Portable solar panels for camping – DIY

Enjoy camping? Hate shattering the peace and quiet and scaring local fauna with a generator? Clean and silent solar power is a great way to add a little comfort to your camping experience while being kind to the environment. You can easily make a camping solar energy system yourself.  Or you can take advantage of portable solar panels on the market specifically targeted towards camping.

Do it yourself camping portable solar panels

One of the Energy Matters team spends a great deal of time camping in the bush. He set up his own economical portable solar power rig using solar panels. With it, he’s able to power his notebook for 12 hours a day, run lighting and power some small appliances. This allows him to continue working for us while camping in the great Australian outdoors. And with juice to spare! It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it!

 The camping rig get its power from a 130 watt solar panel. The cabling from the solar panel leads to a Morningstar solar regulator which connects to a 100 amp Haze Gel deep cycle battery.

The collapsible frame weighs under 2 kilos and consists of 1 meter lengths of angle aluminium which is available pre-cut from most large hardware stores. A couple of hinges are where the solar panel attaches to the frame. There is some chain with carabiner clips attached to provide stability and make easily adjustable angles. A few screws and bolts allow you to put the whole thing together. To make such a frame costs under $60 and is quite stable even under quite windy conditions.

So, if you enjoy camping in the great outdoors, then you can ditch the generator. Use portable solar panels. It’s easy to make a camping solar panel rig or buy ready made kits complete with panels, regulators and wiring.