Solar Panel, Anker 21W 2-Port USB Portable Solar Charger with Foldable Panel, PowerPort Solar for iPhone 11/Xs/XS Max/XR/X/8/7, iPad Pro/Air/Mini, Galaxy S9/S8/S7/S6, and More

I wondered why my Anker PowerCore 20100 power bank would never charge from this solar charger, but would charge from a wall charger. So I performed some tests and found that if a cloud passes then the 20100 will drop to a trickle charge for the rest of the day. The 20100 dynamically reduces its charging current draw, but does not increase it. For example, if the sun is out the 20100 will charge at 2.0 Amps from this solar charger. If a cloud passes and the solar charger can only produce 0.25 Amps then the 20100 will reduce is current draw to 0.25 Amps (as it should). However when the sun comes back out the 20100 will still only draw 0.25 Amps, even though more than 2 Amps are available. This was verified using both the YZX Studio ZY1266 USB power monitor and the Drok Pocket Digital Multimeter. Anker support said the 20100 power bank was defective. I replaced it with a second one that behaved the same. I tested my older out of production Anker batteries: the Astro 3E also doesn't increase its charge rate, but the Gen 1 Astro E5 does. The E5 immediately responds when the sun comes back out and draws all available current from the solar charger. I again contacted Anker support and asked for a list of batteries that have been tested with and charge properly from the Anker solar charger. Anker could not produce anything so I was on my own. I purchased some other batteries to see what would work. The EasyAcc Monster 26000mAh Power Bank worked properly. Plus this battery has two charging ports so it can connect to both solar output ports and charge at greater than 2.0 Amps when enough sunlight is available. The Anker Astro E7 26800mah Power Bank works perfectly with the Anker solar charger. The RavPower 26800mah Power Bank works properly in almost all conditions with the Anker solar charger. However if the sunlight drops too low and the charger produces close to 0 ma, but then the sun comes out before the solar charger powers off, the RavPower would not charge anymore. None of the other batteries had this particular problem. I also have the ChoeTech 19W SunPower Solar Charger so I tried the RavPower with it and found that the ChoeTech will reset the USB connection within a few seconds of this happening. So the ChoeTech/RavPower combination works fine. But if you use the RavPower with the Anker solar charger you might come back to your battery at the end of the day to find it didn't charge.

Bought this prior to a house boat trip to Lake Powell. Thought it would be better (and quieter) to use a solar charger rather than burn gas on the boat to recharge-use small items like cell phones, battery packs for LED lights and portable speakers. Love this little solar charger. We had sort of 'absolutely ideal' conditions to use it in: high desert with lots of sun almost no shade or clouds -and the solar charger worked great. charged phones from 0 to 91% in just about the same time (or maybe even faster in our situation) than it would have taken to recharge items via an outlet on the boat. My friends had a small dog with them who actually walked straight over the panel (I had the panel laid out on the shore with a couple of phones stashed under it) -other than a few paw prints than wiped away - didn't seem to hurt the panels performance so it's a fairly durable items. don't think it would hold up very well if a human accidentally stepped on it but that's not what it's designed for. It's fairly compact and light for what it is. It might be a little heavier than what I would want to bring with me on say a back packing trip but I wouldn't be bringing so many electronic items on a back [packing trip either. For 'glamp-ing' though- camping where you want some of the comforts of home- this is a fantastic item. I also own 3 separate Anker rechargeable lithium Ion batteries, which work great in conjunction with this charger, but the charger worked great whether we plugged our iPhones, or music players directly into the charger or charged the battery packs then powered devices via the batteries (of use tiny Anker batteries to power fairy light LED strings for soft ambient light in the evenings that do not over power the beautiful stars) Anker PowerCore 10000, One of the Smallest and Lightest 10000mAh External Batteries, Ultra-Compact, High-speed Charging Technology Power Bank for iPhone, Samsung Galaxy and More Anker 21W Dual USB Solar Charger, PowerPort Solar for iPhone 7 / 6s / Plus, iPad Pro / Air 2 / mini, Galaxy S7 / S6 / Edge / Plus, Note 5 / 4, LG, Nexus, HTC and More

