Useful charger for trips in sunny areas without power supply

Supplied the solar panel in a nice package with a Ökoschachtel with the inscription "Here comes the sun"

+ Delivery
- Solar Charger
- Four carabiner
- Manual (English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese)

+ Design
The solar panel is robust and high quality therefore. The sheath is made of a strong fabric. From the looks and handling it resembles a large book. If you open up it there on its first page a bag in which two separate USB ports are to be loaded for the device. In this case the manual is written in large letters in English. For better understanding, there are three icons. These state can be the panel with sunshine and cloudy weather use, but not in rainy weather.
If you fold the pages later, so you get three large solar panels that hang concertina similar to each other.
For the hanging operation, there are two tear-resistant grommets and are supplied with appropriate Karanbinerhaken.

+ Handling:
To operate the panel has to be unfolded. The weather should be sunny and if possible also depends on the season and the angle of the solar radiation. It is important to align the panel optimally to the sun. Right there is the weak sometimes. The correct orientation is not so easy in the past operation, because by the tripartite division, the individual panels always have the need to be working together. Unfortunately there is no support or the like, where you can align the individual panels optimally. The second problem is, what is the optimal alignment? Normally at a 90 ° angle to the sun. Unfortunately there are no ads which help to optimize the alignment. To this end, I have (Portable Digital Voltmeter Ammeter PowerMeter Ezreal Two-Tone USB charger detector multimeter ammeter and voltmeter tester) then bought me a small display unit indicating the voltage and the current (with plugged-consumer). So you can optimally align the panel better.

The successful loading operation is highly dependent on weather conditions. When the sun shines full on, then the panel is working very well. In cloudy weather very limited. I also do not know if it gets connected devices well, when the charging current constantly jumps back and forth (cloud, sun, cloud).

In wolkemlosen sky and direct sunlight the panel really almost reached the promised 2 A.
My Huawei cell phone could be already spring sun conditions recharge well in the sunshine. In poor lighting conditions I have, however, observed that the process seems to turns and the mobile phone in case of insufficient charging current discharges more quickly than usual. I already had the effect that the mobile phone has shown 90% state of charge, and after removing the charger cable only 7%.
When loading an iPad requires quite a lot of charging current so that the charging process works. Is it too little, I get a message that the equipment is not original accessories.

+ Conclusion:
When it comes to Solarpanal especially the right purpose. To save power, it is not suitable. If the battery is charged daily on the power grid from the phone, which costs about 1 per year. In this case, the purchase of a solar panel would therefore not worthwhile. The main application I see in areas where there are plenty of sun, but not enough outlets for charging. That could be a long hike in the mountains, a longer cruise, desert safari or exploring entlegende areas. Main disadvantage of the solar panel is generally a function of the sun. If the cell phone (or to be loaded device) is empty, not just need the sun to shine, for. Instance evening. Unfortunately, you did not think to incorporate the same in the Panel a larger external battery. Then you can collect solar energy comfortable there, even if they are not currently needed and then see if you need them. In my opinion it is advisable in any case to add itself an external battery of higher capacity (I have the EasyAcc 10000mAh Power Bank Ultra Compact Dual USB Portable Charger External Battery Mobile for iPhone iPad Samsung Galaxy Smartphones Tablets Google Glass Gopro - bought Black + Orange ) and to use in connection with the panel. Then you have not the problem in case of power fluctuations on cloudy days. You have to reckon with that in objectionable load conditions, the charging time will be extended accordingly.

For short trips, for example to the beach, I think that the unit due to the size and weight rather unfit and would rather prefer an external battery.

+ Specifications
Model: RP-SC02
Output: 5V / 2A + 5V / 1A (Max)
Charging connectors: 2x USB ports
Power: max. 15 Watt
Size (not raised): 810 * 260 mm
Size (unfolded): 260 * 190 mm
Weight: 677 g