Review: A few days in the woods with the Brunton Solaris 52 solar panel and Solo 15 battery
The nut: The Brunton Solaris 52 is a big panel in a small package — at least when it's folded up — but you'll want a good battery like the Brunton Solo 15 to go with it in most situations, which affects the overall portability — and price.
For backpacking, the Brunton Solaris 52 isn't too big; the flexible solar panel array folds down into a pack that's only 11-inches wide, about the size and heft of a college textbook. And unlike most portable solar panels, the Solaris 52 can power big hardware — even laptops — provided it's getting enough sunlight to convert into DC power.
If you were only going to use the Solaris 52 for emergency back-up power, it would do its duty ably, outputting to a standard 12-volt car charger plug, one of four DC input tips (check your device's rating, of course!) or the included car battery clamps. But if you're relying exclusively on the Solaris 52 to power your devices (like I did when I took the gear into the woods), I'd suggest pairing the solar panel with a battery like Brunton's own Solo 15. Charging up a battery which in turn charges your devices allows you to keep the backup battery topped up while using your devices elsewhere, continue to draw power at night, and charge devices that need a more wattage than the panel can provide on a overcast day.
Then again, adding a battery adds more weight: four pounds in the case of the $650 Solo 15, added to the already wincingly prohibitive $1,300 price of the Solaris 52. But this sort of gear isn't for the casual backpacker who wants to top up their iPod battery — there are plenty of cheaper solutions for that, including units from Brunton themselves. Instead, this level of gear is for people who intend to spend serious time away from the grid with relatively serious hardware.
Just don't plug the Solo 15's DC-to-AC inverter directly into the Solaris 52's 12-volt output or you might get the same puff of smoke that I did. (To its credit, the inverter still worked!)
The Solo 15 unit I tested was a pre-release unit, but there was one annoying flaw that I hope the company will address before shipping: the charge indicator on the front of the battery seemed finicky, sometimes showing a full charge when the button was pressed, other times not showing anything at all. Worse, the three stage LEDs — three for full, down to one for empty — seemed to skip the middle LED almost completely, going from full- to low-power in just an instant. Rechargeable batteries are by nature finicky bags of chemicals, so be sure to follow best charging practices to squeeze the rated 12 amp hours out of the Solo 15.
The Solo 15 comes with the same adapters as the Solaris 52, as well as an AC input, making it possible — and recommended — to top its reserves off at a power outlet before setting off to rely exclusively on the sun's generosity.
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With all due respect Joel, was this flaw noticed before or after the puff of smoke?
I'm not trying to be a jerk here, it just stands to reason that SOMETHING was damaged when you let out a little of the magic smoke.
This seems like a very useful system.
I can see it having some very good amateur radio and emergency service applications as well.
Oh, the battery light flaw? Yes, that had nothing to do with the inverter. It exhibited that before I blew up the smoke, when I was still at home playing around with it.