I put together a bug out gear pack recently, a backpack stuffed with tools and supplies the could provide aid in emergency situations, geared towards survival, repair and other technical actions (so, not purely a bug out bag).
I’m deciding on which charger to get. I made the following considerations:
Dual bay is the right compromise between portability and capability.
Multi chemistry of course, that is the most important thing.
Able to be powered both by vehicles’ 12v and 110/220v sockets, ability to be run directly via solar panel (6v I guess) as a big plus.
Ability to charge different battery sizes without external spacers (sliding rails is the way to go).
Big plus for 5v USB output (usage as powerbank).
Reliable of course.
So far it came down to:
Soshine H2 V2
Enova ALL-21
Any other options worth considering, or thoughts on the subject?
I believe your going in the right direction but for a bob I prefer smaller and lighter. Through in some leads that have clips or magnets. Cell phone, tablets, lots of stuff. Just in case the battery is bare or the charge port is broken.
I have a lot of emergency stuff. But the BOB isn’t one of them. I’m not sure anyplace I can Bug Out to will be any better than my house in the burbs. Here I can hang fast with solar power and do 115 volts using an inverter and not compromise on everything. I suppose if I lived in NYC and knew I could get out of NYC to a better place for sure a BOB would be a requirement. For now I’m in the burbs with a generator and solar and lots of zombie repellent. Then again I’m not solo, I have a wife and 2 kids so whatever the heck bugging out is will be slower for me. Bugging out is probably a very bad knee jerk reaction in some situations. I even have solid ham radio with power at my house.
Since you may want to have a back up, how about two of these?
It has the powerbank function and works rather well at recharging things. It is small, so you could fit two in a waterproof container with a couple of extra 18650’s and USB cables to have a whole power “kit” with a small solar panel… I bought mine for the car, and it hides away well in the center console next to the C8.
Check out Nitecore UM20 and UM10. Interesting mix of USB powerbank and LiIon charger. Add a mains to USB adapter and a 12 volt to USB plug and you are ready to bug out!
However no support for NiMH...
I have no personal experience of them, but they seem nice...
Spot on! I saw this novelty and thought I gotta have a couple! That would replace my Miller ML102 which proved fine lots of times BUT only does Li-Ion and only 18650 form, unless you bring spacers. I find sliding rails a better solution.
• Lithium battery pre-charging function: if the battery voltage is lower than 3.0V, a reduced 0.36A
current is activated to pre-charge the battery and prevent damage
• LED Function Indicator
Charging: Red Full: Green
If the battery is inserted reversely, the red and green lights will flash alternately
• When charging a lithium battery, during charge the blue light in the USB discharge port will be off; if the blue light in the USB discharge port is illuminated, this indicates that charging is not occuring.
• Size：84*36*27mm
• Weight：40g
• Operating Temperature: 0°C-40°C (Full load, Normal operation)
• Relative Humidity：5~90(40°C), 72 hours ( Full load, Normal operation)
• Storage Temperature: –20°C to 85°C
From what you were saying, you were looking for versatility, as I was when I found the CH1. I have been wringing mine out for a few weeks now and am fully satisfied with it. It uses my crappy Nuon 18650 and charges my cell phone just fine. The battery is not good in flashlights as the protection circuitry cuts it off too easily over about a 1.5A draw, so now I have a use for this specific battery…. Two of these would charge doubles like you want and the NiMH as well, plus the slow charge feature on the Li-Ion is nice as well.
I am going to add one of these ( http://www.gearbest.com/car-gps-tracking/pp_68916.html ) as well to my “kit” for power, it could come in handy…. Good luck and let us know what you end up with as your “power bug out kit”…. Heck, that may make a fine thread of its own one day!
I know that I’m sounding like a wet blanket here and on CPF, but I wanted the CH1 to be a reasonably working ‘all-in-one’ USB 2, multi-chemistry charger for under $10 even and it really doesn’t fit that role for my needs.
I wish I could get that Panasonic #14 USB AA/AAA charger, but those are vaporware. One of those and an Xtar MC1 Plus would be just what I’m looking for.
Are you referring this this ?
If so I was able to buy 3 of them last year before they went away. I gave them all to my kids and I went back to buy them again and they no longer sold them :_(
Too bad because they’re great. I also had some of the old Sanyo ones and they were great too.
When a charger can use “12V” power — is there any simple voltage regulator that will plug into a car or home battery and handle whatever variations occur — and give ‘clean enough’ 12v power to the charger to protect it? I’m thinking of engine noise, transients starting and stopping an engine, or something else on a home battery kicking in or out that might mess up the power a bit.
