Take Charge With BirkSun Solar Backpacks

For years, Jai has talked about his dream of putting solar panels on our roof as an alternate energy source. Although I think that would be neat, I’ve always teased him: “How are we going to use solar power in Seaside?” Here on the Oregon Coast, sunshine is a rare commodity, so I always envisioned solar charging as being spotty at best in this area. However, I may need to eat my words now that I have been introduced to BirkSun.

BirkSun is a company that’s all about power. They carry most of the standard smartphone charging units that we’re accustomed to, such as power banks and cables, but what really got me intrigued was their line of solar charging backpacks. These backpacks and messenger bags come complete with a solar charging panel, so that you can hook in your smartphone and charge it solely off the sun’s rays.

Immediately, I knew that this was something Jai would love: He often carries a backpack around to haul his tech gear from one place to another, so the addition of a solar charging panel made this a very intriguing and possibly quite useful bag. But how much power can it offer, really?

Jai chose an Elevate Solar Backpack, and as soon as it arrived, he pulled it out of the box and hooked his phone cable into the charging pocket. The phone began to charge immediately…inside the house…just from indirect sunlight coming in through the window. It was then that I realized that perhaps I greatly underestimated solar charging as a practical option for us!

But don’t just take my word for it. This is what Jai had to say about using his new backpack:

Last week I made some repairs on my Grandma’s weathering fence. I brought my iPhone along with amplified bluetooth speakers so I could listen to podcasts as I worked outdoors. It was a warm and sunny day (at least by Oregon coast standards) and the Birksun was able to keep both devices charged all day by plugging one in until fully charged, then charging the other. Neither the iPhone or the speakers ever dropped under 40% charge.” – Jai

I have to say, I am really impressed. The large solar panel allows a generous amount of charge – more than I would have anticipated. And I’m not a complete stranger to using light to charge my phone: A few years back, Jai got me a neat case for my iPhone that also had a small solar panel on it. While that certainly helped (And I was sad when it finally broke!), it didn’t offer the dramatic amount of charging that the sizable panel on the Elevate backpack does. I could actually see this being really handy in emergency situations when your phone runs out of charge.

20% Discount Code:

The Elevate Solar Backpack retails for $175 and is available on BirkSun.com. And from September 17th through September 19th, you can save 20% on your order by using discount code Mom.Start at checkout!

Have you ever used solar power to charge your smartphone?