verumgero | # 1 | 2009-03-07, 01:58 | Report

What do you guys think of this?

Has anyone found a portable charger that works well with the n8x0?

sunnydips | # 2 | 2009-03-07, 03:23 | Report

I think you'd be cranking, blowing, or shining for many hours before getting enough juice to drink.

http://www.brunton.com/
http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/ You can buy roll-up or fold-up solar chargers but the larger ones get pretty pricey.

sondjata | # 3 | 2009-03-07, 04:29 | Report

I use a Solio. It will fully charge an N800 twice from a fully charged battery or will charge continuously if left out in the sun (as I did when I drove from Miami).

TheRealBubba | # 4 | 2009-03-07, 04:57 | Report

The supplied tips fits? (I quickly checked the company's compatability page and didn't see N800 under Nokia, but got the feeling that it had to be one of the two standard Nokia tips)

sondjata | # 5 | 2009-03-07, 04:58 | Report

I had to purchase the Nokia tip. That was 2 years ago so they may include the smaller Nokia tip now. Worth it.

Lord Raiden | # 6 | 2009-03-07, 14:09 | Report

Icetech I-9005 Portable Solar Charger/Battery
Solar Charger for Portable Electronics - Green Power
Deluxe Solar Charger - Green Power for Portable Electronics

Those are three I've looked into as well. I also have two others, which would be perfect for camping, but darned if I can find the bloody links. Not sure where they went, but they were literally designed for use by people either camping, our out in the middle of nowhere and had zero power, but just happened to have cellular as they're designed to charge phones. Go figure that one out. hehe.

MP2100 | # 7 | 2009-03-07, 14:34 | Report

I use the solio charger also, for my N800. It came in a package at Costco with 8 tips, including the Nokia that fits the N800. There are others available on their web site as Sondjata mentions, but they're $10 each.
http://store.solio.com/s.nl/sc.7/category.119/.f
but they also sell packs of several common tips to reduce the price.

sunnydips | # 8 | 2009-03-07, 15:38 | Report

Yes but how long does it take to power your n8x0 to full from dead?

MP2100 | # 9 | 2009-03-07, 17:47 | Report

Well, it's still a 5 volt source. I haven't timed it, but it didn't -feel- like it took longer that using the wall charger.

But -- what does take time is charging the solio device. The solio has it's own battery that charges from the sun, this battery is what charges the N800. That's why it's not slow to charge the N800. But it takes 24 hours (*) of light to charge the solio, from dead to full. (And it can be charged from the USB port of a computer, that's much faster.)

(* I don't have the manual in front of me, I'm typing from memory.)

Lord Raiden | # 10 | 2009-03-07, 18:20 | Report

Well, with the standard charger, about 2.5 hours. With the USB charger, about 4-5. The stock Nokia charger for the n810 (the standard Nokia AC-4 travel charger) outputs 5v at 890mA. Standard USB outputs 5v at 500ma. If you're trying to charge with a solar or crank charger, it has to output a regulated 5v at no more than 1amp (1000mA) maximum. Preferably no more than 900mA.

On a side note, I did find the company who had that pull charger I mentioned:

http://www.potenco.com/products/

That page shows two devices they have. There's a smaller "pull" version, and a larger two handed "rocker" style. The nice part of these is that you don't need to be pulling on them the whole time your device is charging. They hold a small charge in an internal capacitor so you don't have to be pulling the entire time your device is charging. Just pull for a minute or so, then stop, do something else, then come back and pull some more.

You'll want to be careful of the bigger one though, as that outputs 12v, so you'll need a step down transformer like a car adapter or something. The smaller one is 5v and nearly the same mA as the Nokia travel charger.