Solio Hybrid Charger

Hi,

I recently received a Solio as a gift. If you haven't seen one, it's a 0.85W fold-out solar panel with an onboard 3.7V 1650 mAh lithium ion battery. It can charge a wide array of portable devices, from cell phones to GPS units and .mp3 players with device-specific tip adapters. It takes about two days of full (and direct) sun to fully charge the onboard LI battery. So far, I've used it to charge my .mp3 player and several different cell phones. It also seems to work well with a USB powered LED light. Here's the problem...it refuses to charge MY cell phone. There is not a specific adapter tip for my LG vx8300 phone, but the alternative for devices without specific adapter tips (according to Solio) is to use my cellphone car charger and a 12V female adapter (purchased from Solio) that connects to the Solio unit. The Solio appears to begin charging the cellphone for about 5 seconds then just shuts down. It's a bit of a puzzle why this setup doesn't work and yes, I have talked to Solio and explained the problem. The battery in my cellphone is a 3.7V 1100 mAh lithium ion battery and the Solio was fully charged when I tried to charge the phone. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Comments

  • mike95490
    mike95490 Solar Expert Posts: 9,583 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Re: Solio Hybrid Charger

    Odd. I don't see how a USB powered light can power that battery charger.

    I'll have to play with mine.
    Powerfab top of pole PV mount | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
    || Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
    || VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

    solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
    gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister ,

  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    Re: Solio Hybrid Charger
    mike90045 wrote: »
    Odd. I don't see how a USB powered light can power that battery charger.

    I'll have to play with mine.


    That's not what I said, but I'll clarify for you. The Solio powers this LED device:

    http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16834999619
  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Solio Hybrid Charger

    if i'm following this right you have a battery that is solarly charged that is 3.7v that is expected to go through a 12v adaptor to, in turn, charge another 3.7v battery. won't ever work like that, but if the solarcells of that charger are able to output 12+ volts then take out the provided battery from your little solar module and have this now run into the 12v adaptor to charge the phone battery. worst case is to take out the 3.7v battery provided by the solar charger and then pull your 3.7v battery from the phone and place it into the charger.
    do know that like nicd and nimh batteries that liion needs a charger circuit to properly charge it and most solar chargers they are selling out there do not have charger circuits in them to do this properly. your car adaptor may have such a charger circuit in it, but i do not know for sure. hope this helps you.
  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    Re: Solio Hybrid Charger

    Thanks for the reply Niel. I've attached a picture of the Solio etc...As you can see it is a fairly compact design with the battery housed in the upper blade of the solarcells. Supposedly the Solio can output 12V. I'm not sure how much modification I can do to make it work with my specific LG phone - the Solio will charge many different phones without the car adapter if there's a specific Solio adapter tip, for example I can charge my wife's Motorola phone directly from the Solio using the mini-USB adapter tip that came with the Solio. There just isn't a specific tip for my phone - thus the car charger and the 12V adapter. Cheers!
  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Solio Hybrid Charger

    maybe you should approach the phone company and see if they have any suggestions on adapting their phone even if it needs a go between type adaptation.
  • daedalus
    daedalus Registered Users Posts: 2
    edited June 2020 #7
    Hello there,  new to the forum, but thought i'd get involved.  Currently running a solio magnesium, original and a H1000.  nibs can be bought and can also be modded to fit.
    Solios can also be modded too :) running a 5 leaf custom version of the original model :)  66% improvement on panel size



  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,432 admin
    Have you measured the actual output current? The covering of a portion of the other panels by those stacked on top generally is not a good thing. Covered solar cells go "high resistance" and dramatically reduce the total current of each petal (or at least should reduce the current).

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
  • daedalus
    daedalus Registered Users Posts: 2
    hello,  nope not yet measured although the back of the setup is off so i can put leads across the feeds, initially noticed alot more low light pickup from the old 3 leaf design upto 5 leaf. it was more a creation of "why not" rather than concern of the cell covering.  the way the cells are made they are all in paralell on each leaf so i lose a bit on each leaf but gain in coverage. the unit was way out of warranty and cannibalizing two to make one super solio looked promising.   I think solio is now gone bust so not one for the R&D dept :)
    as i have both the solio magnesium and the new creation i have a sensible control subject to base measurements on
  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,432 admin
    Solar cells at least the silicon type (yours lock to be polycrystalline) are 0.5 volts per cell. So you to get around 30 to 36 cells cells in series for a Vmp of 15-18 volts.

    Each of your petals appears to be around 11 cells each (best I can see on my phone)... 3x 11 = 33 cells in series (if >12 VDC output).

    If you put all petals in parallel, then the output should be around 16.5 volts Vmp.

    Just guessing here.

    Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset