- 10 Watts high-efficiency mono-crystalline solar panel with foldable design offers excellent portability, ideal for emergency preparedness, backpacking, camping and other outdoor activities
- Built-in dual USB charging ports for directly plugging in iPhone, iPad and other USB compatible mobile devices
- Detachable high-capacity 5,200 mAh rechargeable lithium battery pack with two USB charging ports for easy & convenient power storage, compatible with iPhone, iPad and other USB equipped portable devices.
- Measures only 9 X 6 X 2 inches and weighs less than 1 lb
- 1-year manufacturer's warranty
The package comes shipped with the fold out charging panel, a micro USB to standard A USB (flat type) connector cable and includes an Instapark® MP1800U2 5,200 mAh External Battery Pack & Charger with Dual USB ports. The included cable is very short (8 inches or so). So, you'll want to get something longer to carry around with you. For charging the iPad, you will also need to get an iPad USB charging cable to carry with you as it does not come with one. I personally like the Retract Ipod USB 2.0 Sync cable in black. The Mercury 10 solar panel has a two USB ports nestled inside of a small pouch (can charge 2 devices at once, although haven't tried this) on the back side of one panel which is big enough to hold the battery and a few cables to help recharge your devices. The ReTrak cables are the perfect size for carrying around in this pouch.
Note that there are loops all around the panel so you can hang it up on a wall, from a nail or a tree branch to get the best sun placement.
There is only one downside to this panel, if you can call it a downside. The glues they used to put it all together makes it stink badly. However, if you're outdoors using it, you probably won't even smell it. It will also probably air out in time. Indoors, you will notice the smell if it's sitting near you. That said, it seems reasonably well constructed and definitely works to charge devices.
While I have also charged the 5,200 mAH battery from grid power, I haven't fully tested the battery out, but it claims to recharge the iPad 25% in 1 hour and phones up to 75% in 1 hour. I am still holding out full judgement of this device until such a time that I can test it out fully. The fact that the panel will charge the iPad leaves me nearly certain that it will charge nearly all of my devices properly. Note that the panel only has USB connectors. So, if you want to charge non-USB type devices, you will have to find a way to convert USB to that other format. Also, I don't know how fast it charges a device so I'll still have to test this. If you're looking for a solar panel to charge the iPad, though, this one will definitely do it.
Note that because the panel does what I needed it to do, I'm rating it 5 stars. However, I may change the review later after I've put the device through more usage scenarios and I am better able to determine charging speed and abilities under various conditions. I will say this, though, the panel will not charge 10 watt devices using ambient light from indoor lighting. The panel definitely needs sunlight. For times without sunlight, this is where you would use the included battery's stored energy, so be sure to charge it up.I took this thing camping, with the intention of trying it out before deploying back to Afghanistan. This little guy is a beast. With the included battery we able to play music on the iphone all weekend long without any issues. We could even throw a second iphone on there to charge when people needed it. I expected more of a trickle charge, while this thing will charge an iphone 74% in 1 hour. It won't charge like a wall outlet, but I never expected it too. I am very impressed with this item, and have already ordered a second one for my Fiance.I purchased this setup prior to going camping and seeing phish for the weekend. As with all camping your cell phone never lasts, especially the iphone. This comes in a very nice package which is about the size of a a notebook. It folds out into the 3 panels, but also has a pocket that holds the connections to the USB connections.
I was able to put this out in the sun, and hide the phones under some shade. I went from a dead iphone to 80% in 6 hours. I will say that the first 50% charged way faster and it slowed down after it was at 50%. I was also charging a Friends blackberry with the other port.
Once everything was charged, I put it in the car with the windows cracked and put the batter in for a charge. When I got back at night and my phone was near death, I was able to pull the battery and charge the iphone from the aux batter that was charging while I was away.
This was really simple to setup. I highly recommend.The solar panel:
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Power:
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Regardless of weather and cloud conditions, it always gives 5.18~5.19 V, unless you cover one of the panels while fully exposing the others. Then drops to 3~4 V. Under normal conditions with the three panels getting the same amount/exposure of light it always stays at 5.19V.
The following applies to a single usb port, since I could not get a Y cable which I could use without cutting it. I arranged a USB charging cable from my Tekkeon MP1580 TEKCHARGE Mobile Power Pack and Battery Charger which has replaceable mini and micro USB tips, using the hollow tip with a jumper cable to connect the positive to my multimeter clamp test leads. I took lectures at different times, most of the I directed the panels toward the sun, and sometimes I left the panels horizontal on the ground.
There is no observable difference in behavior between USB ports. But I only tested one or the other at any given time.
The amperage you can get varies a lot. From the interior of an apartment room, just from day light from the surrounding panorama it gives 50~70mah.
On a sunny day winter day with few sparse clouds, when properly oriented produced from 1090 mah to 1138 mah, if horizontal on the ground 700 to 750 mah.
Properly oriented late on the day a couple of hours before dusk produced from 800 to 1000mah, with some thin clouds lowering to 400~500mah. Horizontal like 200~400mah.
With heavy clouds an hour before dusk late on the day produced at best 100mah, at worst 60mah.
So it can produce at worst 0.26 watts late on the day or with heavy clouds
With few or thin clouds produces from 1 to 5 watts depending on orientation, time of the day.
At best gives 5.9 Watts, which is quite impressive.
If it truly can provide 10W is something I can't currently measure. But is definitively likely.