I am not an expert when it comes to solar panels. I can only talk about my experiences with this product. As with all products I buy on Amazon I thoroughly check out all the reviews. Good and bad. I also check on YouTube to see if anyone has written a review on the product as well. First thing I notice in some of the reviews on Amazon was that people had a hard time charging the Anker 20100 mah power core with this solar panel. That is the power core I have and why I wanted to get the solar panel. I enjoy the outdoors and wanted a way to keep my power core changed and hence, all my toys that I have for hiking and camping. It seems clouds cause the 20100 power core to drop down to a trickle charge and stays there even if the sun comes back out. People had to unplug and plug it back in for it to resume a full charge. I kept reading the reviews and someone found that the Anker 26800 mah dual inport charge power core does not do this and will resume a full charge when the sun comes back out. I also checked the reviews of this solar panel out on YouTube which has several. There was one review that really sold this solar panel for me. It is called, “Anker vs ....”. I’m not going to put the other solar panels manufacturer here but I’m sure you will find it if you look. This guy really put these things through a lot more then anyone will ever do to them. The competitor’s solar panel only had two panels to the Anker’s three that I thought was a little unfair. Other then that, his test was fair across the board. He through them around and tossed them from a height of 20 feet. Left them out in a rain storm and through them both in a pond. He then lite a fire to dry them out that I was sure was going to melt them. He stomped on them and dropped a ten pound rock on each of the panels. His review is what sold me on this solar panel. So, I bought a the Anker 26800 power core and 21W solar panel together. I have not tested this panel out but two times. Both days were cloudy with some sun. Each time I angled the solar panel torward the sun to get the most of it and left it to charge the power core. The first day was more cloudy then the second. On the first day my power core was down to one light and I charged it for about 6 hours. It had three lights lite up at the end of the test which is a charge of 50 to 75 percent to the power core. The second time I charged my power core it was back down to one light again. This time there was a little more sun but over that time became more cloudy. I only charged it for 4 hours this time. See picture of clouds from the start of my second test. In this time it went from one light to two lights on my power core. The best I can figure is that is a 25 to 50 percent charge to the power core which only has 4 lights. So with the two tests done on cloudy days, as close as I can figure, that is an average of about 12 to 25 percent charge to my power core every two hours. I think that is pretty good but like I said before, I’m not an expert. I have two lights on now which is somewhere between 25 and 50 percent charge on the power core itself. I am waiting for an all sunny day to see if I can charge it up the rest of the way so the power core is fully charged. At which time all four lights should go out indicating the power core is fully charged. I will update this review when I have completed this last test. In all, I am very satisfied with this solar panel. Update- I just finished charging my Anker 26800 power core with the solar panel. It was a clear sunny day. I angled my solar panel torward the sun and started charging my power core at 8:30 in the morning. It had two out of four lights lite when I plugged it into the solar panel and the second light started flashing on my power core letting me it was charging. It took 6 1/2 hours for the power core to be fully charged. Over that time I adjusted the solar panel’s angle twice. As far as I can tell the power core charged anywhere from 50% to 75% in that time frame. That is still an average charge of about 25% every two hours. Not a big change from the two cloudy days before. This is a huge power core and I have not drained it in any less than 3 days. I charge my spotlight, headlamp and, my iPhone 5s from this power core. I have also run my two camp lights that are 100 lumens each overnight for about ten hours and they did not even use 25% of the charge from my power core. See picture of the things I have charged. I am very happy with how well this solar panel preformed. It does not seem to have any trouble charging my Anker 26800. I do not see myself running out of juice to power my toys on multi day hiking and camping trips. In order for that to happen, I would have to have no sun for 3 or 4 days. But, this solar panel seems to have the ability for a slight trickle charge on completely overcast days. I will try that next to see how well it works. I may have to limit my use of some things but I don’t see myself running out of power completely. This solar panel has preformed beyond my expectations and I am very happy with it. If I ever need more then one, this is the one I’m going to buy.

