Hello cycle blaze community!

My family and I are gearing up for a six month sabbatical in Chile/Argentina.  We are four people, including two adults, a seven year old and a nine year old.  This will be our fourth tour as a family, and the most remote.  My husband and I previously blogged over at CrazyGuy as the philtrons pedal south/north.  I will migrate over to cycle blaze for this next journey.

So hi I guess!  

Anyways, what is everyone using these days for keeping devices charged?  We aren't setting any speed records and I anticipate up to five days between charging opportunities at times.   Last time we were able to use charging hubs but this time we go too slow and also my tandem is not equipped.  Any solar panels worth it? 

Thanks for any help you might offer

Daisy,

Jean-Marc and Leigh Strydom recently toured in that area.

Contact him through his journal and ask whether he has any advice.

Hi Daisy.  Welcome to CycleBlaze!

We have toured Patagonia three times, the last being 2 years ago.  We're in our sixties so we travel slower than most folks.   We also find ourselves 5 days between towns occasionally but have always managed to get by carrying battery banks.  I often thought about fitting a dynamo hub or carrying solar panels but the battery banks have proved sufficient.   You might need more than we carry because of the kids.

Jean-Marc,

Thanks for your reply.  Battery banks are definitely the front line for charging. I'm just trying to decide if solar panels are gimmicky or if they can are worth more than the same weight/hassle as just more batteries!  Our kids read a LOT and one of them will want to use a game-boy type portable game console. 

Daisy

In 6 months you could go far and wide in Chile and Argentina. Consider what portion of your planned route is sunny versus the portion that is mostly cloudy, such as Patagonia.

Solar panels are great in sunny climates, but mostly dead weight in relentlessly cloudy climates.

Wayne,

That's an excellent point!  We typically do about 50km a day with the kids, and they like to rest every 3-4 days so honestly I am not optimistic we will be getting all that far even over six months.  I appreciate the confidence though!

I think you've convinced me that we should just triple up on power banks and bring a couple decks of cards.  Thank you!

Do the kids have e-readers?  I read a lot too and my Kobo is much easier on my eyes than a phone or tablet and its battery lasts weeks, even with some backlight. 

For just myself, I carry a 10,000 mAh power bank to charge my devices (phone, Garmin, bike lights).  If I were going somewhere remote, I’d probably carry a bigger one (or a second one if a solo trip).  And if I had lots of $$, maybe upgrade my Garmin to a solar model. 

Over the past few years I’ve completed a few fairly long cycle tours in Australia and have found that 10mA power bank is sufficient. No dynamo. No solar panel. 

Even here in sparsely populated Australia it’s rare that mains power can’t be accessed at least every second day. In areas where access to mains power is scarce, I’m more careful to conserve the phone battery charge as it’s the most essential of my battery powered devices. 

I carry a 20,000MaH battery with me on my jaunts, and that can take me about 2 nights out keeping my Insta360 X5, iPhone 16, GPS unit, and Apple Watch charged. I could go without the watch, although that draws very little from the power bank. The biggest hog is the iPhone, so if I were traveling into farther territory without recharges I would probably limit the iPhone use, or turn it off during the day so it's not draining its battery. I have two batteries for the X5, and I generally use about 80% of one in a day to capture raw footage, so I could go without charging until I get to an outlet to recharge everything (including the battery pack).

If you're going off the grid, get a solar pack that will be able to recharge the bank - you'll definitely need more than those little iPhone or paperback book sized units. Something akin to a Nomad 10 (https://goalzero.com/collections/solar-panels/products/nomad-10-solar-panel). That will capture more light and solar and provide a chargeable experience. You still may need 4-6 hours to fully recharge things but this should help you start.