We are considering an external battery for our iPhones this summer. Charging is a challenge for us since we are on an island with no power.

Options are --

1) a solar charger without a battery attached.

2) a back up external battery only.

3) both

I am reading the reviews for EasyAcc and Anker...both are high mamp output now. But the negative reviews of dead on arrival, and total failure, or only getting one or a few charges before failure of the battery pack are very discouraging...there are so many who report this, and it seems odd to me that both companies have so many failures.

Now we use a car battery charger, with a 12V DC plug with an adapter but charging this monster is at least 12 hrs for about 4 to 5 charges total to the phone. And it is getting old, and not as efficient as before.

So now after reviewing the options, our son sent us... it appears to be difficult to choose. I am tending toward a solar unit..which would need some way to keep the phone cool from the sun so it won't fry (as they tend to do in heat).

Does anyone here have any suggestions? We should order anything we decide on within a week, so it can be tested out before we leave in July. Thanks in advance...

I would try a solar charger or one of each type.. pick ones with high ratings , I see Amazon has quite a few with high ratings.
But if one fails yous till have the other one..


For the solar I'd just place a little box or something over the phone part and leave the charger exposed to the sun..or put phone in box and cut a hole for the cord to go thru..

In my old VW Bus I have a "battery minder". It is a solar powered 12V trickle charger that I plug into the cig lighter. It keeps my auxiliary battery topped up when I am camping. I put the solar panel on the roof, or on the dashboard, and leave it.

I can then plug my phone into another 12V outlet in the van and keep it charged.

I dunno. Just a thought.

We have to park our cars in a public area...and I'd think that someone would steal the solar panel eventually.
We leave our boat at a marina and take the boat out to the island. This is not us being close to the car in case of rain, etc either. We are 1.5miles out in Lake Huron and getting in may not be possible due to high waves and wind.

Because we don't have tablets, etc we won't be watching TV, and doing much downloading. I found last summer that coming here for 1 hr a day drained my battery in 1-2 days...depending on phone usage etc. 4G use on internet is very draining.

So I am thinking that doing the solar only this summer may be enough for us. Then as time passes, and if we do upgrade to a tablet someday, I'll need more power and then the batteries may be improved enough to risk a back up reserve one.
I was really shocked to see so many angry people. One highly rated brand Joos Orange, with a built in batt, had 3 negative reviews in May of 2014... and the reviews go back to 2010, with the company itself replacing cords, etc, on so many postings!
Seems even now the old defective units are still being sold on Amazon, and we just don't want that hassle in boonies. There are enough things to have to deal with up there! sigh.

So a fast solar panel may be it for this season after all!

Would a generator be out of the question?

We have a small generator (2500w )...it is noisy and disruptive and difficult to run in bad weather. But we did use it a little last summer in a pinch. Then you have to go into the marina anyway to buy more GAS, for it. So solar seems like a better idea. It is just I would like a storage battery --but those take up to 8 hrs or more to recharge as well...and the batteries don't come with an AC adapter and you have to buy that extra...and it just becomes a bigger pain..if you get my drift?

We used mostly the car battery charger, but that is getting old and not working well anymore. (over 10 yrs old).

We go up there to get away from air pollution, fumes, and noise, so the generator, even though in a little enclosure, is still a return to "nasty" civilization.

Sometimes I get so discouraged. sigh... Maybe I will just take all 8 weeks off here and not use it on the net at all except for emergency purchases... today that seems like the best option.

Photo attachment included showing distance to mainland, and the scenic potential there.