Portable Solar Power Generator - Never Run Out Of Power Again

We've all been there, you're listening to your ipod on a long bus trip and it runs out of power in the middle of your favorite song. No listening to podcasts, no music or audio books, what are you going to do with all the time ahead of you. If not that then surely your cell phone has given up the ghost half way through an important conversation. The phone sounds a beep and you see the low charge warning on the screen. Looks like you'll have to find an un-vandalized phone booth - good luck!

I'm like most other people. I take it for granted that I can get instant access to entertainment or business communications with a hand held device. This explains why I have all sorts of gadgets like many other people do. However I am often left in an inconvenient situation because I have forgotten to recharge them. Thus a great solution to situations like these is to carry a solar power generator.

There are quite a few portable solar power generators around at the moment. They all have the same basic set up. A number of solar panels will absorb photons from sunlight to create electricity. This is stored in a battery, like a lithium ion battery that you might find in laptops. The generator will have a connection that can be used to connect various appliances to the generator so that they can use the stored electricity.

The advantage of the solar generator is that if it is running low on charge then sunlight will help to top it up. Of course, this implies that there is some sun out but with some of these cells even the smallest amount of sunlight is enough. And this translates to any portable device that you have on you will have a source of electricity. Those flat battery blues are over for good.

When going for a portable solar generator there are a few things to consider. First should be the type, size or efficiency of the solar panels. Bigger panels will obviously have more surface area and thus provide more direct current. This has to be weighed against bulkiness and aesthetic appeal. You want your generator to be compatible in terms of size with the devices it will be powering. And it should be comfortable to carry in a backpack or something like that, without being heavy.

A battery with a large capacity is a plus too. How long can you use an ipod with out needing to recharge for instance. You are looking for a battery that lasts a long time obviously but, again, you should consider the size if you want your generator to be portable.

Finally, you should check out what portable appliances can be plugged into the generator and how easy this is. At a base level, it should be compatible with your cell phone and any of personal digital appliances you may have (including a gps device if you do a lot of car traveling). You will probably use it most often with entertainment devices like PSP's , portable dvd players and mp3 players so it should be compatible with these devices too.