The Kindle Fire, Amazon’s answer to the Barnes and Noble Nook Color, is a compact 7” color tablet device that occupies a middle ground between full fledged tablet PC and eReader. There are loads of product reviews out there, but chances are, if you’re reading this post, you have one thing on your mind: Can I charge it from solar?
The short answer is: YES!
Voltaic Systems full line of solar batteries will charge the Kindle Fire using the supplied cable (USB to Micro USB) with no problem. Here’s a breakdown of the kind of performance you can expect from the different battery systems:
V11 USB Battery
The battery size in the Kindle is about 16.3 Wh so while the V11 won’t top up your Kindle Fire, it will bring it up to just over 50%. The current V11 models have a max output of about 2.5Wh so expect the boost from 0% to 60% to take about 4.5 hours. We are developing a new version of the V11 that will offer faster charge rates.
V39 USB Battery
With the increased battery size of the V39, you expect to get about 1.8 full charges of the Kindle Fire from a fully charged V39. The Kindle Fire should be charged from the 2000mA high power USB port for the best results. Expect charge times of about 3 hours for a full 0% to 100% charge cycle; the Kindle Fire draws 1.4A at 5V for a total of 7W.
V60 Universal Laptop Battery
Fully charged, this high capacity laptop battery will hold about 2.8 full charges of the Kindle Fire. Expect charge times from the USB port in the V60 of about 5 hours for a full 0% to 100% charge cycle.
Direct From Solar Charging
Kindle Fire is a fickle device when it comes to charging, however it’s not as picky as the iPad2: it is possible to charge the Kindle Fire direct from solar. The caveat here is that you can only “trickle charge” at a slower rate than if you were connected to the V11, V39, V60 or the power supply provided with the Kindle Fire. Our testing showed that the Kindle Fire would take roughly 14 hours to charge directly from our 4W system (Amp, Fuse 4W, Switch, Converter, OffGrid). At 5V, only 250mA (1.25W) was utilized by the Kindle Fire. So, though it really is best to charge the Kindle Fire from one of our batteries, in a pinch you can trickle charge it directly from solar from our 4W, 8W (Spark), 10W (Fuse 10W, Array) systems set to 6V.