Foldable Solar Panels

Foldable Solar Panels for Travel and Camping

Solar power is clean, readily available, and free for the taking. Solar panels are a great way to charge your personal electronics as well as 12-Volt appliances such as camping refrigerators. Folding panels also have the advantage of being easy to store and transport, making them favourites in the portable solar panel market.

You need more than just a set of solar panels to reap the full benefit of the Sun's power. You need a way to store the power you get, and convert it into something useful. In most cases, that means you need at a minimum a regulator, a battery and possibly an inverter. While the purpose of the battery is obvious, the regulator and inverter may be less so. A regulator ensures that on extremely bright days the panels don't send too much power to the battery, while the inverter provides 240-Volt current for appliances that need it. You can find everything you need in a good solar panel kit.

Foldable solar panels are excellent choices for powering anything with a low draw, especially if it's DC current. LED lights provide bright illumination with minimal power draw. You can also use solar to run personal electronics, even laptops and televisions. It's a great way to rough it without completely giving up the benefits of civilisation.

Solar systems are not good for any really high current items. For example, hair dryers suck a lot of power just to make heat and it's a very bad idea to use them on a solar energy system. It's far too easy for them to suck all the power from your battery, potentially damaging it.

Solar panels can be used everywhere in the country, but there are always ways to improve their performance. The two biggest things you can do are keep them clean and keep them perpendicular to the Sun. It's all about making sure you get as much light on your panel as possible because more light means more power.