Portable solar panels

Looking for some suggestions from those that have portable solar panels. I'm looking to keep my battery charged while out hunting and camping in the wilderness. I don't use much in the way of electricity so no need for having to hassel with a generator.

 

I was considering getting some from harbor freight to use as a battery maintainer when any of my vehicles are parked for an extended period of time so I am interested also

 

I use Renogy standard panels when I need to do this mainly to run radios and when camping and I need to make sure that I have longer term power.
I use various battery banks dedicated to this use but could also just keep the truck battery charged the same way.

The main challenge is that I rarely want to park in the sun but the panels obviously need to be parked in the sun!

So I have panels that have Anderson Power Pole connectors on them and I use power cable extensions to be able to get the panels into the sun while the battery bank I am charging is in some shade.I use a cheap voltmeter to aim the panels for maximum output at least for the moment that I locate them but I also often set the panel on Speaker Stands so that I can easily rotate them to track the sun as needed and the meter is Velcroed to the stand too so that I can keep it all going for as long as there is usable light.

With the kind of Voltage and Current involved here being so low you want to make sure to use the shortest and heaviest wiring that you can and I have several different lengths of extensions to do this while I minimize total wire length. I also setup the connectors differently than I would for other uses so that I can only connect panels to battery banks and can never accidentally connect Solar Stuff to anything else and let the Smoke out!
Anderson connectors are ideal for this at these power levels.

I have been doing this for years and as the price of quality panels keeps dropping the whole thing just works better and better!

 

I am, too, need experienced information on this solar.

 

I use renogy panels and riveted hinges so its a big breefcase of 200w of solar (for trailer camping).. Fits back in the box it came in also. Its heavy and a little cumbersome though....we use 4-6 panels total when dry camping.

You might want to go wtih the foldable setups that are much lighter but much more expensive.

 

For charging 12V, I have a double 50W panel Renogy suitcase. Quite nifty. Refurbished from Renogy direct for only $99!

 

I have a couple of portable panels (GoPower 120W) (Samlex 180W). They would both work to charge up a 12V battery. I bypassed the Controller and run them into my MPPT controller in the trailer.

 

Portable panels are a great option. People's suggestions are good. There are plenty of suitcase models and other types that don't require anything more than hooking up a pigtail to your battery terminal and connecting the panel. Done. So long as you already have some basic idea of how to maintain batteries, there's really nothing more to it than hooking it up. I had a 90w suitcase panel, and everything was included. Charge controller already wired and mounted to the back of the panel, wiring, fuse.

I eventually opted for a 100w rooftop panel, because now it's just always there, charging. Even in partial shade I get all the charge I need. My issues were 1. The space the suitcase takes up when traveling and 2. Theft. No one ever stole my panel, but it worried me, and it does happen. With the panel mounted to the roof, theft isn't a concern.

I just came from a big event with a lot of camper trailers. I'd say the rooftop vs portable panel split was something like 60/40. Plenty of people are good with the portable setup.

 

I got by for about 5 years with a 100W Renogy suitcase but as you said theft was always on my mind. If we were going out exploring I would put it away. Problem is our exploring was usually done during peak sun hours.



When we put solar on the house, I used the money from our tax credit to pay for putting solar on my trailer. (seemed kinda' poetic)

So now I have 600W on the roof of the trailer feeding 2 LiFePo4 100Ah Lithiums, and the 60-70 Ah's we typically consume overnight is replaced by noon. The panels are just up there doin' their thing.

I will say that one of the very solar savvy guys on my RV forum recently got a couple of the really lightweight portable folding panel setups and it sounds like they've come a long way in the last few years.

 

I’m just waiting to lay down my money. This seems to be a genuine decent dealer. I’m going to
go with a hood panel and separate blanket panel.

https://lensunsolar.com/collections/foldable-solar-panel