Uniross U0148917 Solar Charger

Not Good

This worked really well on a camping holiday in the Med - batteries went from empty to fully charged in about 6 hours of sunlight.Back in the UK it's not so good: I've had it sitting on a windowsill for about 2 weeks until the batteries will charge, although again keeping it outside in direct sun it worked much better and got the batteries charged.The USB adapter does get pretty hot when using the batteries to charge my phone, which means a lot of wasted energy which is a shame after spending so long generating the energy so this is better suited to devices that will use the AA batteries directly, and for emergency charging through USB.Overall though a great product that works well if you are outside and at the £12 I paid much better value than the alternatives currently around (which are either cheap but useless or around £50).

This is a nicely designed bit of kit that's perfect for trickle charging batteries that you don't need to have charged in a couple of hours. It reckons to charge high power batteries in 24 hours of bright sunshine. In practice, I leave mine on the windowsill most of the time and hardly notice how long it takes. You'll have to think up your own uses, but for me it's perfect for topping up the batteries in my bluetooth mouse.If the sun is really bright, the batteries get warm, just like in a mains-powered charger. This is somehow reassuring.You can charge AAs and AAAs, two at a time. There's a neat insert for the smaller batteries, though you might lose this if you don't use it much since you have to take it out to charge AAs. The batteries sit under a rather pointless cover that snaps shut but is awkward to open again.There are two buttons: one usefully tests your batteries and lights an LED in either amber or red depending on charge; the other tells you whether there's enough light from the sun by lighting another LED. I doubt you'll ever need the latter though, since it's usually pretty obvious when it's sunny!Cleverer still is a plug-in USB socket that for some reason plugs into either side of the device. You can't charge USB devices directly from the sun though: you have to have fully charged batteries in the charger. Yet this is still a useful feature. There's an LED on this bit too to let you know it's working.The solar panel tilts smoothly so you can point it at the sun.I think it's quite a stylish device and it seems well made too. You need to pay the right price though so do your homework!

The solar charger is ideal if you don't need your batteries in a hurry. Put your batteries in then leave it somewhere the sun shines and forget about it until you need it. I managed to charge some high capacity AA batteries in just over a week. However it could take longer than this depending on the weather.Pros:Uses renewable energy to charge your batteriesHas a USB adaptor to charge USB powered gadgets (this actually uses the power from the AA/AAA batteries you have inserted)Has a battery testerHas a LED which indicates if it is charging or not.The solar panel can be positioned to make the most of the daylight.Cons:Can take a while to charge batteries (this however is the nature of these kind of solar devices)To charge AAA batteries you need to insert a little AAA battery holder which is a little annoying.

I bought this charger as a novelty. But it really is good, i have been able to charge my camera batteries (2-AA) by just leaving them in the charger in my porch on the window ledge, they are charged after one day i am really chuffed, i have different set of batteries charging each day-they even charge when it is over cast. Glad i bought it.

Excellent charger for the price little and compact charges AAA batteries in about 3-7 Days and AA in about 5-10 Days depending on how much sun is about.

Very good product. Not suitable for fast charging - leave for a couple of days in the sun and batteries will be fully charged. Probably most suitable when on holiday in sunny climates. Still excellent value.

An economical way of charging batteries