The fear of a dead cellphone battery no doubt prompts me to ”top up” my handset more often than is either necessary or good for the battery pack itself, which is why I’m seriously eyeing up FreeLoader’s Portable Solar Charger. Version 8.0 of the device – which has both a solar panel array as well as an onboard battery pack – can apparently power a cellphone for up to 44 hours from a full charge, an iPod for 18 hours or a PSP for 2.5 hours. It ships with eleven different power adaptors (including iPhone and iPod Touch plugs; you can see the full list after the cut), while more are available as well including in-car, AA and AAA battery adaptors.
Priced at £29.99 ($59.60) and available in silver or pink, the internal battery will maintain its charge for three months without further topping-up. It’s available now.
Included adaptors:
Dedicated Connector for I-pod, I-pod nano, Iphone
LG – KG800 Chocolate / Shine Series
Nokia Old 3.5mm jack and compatible phones
Nokia New 2mm jack and compatible N series phones
Samsung A288 and compatible Series phones
Samsung D800 and compatible current Series phones
Sony Ericsson K750 and compatible Series phones
4mm Jack compatible with Sony PSP, Tom Tom, some Digital Cameras, PDA’s and Two Way Radios
Dedicated Connector for Nintendo DS Lite
Mini USB compatible with Blackberry, Smart Phones, Motorola Phones, HTC Phones, Qtek Phones, some Digital Cameras and other devices that charge via a mini USB port.
USB female for use with devices that can be charged via USB on your computer. For example MP3 or MP4 players and some Digital CamerasAvailable FreeLoader 8.0 Accessories include:
Spare Freeloader battery and hub (s)
Adaptor plug to suit iPod and iPod Nano
Adaptor plug to suit Siemens BenQ mobile phones
Adaptor plug to suit Nintendo Game boy Advanced / Old style DS
Adaptor plug to suit Nintendo Game boy Micro
Adaptor plug to suit Nintendo DS lite (now included with freeloader)
Adaptor plug to suit Samsung 2.5mm jack mobile phones
Adaptor plug to suit Panasonic mobile phones
Adaptor plug to suit Palm One PDA’s and mobile devices
Adaptor plug to suit Alcatel mobile phones
Adaptor plug to suit Siemens C55 mobile phones
Adaptor plug to suit Siemens C25 mobile phones
Adaptor plug to suit Sanyo mobile phones
Adaptor plug to suit Motorola 3mm jack mobile phones
Adaptor plug to suit Sagem mobile phones
Adaptor plug to suit Micro USB connected mobile phones
In car power Adaptor
Mains power Adaptor
Freeloader Pouch
Spare Freeloader battery and hub (pink)
Freeloader Pouch (pink)
Adaptor plug to suit New Nokia mobile phones
Adaptor plug to suit Old Sony Ericson mobile phones
Adaptor plug to suit Old Motorola mobile phones
Adaptor plug to suit New Samsung phones
Freeloader AA & AAA Battery charger
I purchased two of these, one for myself and one for a friend. The plan was to use them on a trip to Europe to keep cell phones charge on long days out. Well both failed… and somewhat dangerously. I charged the first unit and it seemed to charge fine but when I plugged it into my iPhone to test its charging ability it failed. After about a minute of charging the iPhone, the freeloader pack made a little pop sound and then would no longer charge any devices.
After seeing the first unit fail, I decide to test my friends. Well it did about the same thing but this time I saw what made the pop sound. While charging a device, I saw a spark in the USB socket of the freeloader and smelled the odor of burning plastic. After this the freeloader would not longer charge devices.
It seems that the freeloader battery pack can overload when charging devices. I may have thought this to be an isolated problem but it happened with two different units. This could be dangerous if the pack were in a bag or something during charges.
I would not recommend the freeloader to anyone…in fact if they all have potential to fail the way mine did, then they should be pulled from the market.
To be honest I’ve been rather disappointed with my Freeloader as a solar powered device. It takes forever to charge in even the strongest UK sunshine, and then only gives me a maximum half battery increase on my Nokia N73. However if I charge it from the mains or via a USB cable it’s much much better. A great emergency spare, but not the great solar alternative that I was expecting.
Mine was a serious disappointment as well. Recently I was in Arizona in the US on a climb. I had three of these devices in my pack. One for my GPS system (I use it as an emergency backup if something goes wrong on a heavy hike or climb in the middle of nowhere), one for my Ericsson, and one for my mp3 player (Ok, so I spoil myself but music is important. You try climbing without some good metal!). All three of these solar devices failed and one blew out my gps when it failed. I am still aghast at the situation. Thankfully, I did not need to use them. I will stick with my standard extra-battery backup and the wind-up charger system that I have. I am waiting for a green solution to keep our planet beautiful. Someone will do it. This is a good product idea but it needs work. All of them do. Keep up hope, someone will make this happen.