Brunton Sustain & Brunton Impel Quirks

It's been over a year since Brunton introduced the Sustain & Impel batteries. These are the ones that replaced their popular Solo 7.5 & Solo 15 batteries. Since their release, these batteries have been incredibly popular, and extremely versatile. Brunton has again done a fine job of designing a no-nonsense product that works.
That being said, I have a few user notes to share...

The Input Side
Brunton includes both a 12V DC car plug and a 120v AC wall adaptor for the Sustain & Impel batteries. This means you can charge the battery packs at home and away (in your car). When it comes to charging the batteries from a solar panel, you have two options: 1. connect directly to Brunton panels using the multi-connect cable provided with Brunton solar panels. 2. Use the 12V CLA car plug to connect to the 12V CLA output socket of any other brand of panel. Herein lies the rub.
For some reason yet to be solved, the 12V CLA input plug that Brunton includes with the Sustain & Impel, does not play nice with solar panels. I have tried using this connector with both PowerFIlm & Global Solar SunLinq panels to no avail. There must be something in the plug adaptor that is causing a voltage drop, because using a similar connector purchased from Radio Shack / The Source (Canada) worked perfectly.
So, if you are having trouble charging your Brunton Sustain or Brunton Impel from DC sources, I encourage you to try a different CLA plug before blaming the battery.
Here are links to the Radio Shack / Source cables I have used with good success...
Heavy-Duty 8' Cable
Coiled 12V Cable

or in the USA...
12V Cable

If the cable doesn't come with adaptor tips, make sure you get the size "M" barrel tip connector to fit the Sustain & Impel.

The Output Side...
The Sustain & Impel have a built-in USB port. It is a universal one, which means all manner of iPods, iPhones, Blackberries, and other small USB-charged devices will be happy with it.
When it comes to iPad and other 2.1A high-power USB devices, they will 'power' from the built-in USB port, but they will not 'charge'. To 'charge' your iPad from the Brunton Sustain or Impel, you need to get a 2.1A car adaptor & plug it into the 12V socket on the battery.

The Sustain & Impel batteries also have a voltage switch to control the output cable. 12V, 16V, & 19V are provided, which covers most laptops, netbooks, and supports all kinds of 12V car adaptors for things like cell phones, camera chargers, GPS units, and battery chargers.

Cameras: You will need a DC charger for your camera. The Sustain & Impel do not support AC power, or AC power inverters, so your home wall camera charger will not work.

Laptops: The Sustain & Impel come with a variety of standard barrel connectors that fit 90% of laptop models. Set the Sustain/Impel output voltage to either 16V or 19V depending on the needs of your computer (your computer's AC adaptor will show you what voltage to use).
If you find that your laptop or netbook is not supported, look for a car adaptor for your computer, and plug it into the Sustain/Impel using the 12V mode.

Apple MacBooks: This is where Brunton really got it right. Because you can set the Sustain/Impel voltage to 16V or 19V, it is possible to use the Apple MagSafe Airline adaptor to connect the battery to your computer. No need to shell out $150 for a custom DC adaptor!

That's all I have to say about these batteries at the moment. Brunton built them for the outdoors, with a ruggedized shell, and minimum size & weight. No wonder they seem to be everyone's first choice.
I will post more notes if/when they arise.
Cheers!

Solar iPad Charger Test Results

I get asked more and more about how to operate, charge, or otherwise power an iPad when away from civilization. Seems that the iPad is becoming a popular device for documenting expeditions. The iPad or the iPhone 4, but that is a topic for another post.

So, knowing the basics before actually getting my hands on an iPad, I knew that it uses a somewhat new twist on the USB standard... the iPad charger uses a 10 Watt USB port. The spec is 2.1 Amps at 5V. Not something that you find everywhere. Doing a little internet research quickly revealed work-arounds for PC's whose USB ports were not able to provide enough power to sync an iPad. Based on further research, I got the impression that any portable power system would need to be able to deliver the full 10 Watts in order for the iPad to be able to use the power at all. But, I was pleasantly surprised once I had an iPad & did some testing...

As it turns out, an iPad will draw power from any USB port that is Apple-friendly. This "Apple-friendly" description is the topic of yet another future blog post, but it essentially boils down to this: the USB port must be able to mimic a computer port with active data lines. Some USB chargers cut corners and are not designed to do this. So, consider that if a USB charger states that it is made for iPod or iPhone or is Apple-friendly, it will work with all USB devices. The iPad was happy to draw power from any of these USB ports, as long as they were capable of at least 500mA. The iPad would only "charge" from ports that were capable of getting close to the 2.1A spec.

With solar gadgets, it is often a matter of trial & error, especially when the manufacturer does not specifically state that their solar charger is Apple-friendly. So, I tested a variety of solar chargers that specifically state that they work with Apple devices, and tried them with the iPad.
Here are the results...

Performance: Power & Charge the iPad
PowerFilm USB+AA (using built-in USB port)
Brunton Sustain Battery (using 12V socket & Griffin PowerJolt USB adaptor)
Brunton Impel Battery (using 12V socket & Griffin PowerJolt USB adaptor)
Tekkeon 3450 Battery (using 12V socket & Griffin PowerJolt USB adaptor, or 2.1A USB port option)
Novuscell 50 Battery (using 12V socket & Griffin PowerJolt USB adaptor)
Novuscell 24 Battery (using 12V socket & Griffin PowerJolt USB adaptor)

NOTES: Any of the batteries listed above can be charged from standard 12V portable solar panels. A 5watt panel would be able to offset up to 10 hours of iPad use per day (summer month averages)

Performance: Power the iPad (but not able to charge)
Brunton Restore (via built-in USB port)
Brunton Freedom (via built-in USB port)
Brunton Inspire battery (via built-in USB port)
Brunton Sustain battery (via built-in USB port)
Brunton Impel battery (via built-in USB port)
Tekkeon 3450 battery (via built-in USB port)
Voltaic Amp (via built-in USB port)
Voltaic Fuse (via built-in USB port)
Voltaic V11 battery (via built-in USB port)
Solio Classic A (via built-in USB port)
Solio Mono A (via built-in USB port)

This is OK in my books because essentially you can easily create a solar-rechargeable external battery for the iPad. Presumably the iPad could be powered for a couple of hours a day from these devices without affecting the status of the iPad's own internal battery. This would be useful on trips of perhaps as long as 2 weeks. As long as iPod use is not excessive.

A note about solar-direct...
I did not attempt to plug the iPad directly into a solar panel, partly due to the fact that I do not like these "mercy-of-the-sun" type of configurations, partly because it was the middle of winter when I did these tests, and lastly because I am skeptical that anything less than a 5W panel in full sun would be able to 'power' the iPad, let along 'charge' it. But, I will certainly return to this topic this summer to see exactly how an iPad performs in this configuration.

I hope this note has been helpful. Please feel free to send any questions or comments.