Solar Panels?

[Colorado Yeti]

What are your thoughts/experience with solar panels in the backcountry? I've seen smaller units that will charge cell phones or a GPS unit, but has anyone used the smaller units to maintain a primary or auxiliary battery? I like the idea of having something to give me a little juice in the backcountry but I don't want to invest into something if it doesn't work very well.

Newbie error. Posted this in the gear review thread and not sure how to move it. Sorry folks. :-/


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[Steve]

I definitely don't mean for this to sound like a "Do a search" post, as our search takes some trickery to get the best results. But here are several threads on solar panels and controllers. I need to merge several of these at some point.

https://overlandbound.com/forums/search/270952/?q=solar&o=date&c[title_only]=1

 

[Colorado Yeti]

I definitely don't mean for this to sound like a "Do a search" post, as our search takes some trickery to get the best results. But here are several threads on solar panels and controllers. I need to merge several of these at some point.

https://overlandbound.com/forums/search/270952/?q=solar&o=date&c[title_only]=1

Thanks, Steve. I must have been searching in the wrong thread as I didn't reveal many useful results. I see them now. Thanks for clarifying and sorry for the trouble.

 

[Steve]

Thanks for clarifying and sorry for the trouble.

You are very welcome, and no trouble at all!

Our search is finicky. By default, it only searches in the forum you are currently in, so you have to remember to uncheck the "search this forum only" check box. It also won't return any results when searching for three-letter or less items, which we use around here a lot: map, GPS, HAM, CB, etc. Worse yet, is that it doesn't recognize AND or quotations, so if you search "solar panel" it will return all threads that contain solar, and all threads that contain panel. Best bet is to wait for the search box to expand, and then click "More" to fine tune the results, but it can still be frustrating.

here's a hint for searching using Google: enter your search parameters, and then use Google's site: feature. Example:

solar panels site:https://overlandbound.com/forums

 

[1derer]

Steve, I hope you carefully merge threads I have felt that the merging of threads on this forum to be a little heavy handed so far. Even if the topics are close they are not always close enough to be apart of the same thread which can make threads long and every difficult to understand or participate. Solar is a huge topic and can be separated in many ways to help us community members add to or get from. Such as solar 0-10 watts, 11- 20 Watts, etc. or portable, flexible, roof mount, etc. I just urge careful consideration with merges. Thanks!

 

[Steve]

I just urge careful consideration with merges.

I completely understand, and agree to some point. I merged 6-8 "what CB should I get" threads into an already large thread. That might lead to confusion, but theres also no need for so many separate threads. I generally try to nudge folks to an already existing thread, but usually, the duplicate thread grows, anyway.

A perfect example are the umpteen GPS, tablet, Gaia, Hema, etc. threads. Someone asks for info on handheld, and gets replies for phone or tablet apps. Someone asks about Spot or Explorer and gets recommended to use Gaia, etc. Way too many to merge, but there's so much duplicated information.

In general, I try to be careful when merging, but sometimes it seems necessary.