Wagan 2053 Solar Powered Battery Charger

• Charges cell phones and USB devices with solar energy
• Charges cell phones and USB devices with AA or AAA batteries
• Recharges four AA or AAA rechargeable batteries with solar energy
• Provides back-up power for your devices with rechargeable batteries
• Adapters included to perform all functions

I bought this charger a few weeks ago and so far I've been pleased with it. I'm using it to recharge AA and AAA batteries for use in a variety of household devices, as well as my cell phone. It does need direct sun to charge, but I've been successful using it indoors through a window if its pointed directly at the sun.

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when this thing arrived the glue holding one of the solar cells in place had broken away from the casing, leaving the cell dangling by two thin wires, I was surprised the solder held, this thing is obviously cheaply manufactured..., didn't check but if you told me it was manufactured in china of substandard parts I wouldn't be surprised, good news is Amazon promptly had the thing picked up and refunded my money...

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I just received the Wagan Tec 2053 charger. Amazon's web page states that adapters are supplied for several uses. One use mentioned is a 12 volt vehicle plug! However, the unit did not contain an adapter for this use!!!!! The manual also references a 12 volt plug!!! I would like to have known this BEFORE I bought the item!!

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I received my Wagan 2053 solar charger about two weeks ago from Amazon. I wanted a solar charger with replaceable batteries as opposed to the lithium ion versions where you are forced to toss the entire unit out in 2-3 years once the battery stops working. It seems to try and be green with solar power, but be throwing the units out after only few years.

Also, modern NiMH batteries last for 2000 cycles so even if I used this charger once a day, I would not need to replace the batteries for 6 years. For comparison, the lithium ion chargers get about 1/4 as many cycles.

How does it look/feel?

The charger is solid, but nobody will mistake it for a premium product. It is also not a very pretty gadget.

How does it work?

it works OK. I tried three different phones and it only worked on one of them. It would not charge my Blackberry Curve or my Nokia N900 as both require some intelligent charging circuitry in the charger. This unit merely has a 5V charging socket without any intelligence. In contrast, the Solio models all charge these two phones fine.

The charger came with a collection of tips for phones 5 that existed 5 years ago. Most phones use micro-USB these days and there is no included micro-USB tip.

Another problem I had is that one cannot charge the device because it requires a specific 12V adapter which is not included.

If you take it somewhere and deplete the batteries, there is no possibility to charge it up from a wall socket because the device requires a specific 12v adapter which is not included. Most similar products will charge from USB which makes it easy to charge them up on the go when it is not possible to charge via the solar panels.

The only controls on the device are a three way switch that allow you to select 12V/Solar, Power From Batteries, and Charge Batteries. The "12V/Solar" option is a strange design choice as it is intended to be used when there are no batteries installed so that device can charge your phone directly from the solar panel instead of through the batteries. I question the utility of this option.

In Conclusion:

It works, but not particularly well. There are better options.

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The unit arrived broken, and it appeared that someone had opened the package. The unit appeared to be very flimsy and low quality. One of the panels had completely broken off and one of the wires had been cut. Returned for refund.