It is "ok", but it looks like it has some kind of "bug" (error). I put the Anker Charger in my room, and it has good sun light. (this isn't the issue) Then the IQ led is off which indicate that it has not sun light (or not charging) even the sunlight is hitting it. ok... but then I cover or close(or folded it) completely, and I open it again. Now the red led (from the IQ) is on which indicate that it is charging. When I put under the sun, I can see something look like bubble in the solar panel, but the function of the panel look like working fine. And that is my negative 2 stars... EDIT: After they quick response from Anker, I decide to change to 4 star instead of 3 because of a declaration. Note, even though my review look like a "bad" review. I still suggest this product. If this product is use under normal situation like when you are going to hiking or outdoor any activity this product will work perfect. I am just a person who somehow find all kind of "weird ways" (or I usually called "bug", which mean error) that the product doesn't work as normal. I am not 100% sure about this yet, this is just a theory about the "bug" that I mention before. If the Anker charge is not folder and put in the dark (let say a room with windows), and when the sun rise... and the light of the room slowing going up... even the sunlight is hitting the Anker charge directly (even at time like 11AM-2PM) . The Anker charge will still off (not in charging mode). But just simply close the Anker by folding back to the original state, open it, and put in the same spot. Then it will charge. Just some additional note: this Anker doesn't necessary need all solar panel getting hit by the sunlight in-order to charge a iPhone. I have a USB 2.0 Digital Multimeter, and by having one of the solar panel getting hit by the sunlight is enough to output 4.s which is enough to charge an iPhone.

I really like solar technology but it is difficult to find solar products that live up to their expectations. I speak from experience as I have owned several over the years and all of them fell short of the expectations and manufacturer claims. I bought this for a camping trip to Big Bend National Park in November 2015. As some of you may know or can check this out it is pretty remote place. As I mentioned I am a fan of solar technology and noticed this solar charger before the trip on Amazon. I figured that even if the charging comes at half the rating it was still a very good price (56) compared to other options available at that time. I have had it for several months now and I must say this is really a keeper, if not game changer for small solar charging. As I mentioned I took it on camping trip in November when sun is pretty low, even in Texas. It charged two smart phones at the same time beautifully. It took only few hours for both phones in the afternoon sun. Pretty amazing compared to my past experiences with other products. It would not charge small battery pack that day but it was winter and sun not too high in the sky. Then recently, I used it several times in our backyard (February 2016 and very sunny) and kept on using it ever since. Free energy = power to the people ;-) Pros: - Foldable and portable. - Not very heavy, especially for the area of solar panel coverage. - Built in charger works well and has LED that indicates that it has power to charge. Helpful to see whether panel is actually getting enough sun coverage. - Pretty effective so far. I do not measure these things with electric meters, because if it works and it does what I need it to, who cares. - It can be easily attached to the back of your backpack. Cons: - None I am really happy with this product. This is my third Anker product and third one that works great for me. Three for three. Anker please keep on innovating! UPDATE: I like it so much I bought another one recently.

It works. I tested the Anker 21W USB Solar Charger with the Anker 20100 PowerCore, and with Apple iPad Air 2. All tests were run with a single device (i.e. only one USB output was in use.) For comparison purposes, I also tested with the 12 W Apple 110V AC -> USB wall charger. Current and voltage measurements were made with the DROK USB 2.0 meter, in-line between the power source and the device to be charged. Solar panel testing was done at mid-day, under clear skies, with the panel oriented for maximum solar exposure (toward the sun and at about 40 degree angle from horizontal).. The solar charger delivered 2.12 A at 5.02 V (10.6 watts) to the PowerCore, and 2.31 A at 4.96 V (11.4 watts) to the iPad. The Apple wall charger delivered 1.98 A @ 5.05 V (10 watts) to the PowerCore, and 2.12 A at 5.06 V (10.7 watts) to the iPad. I also tested PowerCore to iPAD, which delivered 2.35 A at 5.06 V (11.9 watts). Note that this Solar Charger is specified to deliver up to 2.4 A at 5V with one USB port, up to a total of 3 A at 5V with both in use. I've read elsewhere that this 15 W maximum deliverable output is a limitation of the USB chip. You will not get 21 W delivered power. This PowerCore is specified to accept input power of up to 2A at 5V, i.e. 10 W. I was not able to find an input power specification for the iPad Air 2. For reference, the battery capacity in the PowerCore is 20,000 mAh (72 watt-hours), and the iPAD Air 2 has 7340 mAH (26 watt-hours). I also tested the Ikea USB LED light. This small light yields 10 lumens (not a lot), but only draws 