Review: WakaWaka Power Solar charger

WakaWaka Power is a portable solar charger that can charge any device via USB. It comes with a pair of bright LEDs, which can be used in emergencies as light source or as night-light. It’s probably the most efficient solar charger on the market today, and definitely the most compact and stylish. It’s a solar charger you can bring anywhere.

WakaWaka power started on a kickstarter (crowd funding site) campaign. It launched with a funding goal of only $50,000,  but received an overwhelming 5,622 responses from backers worldwide and gathered a total of $419,472 or 838% funding, after a 30 day campaign.

Most portable solar chargers out there are either bulky, heavy, has low efficiency and will look weird. WakaWaka Power is a stylish, lightweight, compact and efficient solar charger. It’s just several levels up from its competition. This most likely explains the amazing response it received on the crown funding campaign.

I have been using the WakaWaka Power for over two months now and so far its been doing very well. It might be different depending on your location, in a tropical country like the Philippines, I am able to charge using its solar panels almost anytime of the day.

Apart from performance and function, its design is just what I was looking for. Try searching for portable solar chargers on the web, and I bet you won’t find any device as compact and stylish as the WakaWaka Power solar charger.

Design/Function

WakaWaka Power features a solar panel with 23% efficiency, this is 200% more efficient than most portable solar chargers today. It has two front super-bright (60 lumens) LED lights, which can be set to four levels of brightness.

Two  USB ports, a standard USB port for output - to charge mobile devices, and a mini-USB port for input - to allow charging the device via power grid.

A huge power button at the back allows charging or turning on the LED lights. While small LED lights are used as indicators. And conveniently it has build-in stand which turns almost 300 degress - to function both ways, and cleanly snaps on the device’s body when not in use.

How it Works

Just place the device under the sun and it should start charging. Depending on the amount of sunlight it gets, it can achieve full battery charge in just about 8 to 9 hours – fast charge. It also provides an option to charge via its mini-USB port, in this charging option full battery charge is achieved in about 4 to 5 hours.

It can charge your iPhone or Android mobile devices in less than 2 hours. WakaWaka Power has a 2,200 mAh battery. It charges my Samsung galaxy S4 up to just about 60% to 70%, that’s because an S4 has a 2,600 mAh battery. But If you are charging an iPhone (1,400 mAh), you’d get 100% battery plus a few hours more of light.

A huge black power button at the back of the device starts charging or turns on the LED lights. First press enables charging when a mobile device is connect. Second up to the fifth press turns-on the two front LED lights, lowering the light luminescence with each press, allowing a bit of brightness control.

Indicators - Charging Status and Battery Capacity

WakaWaka Power does not have an screen display, to minimize unnecessary power usage, it uses small energy-efficient LED as indicators.

On the top part of the device a single LED blinks in four different sequence to indicate solar charge mode – slow charging, medium charging, fast charging, and when its fully charged. Then a set of four LEDs indicate the current batter capacity – 25%, 50%, 75% & 100%. A separate LED placed beside the mini-USB port to indicate the device is charging via USB.

It has three levels charging modes, depending on the amount of sunlight available. The indicator is a single small LED, which blinks in four different sequence to indicate charge mode with the fourth to indicate that its full.

WakaWaka comes in two versions – the WakaWaka Light and the WakaWaka Power. The WakaWaka Power is the more complete version, it is able to charge full batteries through its solar panels, or through a standard electric grid outlets, it also packs some powerful high-grade pair of LED lights, and charges your mobile devices via USB cable. While the WakaWaka Light basically have the same specifications, except that it does not have charging capability for your mobile devices, but the bright pair of LED lights are still very useful.

Detailed Specification

 Product page: WakaWaka