that in full sun the amps being delivered is highly dependent on the device(s) connected. Some of the older power banks I have don't seem to accept more than half an amp at a time no matter the level of sunlight so even with two depleted banks connected the current only goes to 1.0 or so. With a different pair of packs it goes to 2.0. While testing the charger in full midday sun for the first time I hooked up a large tablet that was down to 28% and with one of those banks the current went to 2.4, with a different one 2.8, and it charged in less than two hours along with the power bank. This was using a short charging cable with the tablet in the shade. Don't leave your devices in the direct sun. I'd generally recommend not using the zipper pouch in most cases too. It gets very hot inside but in some situations you could hang the panel by the little loop in the fold between the pouch and panels and have the pouch facing away from the sun. The red LED display is a bit hard to read in sunlight. Maybe green LEDs or an e-paper display would be more readable. That's literally my only gripe with the thing. A bluetooth device with an app that graphs the charging curve and pops up a notification when something is done charging would be nice too but I think I ask for too much. Overall this is well worth the price and a five star review. I intend to use it for years to come.

I bought this as an experiment, I have 5 power banks ranging from 800mah to 25,000mah. I wanted to try charging them throughout the day and use the power banks to charge phones and similar items at night. So far it’s exceeded my expectations by far. I’ve only used it in the house in my kitchen window and once outside since it is February and cold and cloudy with little sunlight. But on a good sunny day I’ve seen as much as 3.0 amps from it for awhile I couldn’t get over 2.0 than I learned it’ll go up if the sunlight is available with 2 devices connected instead of 1. It charged my 6,800mah power bank from 0-100% in about 3 hours while charging my 4,000mah at the same time which only took it about an hour or two. Even on cloudy days with little to no sun whatsoever i can still get about 0.2-0.4 the only complaint I have is the actual light weight which is a plus in most cases but the one time I put it outside it kept blowing over and flipping the panels to where it wouldn’t charge with only mild wind present. I wish they made stands avaible for these or something similar but I’ve made my own but I most definitely would recommend this product. It charged my iPhone XR from 1% to 40% in about 30 or so minutes with adequate sun.

This product did not include a cable or the carabiners. I was disappointed it didn’t include both cables as a standard. But no extras at all is a let down. Seems to work out of the box.

Excellent performance

Brilliant product

Buena capacidad de carga, solo lo he usado en pleno sol, nonse que pasará si esta nublado. Pero para camping o donde no existe conexión eléctrica, ayudará enormemente.

Original e de boa qualidade

Good design. I would have expected slightly better charge rates if the panel Is not directly pointed at the Sun but it does provide power to a device.