On the device charging side, both the include Lithium-Ion battery and my Tekkeon battery pack on six to ten hours, depending on clouds, orientation, etc. So it not easy to quantify. Specially since there is no way to know it fully charged without strict checking every minute. So take this numbers with a grain of salt, since weather can vary wildly from day to day.
Aesthetics, Workmanship and general features:
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Is very light, slim and easy to carry.
The solar panels are pretty much sewed/glued to the synthetic material/cloth/bag, my panels had a few light scratches on the surface when closely examined. The assembly process seems to be somewhat rough, more "home crafted" than industrially assembled. But the product is solid and sturdy.
Comes with a side pocket where the two usb ports are located, which provides a nice place to put whatever you want to charge.
The cover fabric is from a rough somewhat porous material. I'm afraid that it might attract dust and be difficult to clean, but I can't know for sure yet. I definitely would not leave it on rain.
It has some cloth rings which come from the main body of the cover, they seem to support the weight pretty well, so you can strap the panel to a wall, roof or a backpack. How strong they are under continuous use is difficult to estimate, on a backpack they definitely would wear quicker than tied over a tree. But I think they should last a while.
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Bottom line: It provides good power, workmanship and aesthetics are somewhat rough but not ugly or shoddy. Is a practical and straight to the point device. Is not a fashion shiny leather/plastic/duracoat eyecandy with lot of bells and whistles.
Other thoughts: The short male usb to male microUSB cable is short and meant to connect a battery pack or device inside the back pocket of the product, there is an included adapter female microUSB to male miniUSB, this adapter is somewhat flimsy, it locks fine, but could break under stress.
The included 5200 mah battery pack:
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Can charge my Galaxy S3 twice in 2 hours. Unlike the panel, the aesthetics and workmanship seem of industrial grade. Its has a glossy plastic cover, with rubber on the sides and base, so has a lot of traction and does not slide.
But Its features are somewhat rough/unconventional. With 10% of charge you have a orange led, from 11% to 100% you have a blue led to indicate capacity. This is while giving power to other devices, it inverts when being charged from the wall or the solar panel, 0 to 80% orange and >80% blue. When fully charged the blue led flashes.
What I can not understand is why comes with both a weak led light and a powerful high pitch siren which are activated by sliding a button. Why not a better gauging system for battery charge instead?
From what I researched on the net this model has two 18650 Li-Ion cells, from its looks it does not seem easy to disassemble and replace the internal cells. I'll leave that as an experiment for when this battery pack dies or has little charge retention in one or two years depending on the 18650 cells quality.
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Overall is great combo of battery pack + solar panel. The individual products have a few light minuses in aesthetics, material or features but deliver very well on their intended purposes.
If you want something that works well pick this products.
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Update March 17th 2013: I contacted Instapark more than a month ago. No reply whatsoever. I've updated the rating accordingly. I can't recommend them.This won't show up as an but it is. My wife ordered it through Amazon for me for Christmas. The Mercury 10 solar panel was bought with a MP1800U2 powerpack as a unit. That's why I mention both the panel and powerpacks in this review.
=== Executive Summary ===
Do no buy Instapark powerpacks. The solar panel seems fine but the powerpack originally ordered was dead on arrival, and the replacement powerpack that Instapark sent failed about five weeks after I got it. Also, the powerpacks sold by Instapark are not designed to take full advantage of the solar panel. However, customer service has so far been great.
=== QA Issues ===
My wife ordered the Mercury 10 with MP1800U2 pack for me. The MP1800U2 pack never worked. I plugged into a stable power source (i.e. AC) and left it to charge overnight but it would not power anything once unplugged. Whenever plugged in the charging light would flicker from orange to blue real fast. It looked like the logic was fried. I contacted Instapark for a replacement. It took a little bit of work to get the person at the other end to understand my problem but they eventually sent me a replacement. And I should say that once they understood what the problem was exactly, they did not fuss about it. What they sent was a whole new solar panel and a PPD600 power pack. They did not provide for return shipment of the old stuff but neither did they ask me to return anything. So I've got two solar panels. Great! (Note that this is taken into account in my final rating.)
The PPD600 powerpack worked fine at first but it is now completely dead. The issue is with the AC input. The AC jack fell from its hole and is now floating into the casing of the pack. It was a gradual failure, with the jack becoming progressively looser over time and the chances of a good connection getting lower over time. At first there was no problem making a connection, then the connection would happen maybe 70% of the time, then 50%, and now no connection is possible because the jack is too far in. My logs suggest that the failure began on Jan 19th, which was about two weeks after I got the replacement unit. On that day I logged an unexplained drop is performance. Sky condition and exposure were perfect. The only thing which explains that drop in performance is that the jack started failing then and that for at least part of the day there was no connection between the solar panel and the powerpack.
=== Poor design ===
The Mercury 10 solar panel can output 2A. However the MP1800U2 and the PPD600 (both made by Instapark) are rated to accept only 1A for charging. (Actually, the MP1800U2 is rated for a little less than that.) So to fully charge a depleted pack it takes twice as long as it *could* take if the pack were designed to take the full output of the Mercury 10.
I will also note that neither units are designed to be user-servicable. I'm sure I could fix the jack issue myself but I'd literally have to crack the casing open to do that.
=== Conclusion ===
If I were in shopping for a solar panel + powerpack solution today, I might look at Instapark's panels but I'd stay away from their powerpacks. The score I'm giving is based *primarily* on the fact that the whole package of solar panel + powerpack is defective.
I'm going to contact Instapark to try to get a replacement PPD600. Review to be updated in light of the results I get.
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