Solar Charger i1300S
Theo Boshoff
When travelling the globe, it can be stressful not knowing when you are going to find a power socket to charge all your tech gadgets, like your cellphone, iPod, portable gaming console, etc.It’s therefore quite handy to get a lightweight travel charger that harnesses the power of the sun, like the one available from the people who brought us DPpaper.

It looks like a Motorola Razor phone with the clamshell design that flips open to expose the two poly-silicon solar panels used to charge the internal poly-Lithium battery. While the soar charger is charging, an LED indication light on the front will be red; once fully charged, it’ll turn green.

There is also a light indicating how much power the device still has left, indicating charges in quarters.

The solar charger will provide ample power for devices with a voltage range of between 3.6V and 5.5V and the charging current is 100mA. The solar charger battery can be recharged up to 500 times and has a shelf life of up to ten years.

The solar charger comes standard with five connection heads for the most popular cellphones and other devices sporting a mini-USB power slot.

The solar charger can also be charged from the mains or through a laptop via USB, if you do have access to power.

From a full charge of the solar charger, we only got about 85% charge on a Nokia smartphone (N900), but a normal cellphone was charged fully. It takes a bit longer to charge via the solar charger than through the mains, but, if there are no mains where you are, the solar charger can’t be beat.

It’s simple to operate, lightweight and small to carry around and really helps out in a power clinch. And it even has a LED flashlight built in – all for a mere R250.