I need a good way to charge my cell phone and watch while I am away hiking in the mountains. That means no electricity readily available so it is going to be take-along-battery-packs or solar charging etc.
I use a Sony Smart Watch 3 to read my Dexcom G5 and I run xdrip+ on my Samsung phone. So everything uses a micro-USB connector. I hate to go without the CGM. The watch only runs for about 18 hours between charges so it is nice to charge all night long so I can get it to run all day without stopping to charge.
Pump uses AAA batteries so no issue with that.
I have a few ideas, but wanted to know what works for others.
The battery recharging carry-packs are your best. The little hand-crank generators will wear you out trying to generate enough voltage to recharge them.
Possibly a better option - the charge on a Dexcom receiver (not the phone app) lasts about 4-5 days. Bring that for your readings instead of a phone.
I have tried, Solar, Battery packs, Battery chargers (i.e. use AA batteries to charge Micro USB devices), and small human powered generators.
Your best bet is to buy a Battery Pack with sufficient capacity to charge all of your electronics. I would size it to charge all of your devices 0-100% 2 or 3 times if it were me.
Solar requires you to have certain meteorological conditions, stay in one place while charging and it is expensive.
Battery chargers work but not as well as a good lithium battery.
As has already been stated shaking or hand cranking isn’t going to generate enough for you at a weight to make the battery packs not the best choice.
FWIW, I’ve only needed to do this once for my Tandem t:slim pump and as luck would have it, this was last weekend. I used an Amazon Basics credit card sized auxiliary battery and it worked like a charm.
