BatPac Solar
Innovative & rugged, the BatPac Solar is feature packed.
The housing is 3D printed from tough ABS. It sits securely atop a standard RBC2 battery, and connects to the tabs on the battery. It provides safe, secure power distribution and charging.
With an integrated 50 watt automatic solar controller, the BatPac Solar is an amazing device that is completely unique in the portable power industry. It will handle up to 5 amps of DC charging current, and uses a PWM algorithm for a smooth, accurate tapered charge.
The brief video, below, describes both the M2 BatPac and the BatPac Solar.
(Skip ahead to the 5:00 mark for the BatPac Solar)
The BatPac Solar is meant to be used alone or together with another BatPac:
BatPac Brothers – on the left, the standard BP MK2. On the right, the BP Solar.
In the above photo, two BatPacs are daisy chained. The connection is shown using the unfused powerpole on the left-hand BatPac, connected to one of the powerpoles on the BP Solar. In this configuration, the BP Solar will charge both batteries simultaneously, even while you are pulling power for your devices. You can pull power via either or both of the available powerpoles, the fused one on the left BatPac, and the unfused one on the right BatPac.
It adds less than 1/2″ to the overall height of the battery, and zero to the width or length:
The volt meter is low-draw, with a responsive, accurate LED display. When a solar panel is plugged in, the voltmeter will display the incoming voltage of the panel. This allows you to confirm that the system is receiving power via solar. If the solar panel is unplugged, the meter automatically changes to show the voltage of the battery it is attached to.
The Solar panel is plugged into the BatPac via a pair of power poles above the volt meter. These power poles are in a non-standard (sideways) configuration. This is to ensure that the user does not try to power a device through the solar connection, which would not hurt anything, but would not work, of course. If you intend to use one of the common DC barrel connections (5.5 x 2.1) like our 27 watt panel (here), you can purchase an inexpensive adapter to make the connection plug-and-play. Click here or scroll down to see the adapter.
Power Pole connection for a solar panel
The volt meter is activated by a recessed, latching push button directly above the meter. This allows quick, convenient monitoring at a glance.
There are four thin velcro straps that wrap around your battery, holding the BatPac securely in place.
This BatPac will ONLY fit onto a RBC2 battery. These are very common batteries.
An excellent example of an SLA (Sealed Lead Acid) battery is THIS ONE from Amazon.
A smart upgrade is a ‘Drop In’ LiFePo4 battery. This gives you the benefit of the amazing LiFePo4 chemistry in a battery that is designed to work with standard SLA chargers. Brilliant. One of the best we have tested (and use ourselves) is assembled here in the USA. It has an impressive 10 amp hours of stored energy. Available HERE from Amazon.
Do you need a great battery at a great price? Our friends at EcomElectronics sell the right battery, with free shipping. Click Here for their product page.
Our friend CommsPrepper did a review / demo of the BatPac Solar:
The BatPac Solar is 5.9″ x 2.5″ x 0.5″ and weighs just 4.0 ounces!