Solar gps

bimmerpc · 06-05-2006, 06:12 PM

Will these ebay sold bluetooth gps´s with solar auto-recharge work from inside the car or do they only recharge on the outside of the windshield/glass?

Since I dont get suntanned from inside a car I guess the sunrays dont come through either

Jahntassa · 06-05-2006, 09:50 PM

Does your car have windows? Glass? Can you SEE the sun inside the car?

As long as sunlight can hit the solar panel, it can charge.

Sidewalksalvage · 06-05-2006, 09:53 PM

That said, depending on tint, placement, clouds..etc, although the unit may charge, it may be a crappy charge which wont help much

Another thing to consider is if the car is garage cept, if this is true, especially if there is no on/off switch on the gps, it will drain in the dark....

I think a usb may be a better option, unless you want to hook up some type of charger off of the car system...

bimmerpc · 06-06-2006, 07:34 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Sidewalksalvage

That said, depending on tint, placement, clouds..etc, although the unit may charge, it may be a crappy charge which wont help much

Another thing to consider is if the car is garage cept, if this is true, especially if there is no on/off switch on the gps, it will drain in the dark....

I think a usb may be a better option, unless you want to hook up some type of charger off of the car system...

My question is because right now I have a portabel Garmin that I can take with me when I walk outside of the car. If I get a usb cabled gps reciever I can only use it in my car. with some kind of wireless I guess I can use it later also If I get a mobile smartphone or anything like that, also outside the car.

JagPuter · 06-06-2006, 08:03 AM

Solar GPS,
From the picture it looks considerabely bigger than the traditional mouse style USB antenna.
Also not really a need for solar. Your GPS antenna does not use a whole lot of power from your computer and is much more reliable.
It would suck to be on a road trip and becuase you spent the past few days in cloudy weather your stupid "SOLAR GPS" died. It says they do include a car charger, but who wants to wait to charge a dead GPS antenna.
NOT ME
Over all cool idea, but completely worthless.

dawg3tt · 06-06-2006, 11:47 AM

actually i looked into these a bit they do have an timed off mechanism so that it doesn't drain battery when not in use. also the battery life is pretty substantial and considering the low power consumption it doesn't look like you'd have to worry too much about it dopping off.

plus if it comes with a charger you can just run a line to it as a back up. you'd have to do that with a usb reciever anyway.

Sidewalksalvage · 06-06-2006, 07:12 PM

Well its not useless like he said eariler, it can be used with a smart phone. My friend has one that works very very well.

Also, if it has a charger, you wouldnt need to wait for it to charge before using in, most likely it could charge during use. I say if you can set it up so while used in the car, its hooked up to hardwired power, and uses the solar when not.

MadStu · 06-07-2006, 04:45 AM

Hi,
I bought one of these, had a bit of a problem, but it's fixed now (see http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/gps/78289-bluetooth-gps.html ).

It's pretty good, inside the house I'm getting between 3 - 5 satellites locked, and outside 9 has been my max so far - I haven't left my garden with it yet though.

The cable to charge the unit is just a USB cable, can be charged directly from a regular home plug, from a car cigarette lighter, and also via a computer's powered USB port. All the connectors come in the box.

It's quite big on account of the solar panel but it's not too big. Apparently the solar panel will increase the operating life from 12 to 15 hours, which isn't much really, but it's cool to have

oh, and btw, the seller on ebay seemed really good, leaves feedback immediately after payment and sends the same day. I ordered friday afternoon and had it saturday morning (sent by special delivery).

Stu

MadStu · 06-07-2006, 04:47 AM

Oh, and just to add to the above, it's only taken me about 5 - 15 minutes to fully charge it.

Sidewalksalvage · 06-07-2006, 01:43 PM

How much did you spend on it?

MadStu · 06-07-2006, 01:55 PM

£55, I bought this one...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...MEWN%3AIT&rd=1

Sidewalksalvage · 06-08-2006, 12:57 AM

55 pounds is about $100 usd right?

Its a nice unit that probably works great...but i think ill stick with my 30 dollar (~15 pounds or a bit more) USB gps mouse ant.

but thats just me (a kid always short on cash

)

MadStu · 06-08-2006, 07:10 AM

yep, about $100, and yeah I thought about the cheaper USB ones, but I really wanted a sirf star iii, and the prices for the usb and the bluetooth were about the same, so I chose the bluetooth to help eliminate more cables.

Sidewalksalvage · 06-08-2006, 06:54 PM

That makes sense!