0.26 W, so would run over 200 hours on the PowerCore. Conclusions. The solar panel will meets its designed 12 W output from one USB port. The PowerCore will accept, and in fact exceed, its designed 10 W input. The PowerCore will deliver its designed 12 watts outputs (at least to a an IPad). A rule of thumb for solar panels is that per day you get about 5 x max power, so this panel might be expected to yield 40-50 watt-hours / day, if it was run all day with some care. That's enough to provide 55-70% of a PowerCore charge. Use of the solar panel is quite technique sensitive with respect to proper alignment to the sun. Something like the DROK current and voltage meter is almost required to ensure the panel is operating at maximum potential. Power also drops off very rapidly out of direct sunlight, and significantly if not angled for maximum sun exposure (i.e. flat on the ground). I would probably run the panel into the PowerCore, and use that to charge phones or tablets, simply because the PowerCore is less sensitive to breakage from getting dropped at the panel is moved around, but the PowerCore is not required to use the solar panel. My primary interest in the solar panel is as an emergency backup power source. This meets my requirement for a small, lightweight solar panel that would provide enough power to keep phones and tablets going. It and the Ikea USB LED are going into the Hurricane Box. Its cheap insurance. P.S. A comment on the 21 W panel vs.15 W delivered power. I think this is a reasonable design choice, given the sensitivity of panel output to operational technique, but it took me a bit to realize what to actually expect. What you are really getting here is roughly the 10-12 watts you would get from the Apple USB wall plug, which is quite good, but its not 21 usable watts. I think Anker could have made that a bit clearer.

I take this thing everywhere. It usually stays on the counter so I don't forget it. I have solar batteries, they do OK, but this is the real deal. I went on a weekend camping trip in the woods with 15 other people. Not at a state park, out in the woods. This was the only power source out there and it was the talk of the trip. Constantly charging phones even in overcast and 2 at a time didn't slow it down much. It can be hung from a pack so you can charge while you walk too. The only thing it doesn't like is when I tried to charge an iPhone 6 in a Lifeproof case with the built in extra battery. I want to get a high cap non-solar battery pack and see how this thing does charging it...THAT would be an awesome duo if it works well (I'll let you know with an update once my wife lets me buy one.) Solar batteries are great if you can find a decent one because you can use them any time but every one I've bought is crap. This is a great buy if you can remember to plug in while the sun is out but even if you forget and it goes dead overnight, in direct sunlight this thing charges FAST. Great buy for the money, you won't be disappointed. 10/10/16 update: So I bought a 26,800mAh Anker battery pack with no external solar panel. I plugged it into this solar panel on a good sunny day and charged it to 75% in one afternoon. Then I decided to try to plug this panel into my solar battery packs to see how that worked. My 10,000 mAh solar battery pack charged to 100% in less than a day. That would have taken 3-5 days on its own in constant direct sun. I agree that sometimes overcast will affect the output of this panel which is what was happening when I said it didn't work so well with my LifeProof case. It works fine when the sun is bright. My initial assessment was too forgiving in that respect. Additionally my statement that the solar batteries I've bought were crap wasn't fair either. I expected that the little solar panel built in to the battery packs would have charged them much more quickly than they did. Those are last resort ways to charge the batteries, and in time they do work well. I'm just impatient. Critics of this panel need to remember it is a SOLAR PANEL so it obviously works best in direct sunlight. Get some battery packs and charge them with this thing, save the suns energy for when you need it. Bad ass solar panel, I'm totally impressed. 10/22/18 UPDATE I bought this solar panel for about $65 a couple years ago. HOW IN THE HELL IS IT TWICE THE PRICE? I won't buy Anker again until they get real. I can buy a 100W panel at Harbor Freight for about the same price with the proper coupon. 8/2/20 UPDATE The price is back down to $70 and I bought another one of these solar panels a couple months ago even though my first one still works as good as the first day I got it. There are 2 USB charging ports on each solar panel which means I can toss both of them out and charge both of the Anker 26,800 battery packs with 2 USB inputs each, it cuts the charging time by about 30-40% depending on how bright/direct the sunlight is. Look this up: https://www.amazon.com/Anker-PowerCore-Portable-Double-Speed-Recharging/dp/B01JIWQPMW/ref=sxts_sxwds-bia-wc-p13n1_0?crid=1T84J32QWN44&cv_ct_cx=anker+26800&dchild=1&keywords=anker+26800&pd_rd_i=B01JIWQPMW&pd_rd_r=590dd4cf-d5ec-4030-9a9f-d8109a9b40fc&pd_rd_w=RoaB9&pd_rd_wg=eZWPB&pf_rd_p=13bf9bc7-d68d-44c3-9d2e-647020f56802&pf_rd_r=NQPFJJ42TDG2M00RSBPW&psc=1&qid=1596419715&sprefix=anker+2%2Caps%2C240&sr=1-1-791c2399-d602-4248-afbb-8a79de2d236f That is the link to this panels best friend.

