Solar charger

[JoJo]

I need recommendations for a solar charger that charges AAA, AA, C, D and cr123 batteries. Nothing that will break the bank.
I Googled, Binged and went to Amazon and I'm totally confused. 

[special-k]

A few years ago I went shopping for that very thing.  I found the best set-up to be 2 separate items...a charger that would work on 12VDC, and one of those roll-up (fabric) style solar panels.  The hardest part was to find the right charger.  Sorry, but I don't remember what products I settled for, but I do remember that I found both items on amazon.

They may have come out with better technology/packages by now.

[Kbop]

I agree with special-k.  get a power source and then an intelligent charger for your battery type.
different chemistry requires different charges to maximize battery life.

As far as specific model/mfg recomendations...   IDK.

[JohnyMac]

I too had a problem finding a 12vlt battery charger. in 2012 I settled on the MINWA 5798N.

First I could NOT find a battery charger that worked off of a 12VLT plug so I went one with 120 VLT plug and used my inverter to run it. My inverter runs off my 12 VLT system. The thought was to cut off the 120 VLT plug and put on a 12 VLT male cigarette lighter end. I never did the conversion as the inverter worked well.

Second, the MINWA worked well for a month and then stopped working. Sent it back and was promptly given a new one from the manufacture. Once I got that one it promptly stopped working too. I took it apart and found out that the Chinese slave labor did a piss poor soldering job on ALL the connections. Once I re-soldered all of the connections it has worked without flaw to present. 

This doesn't help much but it is a start.

Different gear but on the same trip: May I suggest that you "DuckDuckGO" (Not google) search for NiMh & Ni-Cad batteries. You will get several companies that sell these. Open their site and then send each a email explaining what you are trying to do and ask if they sell the charger that meets your needs. Again send the same email to several vendors who sell NiMh batteries.

Please report back to what info you find.

PS: Here are a few leads for the MINWA 5798N.
http://www.nexcell-battery.com/style/frame/templates3/product_detail.asp?lang=2&customer_id=796&name_id=36204&content_set=color_1&rid=23137&id=105169

and

http://www.greenbatteryshop.co.uk/mw5798.htm

[JoJo]

Took your advice and went to DuckDuckGo and found this. Good price and cheap shipping.

http://www.amazon.com/C-Crane-SBC-11-in-1-Battery-Charger/dp/B001BKS3Z2%3FSubscriptionId%3DAKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q%26tag%3Dduckduckgo-d-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3DB001BKS3Z2

It doesn't do CR123 batteries but that's OK.

[special-k]

I'm familiar with that Ccrane solar charger.  Don't buy it..it's junk.  The fact is, its charge rate is prohibitively slow.

This amazon review accurately sums it up:

Oh WOW... it charges AA, C and D Cell NiMH on its built in Solar Panel. This has 'sucker' written all over it. Lets look at the specs, 5 volts from the panel, so it can really do 2 batteries at once, not 3, not 4 and its a MAX of 140ma output. That means MAX, summer, noon, pointed at the sun. Its not computer controlled so its charge efficiency will be low, 75% would be generous. AA NiMH Batteries are about 2000mah, at 140ma @75% efficiency that would take 19 prime solar hours to charge 2 AA batteries. There are about 6 'good' solar hours in a day (sun rise, noon, sun setting) so that means this would charge your 2 AA batteries in about 3 days if you kept it pointed at the sun every 30 minutes. D cell NiMH batteries are about 10,000mah so that would take 96 hours to charge, which would be about 2 weeks of solar tracking to charge them up. Seem like a good solar idea now?

[JohnyMac]

JoJo, send a email to NiMh vendors asking them for some help identifying the right charger for you.

[thatGuy]

I don't know about the variety of batteries you wanna charge.. get your preps standardized down to AA batteries and get a goal zero, they are kinda spendy but they actually work!