RV FEATURE

Keeping our bug zapper charged during the course of a camp stay .

My wife is very allergic to mozzie bites so we do everything we can to keep them away from her . This includes setting up a UV bug zapper that is powered by an internal USBcharged battery . This normally involves taking the unit inside the van to charge it up and placing it outside and running it all night . By the morning , the battery is flat and I would have to remember to take the light back inside , recharge it and put it out again . It ’ s a bit of a process and occasionally I forget at least one stage .

Then the thought occurred to me to set-up the bug zapper in its place and connect it to one of the BEAM Outback solar panels and leave them so it would automatically recharge during the day and the bug zapper can continue working the next night without me having to get involved at all . For this , I used the 6W panel and hung it off the awning guy rope using the supplied carabiners .

The Beam Outback solar USB chargers are an ideal accessory for charging your emergency communications devices

This worked extremely well . There was no need to be fussy about positioning the panel in the sunlight as just the ambient sunlight was sufficient to recharge the battery during the day on all but the most overcast of days . We would almost always get sufficient charge to power the bug zapper for four or more hours each night while we sat outside before retiring to the van .

Keeping my phone charged while on a bushwalk .

Have you ever noticed that your phone ’ s battery doesn ’ t last as long when you ’ re in an area with poor mobile phone coverage ? There are very good technical reasons for that , which I won ’ t bore you with , but suffice to say I ’ ve had a few occasions where , while bush walking , my phone ’ s battery has depleted quicker than normal and left me without a phone .

Now I take the 6W BEAM Outback solar panel , clip it to the outside of my backpack and plug it into the phone . Depending on the conditions , the amount of available sunlight and the quality of the phone coverage in the area , I can extend the life of my phone ’ s battery and even keep it fully charged while it ’ s in my backpack .

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