03/21/2020 Anker 21 Watt Solar Charger UPDATE. If you have an Android phone and would like to charge or top-up your cell phone's battery, please note: Android phones do not yet, to my knowledge, have a Solar Charging option. This means: Whenever there is an interruption from your power source, your Android phone will give an audible and / or haptic (vibration) alert, along with an on-screen alert. Each time this alert is caused, your Android phone is utilizing and tolling its on-board battery storage. The Anker solar charger will vary wildly depending upon sun position, cloud cover, shadow-fall and solar charger position. This means your power output can never be constant throughout the day. This also means if you aren't carefully monitoring your Android phone, you will end up with less of a battery charge than you started with - possibly down to a full battery drain. My experience with my Android phone: Direct, uninterrupted sunlight will successfully charge your phone, but that charge is offset by what other background tasks the phone is performing and whether or not it is currently being used and in the screen-on position. My advice: Either turn off your Android phone altogether, or task-kill any background programs as well as the phone's main screen to gain an appreciable charge from the Anker solar charger. The charger is rather slow, but it does work well in direct sunlight, even while charging more than one device simultaneously. Turning off your Android phone completely will ensure the best and quickest result. If the Anker solar charger is working at full capacity with bright sunlight, loosely wrap your Android device in a brightly colored cotton garment, like a t-shirt, so that the heat of the charging battery along with the heat from direct sunlight will not cause your Android phone to overheat and cease charging. The cotton garment will shield the Android device from the sun as well as wick heat away from the device, allowing the charging process to continue uninterruptedly. My experience in Virginia this week on sunny days proves that the Anker device works in optimal conditions with the correct precautions taken. Interestingly, Amazon's Kindle device has less software engineering and app processes, which means it charges more quickly using the Anker solar panel without the device working against itself if solar power is interrupted by shadows or cloud cover. Unfortunately, the Anker solar panel takes a very long time to completely charge a device. My Android phone and Kindle device took approximately 4 hours to charge simultaneously in bright sunlight. As stated, the Kindle required no finagling, whereas the Android phone required constant monitoring as well as certain safeguards to ensure that it was successfully charging in bright sunlight. The Anker solar panel is an intelligent and sound device - but its difficulty and price tag may far outweigh its utilitarian value for many users. Anker would do well to develop a solar charging option with phone companies so that once you connect the phone to the Anker charger and place it into "solar charge mode", your power will not be drained by ceaseless alerts whenever the inevitable cloud or shadow passes overhead. Since I own Anker power banks that have large capacities and take hours to charge from an A/C outlet, I will NOT attempt to confirm or deny that the Anker Solar charger will positively charge these power banks. My overall rating for this device remains a solid 3 out of 5 stars; I can honestly say that I am happy to own it, despite the effort required to have it work with my devices. - Chipper F. Xavier, Esq. ----------------------------- The Anker 21W Dual USB Solar Panel is an attractive, tri-fold, three panel device which charges cell phones when connected to your device and exposed to light - sunlight and ambient lighting will activate the solar panels. Unfortunately, the device cannot charge portable cell phone power banks. Additionally, cloud cover causes the unit to power down or cease to generate and deliver an electrical current, which triggers an alert on android phones. Enough of these no-charge alerts will cause your cell phone battery to totally deplete itself in a matter of an hour or two, which means the solar panel must be constantly monitored to ensure it is properly charging your mobile device. Since solar power is a great concept, I decided to keep the device, even though I should probably have returned it to Amazon. On bright, sunny days with no cloud cover, the device should work quite well. Also, placing it under a bright lamp would also cause it to deliver power - but if you're in close proximity to A/C or D/C, the device is rather unnecessary. This device is not yet ready for most real-world applications; thus I can give it only 3 out of 5 stars, despite its rugged and functional appearance. - Chipper F. Xavier, Esq.