Does anyone know of a way of recharging my Sony DCR HC35E camcorder in a remote place using solar power?

[naebothernoo]

In America I spotted a folding solar panel which powered a 12volt cigarette lighter socket. This was intended to charge any low power items, so a car charger could be used for this. It was in a tool catalogue by one of the big garage suppliers. So they should be available over here somewhere.

[rickyt]

I've seen a few of these devices advertised recently [solar charging ], one that unfolded like a fan and had three sections to it. Didn't mention it could be used for camcorder batterys , there mainly for pda's & mobile phones .I wonder if you could modify one , really depends on what output it can give.I have just bought a small device called Scotty , that will charge any device that would normally plug into a USB on your Pc.Scotty contains two batterys and will charge phones , PDA's and the like. You can were it on your belt or on a backpack .Good idea, but I too would like to be able to charge camcorder batterys etc by solar energy ,so I think they would need to have a higher power output . I will make some enquireries.

just done a search and found this :
http://***.solarenergyalliance.com/
check out the Solar Gagets section . Got some nice
chargers some with varible outputs and battery charging models alot cheaper than I paid for mine. :-(

[rickyt]

Just to follow on to the thread with some interesting developments. I bought a battery kit from that well known auction site last year for my Panny NV-GS11 . I got a battery and charger . The charger came with a adapter for the mains and a car cigy lead , so you can charge both from the home as well as the car .The battery is an 7.2 [950mAh] and the adapter output is 12DC 1000 mA .The charger is a silver plastic device in which you slide your battery into ,it has two LED's [one for Status ,the other for Charge] and at the back is a small socket for plugging your charge lead into ,whether it be home adapter or car lead. So , where's this all leading ?? .Well years ago I bought a solar panel ,a very small oblong shaped cell that you plug into your cigararette lighter , it's suposed to help re-charge you car battery .Anyway,I have just cut off the cigy plug and soldered a mini socket onto it [red center pin,black outer ] and have pluged the solar panel into the portable charger with a battery in it .Held it up to the light and low and behold the charge light has come on faintly. I had checked earlier on a web search and came up with no solar charging units for camcorder batterys.This maybe your answer. Check the auction site for a charger for your camcorder model and buy a 12v car battery charger .I checked *aplin [electricals] and they have one reduced to only £9.99. If you need any further help , just give me a call .

Hi Ricky

This sounds cool and TECHNICAL!!!! May have to rely on a mate to help out with this if soldering is involved. Many thanks for the tip!

Jules