Jacob Petersheim
Well-known member
I've been farting around with portable "camping" solar panels for a little while now. After some experience, I recommend the ZOUPW EZ180W unit.
This is a nominal 190 watt, 20.1 volts open-circuit 16 bus bar lightweight folding panel array (2 panels hinged together). It is good alone with numerous powerstation devices, though for larger ones with higher voltage solar converters these can be strung in series.
It has two handles for carrying and moving it around, and two folding "props" on the back to hold it up sunward. For early and late sunlight, you can use some kind of stick or rad to prop it nearly vertical as needed. I make use of green plastic-coated garden rods for this myself.
These are rain-tolerant and even though one got hit with lawn chemicals on its face, slightly distorting the surface, it still works just fine. The orange soft-plastic handle grips have faded to yellow with use, but have remained pliable and not turned brittle or cracked.
It folds at the hinge in half for transport and storage and comes with a very nice cloth zippered storage bag and a basic cable from its MC-4 solar connectors about 6 feet to a multi-head end with various connectors for you powerstation devices.
These run about $190, but I bought mine on sale as low as $130. I now have 4 of them, I like them that much.
The product above might be a little bulky if you drive a BMW Mini Cooper or something, but it is quite lightweight for its size and for its output capacity. If you only buy one solar panel array to play with around home or actually take camping this would be the one, in my opinion. I have more expensive units which have degraded on the power they can convert so much that I avoid using them and have started thinking about how to properly dispose of them.
I hope this suggestion helps somebody thinking about tinkering with this stuff.
This is a nominal 190 watt, 20.1 volts open-circuit 16 bus bar lightweight folding panel array (2 panels hinged together). It is good alone with numerous powerstation devices, though for larger ones with higher voltage solar converters these can be strung in series.
It has two handles for carrying and moving it around, and two folding "props" on the back to hold it up sunward. For early and late sunlight, you can use some kind of stick or rad to prop it nearly vertical as needed. I make use of green plastic-coated garden rods for this myself.
These are rain-tolerant and even though one got hit with lawn chemicals on its face, slightly distorting the surface, it still works just fine. The orange soft-plastic handle grips have faded to yellow with use, but have remained pliable and not turned brittle or cracked.
It folds at the hinge in half for transport and storage and comes with a very nice cloth zippered storage bag and a basic cable from its MC-4 solar connectors about 6 feet to a multi-head end with various connectors for you powerstation devices.
These run about $190, but I bought mine on sale as low as $130. I now have 4 of them, I like them that much.
Search the Web or ask AI for a rundown of the pros and cons of N-type solar cells.
The product above might be a little bulky if you drive a BMW Mini Cooper or something, but it is quite lightweight for its size and for its output capacity. If you only buy one solar panel array to play with around home or actually take camping this would be the one, in my opinion. I have more expensive units which have degraded on the power they can convert so much that I avoid using them and have started thinking about how to properly dispose of them.
I hope this suggestion helps somebody thinking about tinkering with this stuff.
