Has anyone here done this. I am going to be hiking for four days at the end of August. I have a solar recharger for tech. I hope all works. Any pointers??? I have been searching for a few inputs, but only found one so far.
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I would NOT rely on solar for something like this! What if it is rainy?!?
I suggest buying a few of the small Anker chargers and having them all charged up before your trip.
You can get adapters so that you can charge both your RileyLink and phone with it.
These are very small and reasonably priced.
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My son isn’t looping, but uses a rechargeable pump (T-slim) and we often go on multi-day hikes. I agree on not relying on solar, and also not relying on a single charger.
We were away on holidays recently (not hiking) and he dropped his battery pack, resulting in the USB output socket getting pulled loose from the PCB. Ended up having to pre-bolus him an hour’s basal and detach his pump to plug into a wall outlet as for once we hadn’t brought a spare battery pack.
Typically solar is only worthwhile for hiking if you a) have a larger, high capacity solar panel AND/OR b) are hiking somewehere without tree cover and can reliably attach the panel to your pack so it charges while hiking AND/OR c) spend a lot of time at camp where the cell can be left somewhere in the sun AND/OR d) you’ll be hiking long enough that carrying the solar panel is lighter than just carrying enough pre-charged batteries to get you through. In most cases I don’t think solar panels stack up unless you’re going for multiple weeks, or using a base camp where the panel can be left charging your batteries all day while you’re out and about.
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Get a good waterproof box for this stuff.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Outdoor-Products-Large-Watertight-Case-Box-Blue/26674163
While I’m not a looper, I do use a t:Slim as both my pump and G6 receiver … and actually carry the G6 receiver as a backup. When I am off-grid (say multiple days at a yurt camp in Yellowstone in February) I carry redundant Ankers and redundant USB cables for phone, pump, and anything else I can think of. I think that 3350mAh is the smallest that Anker makes. While weight is an issue if you are schlepping everything … I only had to worry about a day pack … I prefer the larger, but higher capacity, units that Anker makes. Their “jumbo” 20,000 mAh unit is about the size of a stack of 3 Hershey bars. I think they also make something like 5,000 and 10,000 mAh units of intermediate size.
Given the history of lithium battery fires I ALWAYS buy a quality brand rather than cheapest available.
And I always carry redundant glucagon … or better if you have it … when the nearest EMT is a LONG ways away.
Enjoy you hiking!!!
John
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Plenty of snacks, you’d be surprised at what steady hiking and no snacks can do to lower your insulin needs. I realize loop will hopefully solve the lowered needs but just in case,
And bring a few of the chargers. They aren’t big, but they take some time to charge something and not a ton of juice in each, so you want several in case you need more than one. It’s better to be safe than sorry.
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I agree. I hiked the Grand Canyon last fall. I had brought a couple small chargers and the one Anker 20,000 mAh charger. All of the small, cheap (ie., free from vendor!) chargers failed! I was left with the reliable Anker, thank goodness. I also had a solar charger for a worst case scenario which I never had to use.
Also, to help preserve the iPhone battery I kept the phone in airplane mode. I wasn’t planning to make any calls anyway, nor connect to the Internet/cloud while hiking! 
I agree. I found some great, portable snacks by Patagonia (didn’t know they had food products!) while in Flagstaff prior to arriving at GC. I brought the seeds and the bars with me while hiking and just nibbled on them when trending low. Of course, with Loop, you can set your own customized override to lower your basal temporarily, but you’ll still want to have portable snacks available within hand reach.
Have a wonderful hiking trip!!
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Thank you to all for your suggestions. They have been very informative and helpful. Great suggestions. This hike should be great in the Boreal Forest.
Brian Thiel
Go Riders Go!
Let’s Go Flyers!
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I have USB charger that works from burning sticks. I bought it 4 years ago and it still works. I got it for back packing.
It seems big for backpacking but I stored all by diabetes stuff in it while hiking. It’s called grommet mini. It weighs less than half a pound It charged my phone too and even a small light. But I bought this for going weeks at a time. I think a battery pack would work for you. My pump goes 3 days with no charge. You can find enough sticks to burn no matter where u are camping.
Cool! Thank you
Brian Thiel
Go Riders Go!
Let’s Go Flyers!
@Timothy A USB charger that works from burning sticks sounds interesting. Can you share a photo of it, or a link? I’m not coming up with anything on google.
I use this while backpacking:
It’s heavier than the little cylinder ones, but it’s very reliable. Like @Trying, I’ve had several of the little ones break. This one has a solar panel that can be used for emergency situations (but shouldn’t be relied upon to fully charge the battery). It can charge my phone 7 times- but that might be an exaggeration because I never let my battery drop all the way to zero.
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This one looks great. My solar charger looks the same, but is only 10000mAh, half the capacity shown here!
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Your backpacking trip to the Grand Canyon sounds wonderful! I went there awhile back, but only had a chance for a little hiking. I would love to go again some day and hike from the top to the bottom and back. Maybe spend 4 days on the trail if there is route that long.
One day hopefully!
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Me, too, I am so hoping to visit again. Maybe next fall if travel opens up!!
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This is not the model I have but it is similar. Mine is smaller.
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Interesting, never seen one of these before. It’s a pretty low wattage output, looks like you would need to run it for a couple of hours to charge up a phone.
Thanks for posting.