Solar chargers are becoming very popular but are still new technology to most users. So what should you look for?

John discusses the topic in general and gives a few tips to ensure you get the best out of your solar power battery charger.

Portable solar chargers are appearing in many different forms.

They range from mobile phone-sized units with a single solar panel and a socket to accept the charger cable to large portable folding solar panels that close like a notebook.

Some mobile phones manufacturers are already playing around with the idea of integrating a solar panel into the back panel of a mobile phone to enable solar recharging in addition to the usual charger, but realistically that will probably not be economically justifiable because mobile phones are consumables that eventually become obsolete or just out of fashion. It creates another component to dispose of. We already have considerable environmental damage caused by irresponsible dumping of old electronics and should not add to that tally.