All Voltaic battery packs and solar chargers are approved for airline travel. Read more: Lithium Battery Policy by Airline

Holiday Gift Guide 2018

Our Holiday Gift Guide 2018 is here, featuring a curated selection of unique gifts for almost everyone on your list. From the aspiring photographer, to the business traveler, to the gear geeks – these high performance solar chargers and battery packs are guaranteed to make them smile.

Check out our full gift guide below and be sure to sign up for our newsletter today to get access to our Friends & Family exclusive holiday deals.

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V88 Portable Laptop Battery with USB-C PD

Ideal Gift For: Frequent Flyers, Business Travelers, Gear Geeks, Van-Lifers

Photo © Robert Zaleski / rzcreativeproductions.com

Brand new for 2018, this upgraded 24,000mAh USB-C Power Delivery portable laptop battery will quickly, and safely, charge laptops, DSLR cameras, smartphones or drones away from the grid. Featuring a hi-voltage laptop port for traditional laptops, a USB-C PD port for newer USB-C laptops and a USB Quick Charge 3.0 port for smartphones and tablets – it is the perfect tech gift for travelers who are always in search of an open outlet.

Retail Price: $129

Available via Voltaic Systems or Amazon

Arc 20W Solar Charger Kit

Ideal Gift For: Outdoor Adventurers, Photographers, Drone-Addicts, Van-Lifers

Photo © Tom McCorkle / tmiportfolio.com

Compact and powerful, the Arc 20W Solar Charger Kit is a customer favorite. The perfect gift for serious adventurers, this foldable solar charger includes our upgraded V88 Portable Laptop Battery with USB-C Power Delivery and will keep them charged up wherever their next trip takes them. Compatible with most consumer laptops, drones, DSLR cameras and USB devices.

Retail Price: $265

Available via Voltaic Systems or Amazon

OffGrid Solar Backpack

Ideal Gift For: Photographers, College Students, Emergency Preppers

Photo © Lynsy Terbosic / @adventuresoffour

The powerful OffGrid Solar Backpack is the perfect all-in-one solution for those on your list who like to be prepared. From commuting to class to capturing the next sunset, this 25L recycled PET backpack will store and charge their gear anywhere. Featuring a 10W matte black solar panel and our 12,000mAh dual USB battery pack – this backpack will charge smartphones, tablets, DSLR cameras and other USB devices.

Retail Price: $199

Available via Voltaic Systems or Amazon

Arc 10W Solar Charger

Ideal Gift For: Casual Hikers, Beach-Goers, Adventure Travelers

Photo © Robert Zaleski / rzcreativeproductions.com

For those on your list who enjoy spending their free time outdoors, help them keep their phone charged wherever the day takes them with the foldable Arc 10W Solar Charger. Featuring a built-in smart circuit USB port, your favorite weekend warrior can recharge their phone directly from the sun in 4 hours of direct sunlight. Also available as the Arc 10W Solar Charger Kit featuring our V15 USB Battery.

Retail Price: $49

Available via Voltaic Systems or Amazon

Amp Solar Charger

Ideal Gift For: Busy Parents, Weekend Campers, Emergency Preppers

Photo © Scott Hardesty / scotthardestymedia.com

Put their mind at ease and keep their phones charged with the compact Amp Solar Charger. Featuring 4W of solar power and 4,000mAh USB power bank, the Amp can easily be thrown into a bag or stowed away in a car for accessible power anywhere. Ideal for weekend tailgaters and emergency preppers alike, the Amp Solar charger remains one of our best selling solar chargers.

Retail Price: $99

Available via Voltaic Systems or Amazon

Fuse 6W Solar Charger

Ideal Gift For: Hikers, Backpackers, Cyclists

Lightweight and versatile, the Fuse 6W Solar Charger is the perfect gift for the backpacker or cyclist on your list. The included V15 4,000mAh Battery Pack will keep their phone and GPS charged while the Fuse’s signature universal clip system allows them to easily attach to this portable solar charger to their favorite daypack or bicycle rack.  Made from recycled PET fabric.

