Last weekend I attended the Outdoor Adventure & Camping show here in London. Although most of the brands on show do not have products directly related to this site, I was hoping to find a few new gadgets I was not aware of previously; I was not disappointed!
Lifepower.be
Lifepower are a Belgian company whose range of solar & power pack combinations really are Tech designed for Travel!
I had a look at the A2L, the 27,000 mAh portable battery pack that is billed as the King of Battery packs!
These are not your every day portable power units though, they are designed to be more of a transportable wall socket to power anything, anywhere. If you are off the grid after exhausting the full charge then you can pair the pack up with one of Lifepowers Solar Packs, which I cover further on.
Out of the box, the A2L can ship ready for either an EU or US plug, but attaching the international adapter (EU model only) means you can power pretty much anything that would normally need a wall socket. There is also a single USB port for smaller items that need a charge.
The full specifications for the A2L are:
- Dimensions 15 cm x 15 cm x 2.5 cm (5.9″ x 5.9″ x 1″)
- Weight 800g
- AC Power Output 100W continuous
- [Global model] AC output: AC 230V / 50 Hz / max. 120W peak
- [US model] AC output: AC 120V / 60 Hz / max. 120W peak
- Conversion efficiency 85~90%
- USB output DC 5V / 3A (15W)
- Charge input 19V / 2.1A
- Recharge time 3.5 hrs
- Battery Capacity 99.9Wh (27’000mAh at single cell V level)
- Double layered full protection circuitry
So what do these figures relate to, in terms of modern day gadget charging? Well after a 3.5 hour charge from a wall socket the pack will be fully charged and you can expect*:
- A Single Laptop, or
- 3.5 iPad Air charges, or
- 6 DSLR Battery packs, or
- 10 Smartphones
*These figures will vary depending on some devices.
That is a lot of power for on the go! At 800g it is not a light unit, but the main purpose of this pack is to store and deliver a large amount of power for long periods of time.
What happens though once you have used the full charge and out in the field for a few more days? Lifepower have you covered!
They have a range of 4 different Solar Packs on sale and 3 of these are compatible with charging the A2L. The smallest of the 4, the Sun12 is designed for smaller single charges and does not retain a charge.
The largest of the range is the Sun40. As with all solar panels, they do need optimal conditions to work at their full potential. If you know ahead of your trip that this could be an issue, Lifepower have a Y Chaining Cable so you can daisy chain 2 Solar packs together in charging your battery pack.
The A2L is €279 and the Sun20 Pro is €179, both direct from Lifepower.