Did you know you could recharge batteries without electricity?  That’s right, no electricity needed, a completely off-grid battery charger.  This is a cool product!  A fellow reader of this blog recommended I look into a prepper product that recharge batteries using salt-water created by Greenivative.  The company agreed to let me test the Double Power G-Mag® BarterPack in exchange for this review.

Recharge Batteries Using Saltwater

The GMAG Saltwater Powered Battery Charger is a portable AA battery charger that was designed for preppers, campers, boaters, and law enforcement. Have you ever been on a camping trip and had the batteries die in your lantern or try to turn on a flashlight in a power outage only to discover the batteries are dead? The Double Power G-Mag® BarterPack was designed for emergencies and off-grid activities. It’s lightweight and has an indefinite dry storage life ideal for bugout bags, an emergency supply stash, or safety kits.

 Package Contents

• (1) GMAG AA Battery Charger
• (6) AA Rechargeable Batteries (1000 mAh)
• (6) AAA Rechargeable Batteries (1000 mAh)
• (6) AAA to AA  Adapters
• (4) 2 Teaspoon Salt Packets
• (1) USB Cell Charger, Cable, and Adapters

Features:

• Weighs 8 ounces without batteries and 11 ounces with batteries
• Physical dimensions are approximately 4 x 6 x 2
• Any brand of rechargeable NiMH AA or AAA Batteries are compatible
• Recharges 6 batteries about 40 times, the equivalent to 240 batteries
• Charges 6 AA 1000 mAh batteries in about 5 hours (90 mins for 2 AA Batteries)
• EMP safe
• Environmentally safe and made from recycled materials

Steps on How to Use

1. Place batteries on the charger, positive side up.

2. Remove Top Fill Plug and Side Drain Plug.

3. Add 2 teaspoons of salt in the top opening.

4. Fill unit with water until water just starts to come out of the Side Drain.

5. Replace the two plugs, ensure that the plug with the hole is placed on top.

Hold a finger over the Top Fill Plug and shake the unit for a few seconds to mix the salt.

The unit is ready to charge.  It’ll become warm during the charging process.

When the recharging is complete, remove the plugs, drain and flush with fresh water as soon as possible.

Review

I’m currently in the process of switching all my tech to rechargeable batteries. It was surprising to me how many battery operated electronics I have, as one after another died last month. I replaced batteries in my flashlight, wall clock, alarm clock, wireless keyboard, wireless mouse, thermostat, remotes, and smoke detector.  The importance of having a backup battery charger was not lost on me, as my awareness of how much I depend on batteries grew.

The first test was to make sure the charger really recharged batteries and if they would recharge a generic brand of battery. My walkie talkies had generic rechargeable batteries (labeled: CEL). The walkies also showed me how much power was left in the batteries. After letting two walkies drain of power (total of six batteries), I used the GMAG Saltwater Powered Battery Charger. I found it easy to operate, using a funnel to pour in the salt and water.  The batteries were completely charged in 5 hours and when placed back in the walkies, showed that they were fully charged. After the recharging was complete, I flushed out the device many times.  The flush removed the saltwater and black chunky residue. Throughout the month, I recharged depleted batteries several times using the GMAG charger.  It worked well every time.  There were only two only minor problems I came across. The first was that one or a couple of the batteries would pop off of the charger but after some finagling, the jumpy battery would stay in place.  The second is that I lost one of the plugs for several minutes and wondered if it would still work if the plug could not be found.  Overall I was impressed with the quality and function of this product.

Pros

• Off-grid charger
• Charges AAA, AA, cell phones, & tablets
• Inexpensive fuel
• Holds 6 batteries
• Easy to operate
• Potential bartering resource in a crisis

Cons

• Funnel not included
• Price is a little higher than I would like
• The USB cell charger didn’t perform well.  After charging a tablet all night using 4 AA 1000 mAh batteries, it only had 19% power in the morning.

Greenivative makes a few models ranging from $60-$160.  One model works with adapters that will recharge C & D batteries. Another model allows GMAG to generate power indefinitely by replacing a part called a PowerPuck.  For a full listing of their products visit Greenivative.com.

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