Solar energy is the conversion of sunlight into electric power using Photovoltaic (PV) cells. Bell Laboratories first produced these cells in the early 1950s.With ever increasing dependence on technology and the latest devices invented as a result of several technological developments, more and more people are opting for a universal solar charger.

With the tremendous increase in demand for web-connected gadgets, the need for keeping them charged has become more essential than before. Photovoltaic cells operate by using sunlight. Light, basically, consists of photons, which generate an electric imbalance inside the photo-voltaic cells when sunlight falls on their surface.

This electrical imbalance leads to production of an electric current, which passes through a circuit developed in the gadget. The electricity produced by this process is used directly for powering various devices.

In respect of a solar charger, it is utilized to charge a battery and these batteries supply power to other gadgets. A quality universal solar charger can be connected to wide range of gadgets, whose batteries require charging. They can be either connected to the devices to the points of the devices or directly attached to the batteries in the devices.

The Advantages

A superior quality battery charger can totally charge the gadget with the help of its internal battery. One of the major advantages of a solar charger that comes easily to our mind is, obviously, that it does not need any external power to charge a device.

A solar charger will be very useful in places where there is no regular power source from the mains, as for example, when someone is away from home either on picnic or other outdoor activities or attending a music festival, where there is no electricity.

Electricity is mostly produced either by coal or gas fired power plants or nuclear power stations. While coal or gas based power plants emit huge amounts of harmful greenhouse gases and pollute the atmosphere, the dangers of radiation emitted by nuclear power plants cannot be eliminated altogether.

On the contrary, solar power is a type of renewable energy and is totally environmentally friendly. Like other sources of renewable energy, such as wind energy or power generation from tidal waves, it generates pollution-free electricity.

The other great advantage with universal solar charger is that it costs much less than any other charger. Once it is bought, no other costs are involved in charging the device, as opposed to conventional battery chargers that draw power from the mains. The prices of these regular chargers will go up very frequently, at least once in six months.

The Disadvantages

There are also a few disadvantages of solar battery chargers. The biggest disadvantage is that they require sunlight to function. The efficiency levels of the photo-voltaic cells have, however, increased considerably during the last decade or more.

These improvements enable the PV cells to function at optimum level even under overcast conditions, without direct sunlight. Nevertheless, this aspect should be kept in mind depending on which part of the world the user is located.

One more disadvantage is that charging the device using a solar charger takes much more time than the regular charger. This is because the electric current produced by the solar panels is much less than what is supplied at homes.

Lithium-ion battery placed inside the universal solar charger is meant to prevail over this shortcoming. This way they release higher charge than the traditional ‘ni-cad’ batteries and therefore, develop higher electric current in their ‘charging circuit’.

On the whole, many advantages of universal solar charger outweigh a few disadvantages in them and therefore, they are very popular these days.