SUCCESS!!!!!!!
![Smile :) :)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
so my buddy came through. he got it done tonight!!
I tested it and it works GREAT!! you can't see it in the picture but the surface has the charging indicator next to the battery icon, so it is working!! it's charging through the battery as I'm typing this.
![Smile :) :)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
my biggest fear was that the whole thing would start smoking but all is well. the cable looks just a tad lumpy where the solder happened, you can see it through the shrink tube if you examine it closely, but I am happy!! actually, taking a closer look at the magsafe cable I bought directly from voltaic, they didn't have the cleanest look either. I think my surface cable looks much better!! now I just have to put the battery back in the backpack, plug in the panels, and I'm off!!
I noticed the thread too with mikegyver selling an external battery and checking out his website, the battery he is using looks exactly like mine minus all the voltaic branding. all the indicator lights look the same. I suspect mikegyver is sourcing these from the same place that voltaic doees, but voltaic probably just puts their stamp on it.
so now I have a small solar backpack that'll charge my iphone or ipad. and now I have my bigger pack with the larger panels that will charge my iphone, ipad, macbook or surface, so I can choose which devices to carry around with me. now the cable I got from voltaic that connects to the battery has the same connector on both ends so I have another connector to work with. I'm thinking about buying another $16 charger from
ebay and doing up another one. my buddy thinks he can do a better job on the next one since this was his first try at it and he was in a little bit of a hurry. thanks to everyone who offered feedback and interest in this thread!! I used some of the suggestions that some gave me to do this project on the cheap!!