newtothis
Well-known member
I've got a little portable solar panel with USB output, and a phone battery pack with a built-in solar charger that can also be charged from the fold up panel.Not sure that is a directly relevant question in that form.
For example, as well as the two main ships plotters, I carry a minimum of 3 other mobile devices with GPS and fully UKHO raster charts installed (for £25). I also carry a mobile battery booster - mainly for when travelling to/from boat, but I calculated when doing a trans-Atlantic, I could get a daily fix from my mobile phone using the battery booster, even if the phone was flat when disaster happened to the ships electronics. Plus enough left to run hourly for the final approach. (I also carry paper charts for my main cruising grounds)
I suspect most other (wise) skippers have a multiplicity of backup options. So “failure of electrics” is zero concern for navigation.
The real disaster scenario is if Putin or a major solar flare wipes out the GNSS (posh name for GPS and its equivalents) signal entirely. Then all the GPS devices are down. Or a lightning strike which wipes out all electronics on board (for which I try to mitigate by putting 2 mobile devices in the oven as a hoped for Faradays Cage, effectiveness fortunately not tested in practice).
There are even wind-up USB chargers if you only sail at night.
I can't see total loss of power to the point you can't charge a tablet or phone being hugely likely.
And if GPS goes down completely, there are probably going to be bigger issues to deal with.