Retail Price: $129

Available via Voltaic Systems or Amazon

Have a question? Contact our team directly at support.voltaicsystems.com

David Fletcher and Jason Stirling of NorthSouth published a video of the exhilarating and harrowing ride over the Highest Road in the World, from Manali to Khardung La. They used some locally purchased mountain bikes and a ton of effort to make the trip. Enjoy the video below.

They brought the Fuse 10W Solar Laptop Charger and Fuse 6W with them on the trip to keep MacBook, Canon 5D, DJI Drone and phones charged.

It looked like a very challenging trip, but all worth it for the downhills.

The PIXO charger has been discontinued. We now offer alternative ways to charge both AAs from USB and camera batteries from USB.

Ever wanted to charge a DSLR camera battery while off-grid but only had a USB power supply? Finally there’s a way to charge almost any camera battery with a USB cable! The PIXO Universal Battery Charger can charge a camera battery from any USB power source, so it is compatible with all of our Voltaic batteries.

Is the PIXO right for me?

The PIXO Universal Camera Charger is a great charging accessory for anyone using a small 3.7V camera battery who wants to travel light with a V15 or V39 battery. The USB input means you don’t have to carry around the V72 laptop battery for its 12V DC output (which is required for all other camera cradles on our website), so you can travel with much lighter gear and still occasionally charge your camera. However if you want to use a professional DSLR camera (12 Wh battery capacity or greater) or want to charge your camera at least once per day, check out this guide to charge a DSLR camera with solar power using a cradle specifically designed for the battery.

Update: The PIXO can also charge two AA or two AAA batteries.

How does it work?

The PIXO charger automatically supplies the correct voltage to the battery, allowing it to charge smaller 3.7-4.2V batteries for point-and-shoot cameras, or larger 6.8-8.4V batteries for DSLR cameras.

Watch this video to see how to connect each battery to the PIXO charger.

How to use the PIXO charger:

1. Determine which pins on your battery are positive and negative. The specific polarity of each pin doesn’t matter, since the charger will automatically determine their polarity and supply power accordingly.

2. Place the battery next to the charging pins to see where they need to be.

3. Use a pen or thin object to slide each charging pin to match the location of the battery’s polarity pins.

4. Push the battery onto the charging pins and plug it into a power source. As you can see, 7.4V DSLR batteries will slide in horizontally, while other small 3.7V camera batteries may go in vertically.

Limitations:

Though the charger fits many different batteries, there are inevitably some that cannot fit. For example, the Canon LP-E6 7.4 V battery cannot fit, since the positive/negative leads of the battery are too close together. Before purchasing the PIXO charger, examine your battery to make sure the positive/negative charging pins are at least 5mm apart.

Batteries that do not fit (we have a battery-specific charger for these): Canon LP-E6, 6D, 7D, 60D, 70D, 5D Mark II, 5D Mark III

USB Charging From Voltaic Batteries:

The PIXO charger has two charging options, depending on if you are using a USB 2.0 port (which can draw about 500 mA of current when charging) or a USB 3.0 port (for 900 mA of current, almost double the 2.0 option!). All of our Voltaic batteries can provide almost 1 Amp of current (and the V39 can supply up to 2 Amps), so make sure the switch on the PIXO is on the 3.0 side for faster charging.

Using this charging mode, we found the charge rate to be identical to a wall charger for small 3.7V batteries, but significantly slower than a wall charger for 7.4V DSLR batteries. If you want to charge a professional DSLR camera battery from solar power, we recommend using a camera cradle specifically designed for your battery.

Charge Rate From Solar Panels:

After extensive testing, we determined that the PIXO does not charge well directly from solar panels. This is because our panels operate at 6V, while the PIXO wants to charge from 5V USB sources. In order to get the fastest charging time possible, we recommend using one of our USB batteries to mediate the power from the solar panel to the PIXO while charging from the sun. If a camera battery was completely drained, here are the approximate times required to fully charge the battery using only our Voltaic solar panels.

As you can see, the charge times are much longer than charging with a battery. This is because the 6V panel does not like converting down to 5V for the miniUSB input of the PIXO charger, so the efficiency goes down. We recommend using the solar panels to charge our batteries (since they’re designed exactly for the panels), then using our batteries to power the PIXO charger.