Small Solar Power Supply for Small Device(s)

[Graywolf]

@DorianGray, having a digital backup is a great idea. You will have to give it some kind of protection though. There's just no way to carry as much information as one of these can for you. Backup documents, survival notes, list of contacts and account numbers, maps of the areas you'll be in, etc are always good. A long battery life is what you want with that but I actually just use an iPad at the moment. I'll be changing that soon.

When I was in Afghanistan, I just used a suntactics s-charger 5 solar panel to recharge ana 11,000 mAh USB battery (about the size of an external HDD) and then used the battery (or the solar panel directly if it was daylight and the battery was full) and never ran out of juice. I kept the USB battery charged with AC power when I was back on one of the big FOBs and the power wasn't out.

Just make sure you don't rely 100% on electronics. They tend to break/overheat/get stolen etc, but they can't be beat what they can do for you.

I also keep a small inverter with an additional USB out in my bugout bag that plugs into a 12V socket just in case as well as a female 12V plug with alligator clips that I could use if I came across a 12V battery somewhere as a last resort.

@Rush2112, that system is probably overkill for this purpose as far as the battery and inverter size are concerned. It was a proof of concept that I threw together with stuff I had laying around the house because my neighborhood was going camping together and a few of them had never been camping before. I use it to power my whole campsite but it is super simple to put together. What you really need to do is figure out how much power you really need, find a battery or bank of batteries that will deliver that amount of amp-hours for the longest period you'd plan for that you couldn't recharge it, and match a solar panel that would give you enough power to recharge it during the useful daytime you have - including draw if you use the inverter while you charge.