BigBlue 28W Solar Charger Review

Introduction to the Big Blue 28W Solar Charger

so this is the big blue 3 28 wat solar charger and I've had it for probably about 6 months we use it I'm kind of a light duty user mostly like when we go on a picnic or something and I want to be able to charge our devices you know at a picnic table um we've done a little bit of hiking with it as well and it's com in really handy so let me kind of show you the features and then I'll show you how I like to use it to get the most out of it

Physical Design and Initial Impressions

um it's a little over 11 in long and I think about 6 and a/4 in wide and at its thickest while it's folded here it's about an inch and a half thick you can see that right here there's two eyelids as well as there'll be two at the opposite corners and those are for carabiners so um to open it up it's got a velcro uh seal right here you see we open it up it's kind of got some of the specifics about the outputs of each quart I don't know if you can see that very well um over here is a pocket and I'll show you that in a minute but fully extended it's just over 32 Ines in size and so you can see the outlets here and that allows you like I said there's carabiners that come with it and you can hang it off a backpack or off the wall or something but I typically use it by laying it out on a picnic table or you know the ground somewhere um and I'll show you that in a second the exterior is just all canvas and I don't know if you can kind of see the stitching around the sides there and then the four solar panels as well those are just stitched in but it it's it feels very durable

Technical Specifications and Direct Charging

Ports and Power Output

so in the pouch let's see if we can get enough light here so that you can see in the pouch um you've got some room to be able to store things this is where I keep a separate uh uh battery power bank right there and I'll show you which one I like to use um as well is over here you can see this is where the USB ports are there are three of them and they're under this weatherproof uh sort of silicone cover you got three USB type A ports they're rated to 5 volts at a Max of 2.4 amps which is about 12 watts of output I've charged multiple devices at the same time but if you connect more than two it really seems to the the the the charge on all three devices connected at once is pretty slow so I wouldn't recommend more than two and in fact um big blue says the maximum output of the whole solar charger itself is um 5 volts at 4.8 amps which would add up to be just two of these ports when it does get some power let me turn into the sun there if you can see the little light in the corner that's telling you that it's getting some solar power and uh let me do this I'm going to put this down on the ground and get set up to show you how I like to connect my phone with the battery

Setting Up for Direct Charging

all right so I've got the big blue three solar charger spread out here on some rocks and can kind of see behind there I've just got some bricks propping it up so that we get a better angle into the sun that'll help us get more um Power output out of the out of the panels themselves and I'm just going to show you how I'm going to hook up a Samsung s22 phone to it uh it's really simple uh to do that you're going to need a uh USB type A to USB type c chord and it actually comes with this cord here so you it will include one if you're going to connect multiple devices though you're going to need one of these for each device so I'm just going to put the uh type c into the phone and then uh let's see if I can get the right angle here open up this and we can see pull back the little silicone cover you can probably see in there the little red light you can see that in there that means that we're getting power output and then I'm going to connect the connector here let me get the phone ready so we should see the phone light up to charge when that plugs in and there you go so we've got charge going into the phone and um you can just leave it like that I do recommend that you don't leave your phone sitting in the sun while you're trying to charge it because that will be bad for the charge it's actually bad for the battery so you would want to keep this in the shade but this isn't normally how I would actually use this I like to use a power bank first let me show you that

Maximizing Efficiency with a Power Bank

VTOX 10,000mAh Power Bank Overview

um power bank I prefer to use is the VTO x 10,000 milliamp hour power bank and there's a couple good reasons for it but let me kind of just show you the basic features it's about 3 and2 in by about two and a half inches so it's just a little bit bigger than than really what a credit card side is credit card size is and it's about half an inch thick it's got a power meter right here if we can see this little circle and there's a button not sure how well it's going to read out here in the sunlight you can see it's actually reading about 44% um it's got great texture it's very fits in my hand really well but here's one thing I really like about it is in this pouch it fits perfectly and see right there it fits perfectly it's the right thickness so it doesn't add any thickness to the panel and on top of that it's got three ports the most important one is this is the charging port when you connect your phone this is a Gen 2 type a port so it's capable of 22 and a half watts of power and then it's also got this USBC port this is where you Char how you charge the power bank you can also connect another device and output charge with this but this charging method on this is also fast charging so you can fast charge the power bank and the power bank can then fast charge your phone so the VTO Max 10,000 milliamp hour is just awesome

Integrated Charging Workflow

but I just take that and instead of connecting my phone to the power bank or to the solar charger I connect my power bank to that and then I get another cable and I connect my phone to the power bank and this way I'm able to charge both my power bank and my phone let me get out of the way there uh with the solar charger and then because this is detachable I can actually take all of this with me and not have to carry around the solar the big blue all the time so nice power bank this vtp Max MX uh 10,000 milliamp hour and the big blue solar panel uh 28 wat solar charger are an excellent combination

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How many devices can I charge simultaneously with the Big Blue 28W solar charger?

A: The charger features three USB Type A ports. While it's possible to connect three devices, the reviewer notes that charging all three at once significantly slows down the process. For optimal charging speed, it is recommended to connect no more than two devices, as the charger's maximum output of 5 volts at 4.8 amps is best utilized across two ports.

Q: What are the folded and extended dimensions of the Big Blue 28W solar charger?

A: When folded, the Big Blue 28W solar charger measures a little over 11 inches long, approximately 6 and 1/4 inches wide, and about an inch and a half thick. When fully extended for use, its length is just over 32 inches.

Q: Should I leave my phone in direct sunlight while charging with the solar panel?

A: No, it is strongly recommended not to leave your phone directly in the sun while charging. Doing so can be detrimental to your phone's battery health and overall charge efficiency. Always aim to keep your phone in the shade while it is connected to the solar charger.