We’re massive fans of camping solar panels here at Adventure Kings! They transform your camping experience by letting you stress less about your battery going flat, which leaves you more time to do the really important things, like have a flick or put a stew on in the camp oven. But here’s the really beaut thing about a portable camping solar panel – the truth is they’re way more useful than just charging your battery at camp! Here are six ways that we’ve used our portable solar panels around home. And like we always say here at Adventure Kings – the more you use your camping gear, the better value it becomes!

1. KEEP THE BOAT BATTERIES CHARGED

If you’re anything like us, then you probably don’t get to use your boat as often as you’d like. And if you’re a LOT like us, then you’ve got an old boat that doesn’t quite charge the batteries as much as it should. Yeah you could fork out big coin having a marine auto elec go through the wiring and figure it all out, or you could take the easier, way more affordable option – and fit a couple of big Kings deep-cycle batteries and charge them with your portable camping solar panel before you hit the water! I’ve got twin 120Ah AGM deep-cycles wired in parallel, effectively acting as a single 240Ah AGM battery. A couple of days before I know I’m going out on the boat, I plug my camping solar blanket in and sit it across the bow in the sun. Then, when it comes time to hit the water, the boat’s good to go and the batteries are fully charged!

2. KEEP THE CAMPER TRAILER READY FOR ACTION

Here’s something I’ve been doing for years – leaving my big 250w folding solar panel connected directly to the Anderson-style plug on the drawbar of my camper trailer in between trips. This keeps the pair of twin 138Ah deep cycle batteries topped up, and I even leave my camper trailer fridge running and use it as a beer fridge while the trailer is parked in the shed. Not only does it keep the batteries fully charged and the fridge running, but the nature of AGM batteries means that you’re actually extending their life instead of constantly letting them run flat. Definitely an excellent use for a camping solar panel kit in between camping trips!

3. FLAT MOTORBIKE BATTERY? FORGET THE BATTERY TENDER!

Just like the boat, I don’t get to jump on the bike anywhere near as much as I’d like to. So I can avoid pushing it up the top of the hill and trying to clutch start it down the hill, I try and connect my camping solar blanket as often as I can to keep the battery topped up. It’s only a tiny little 20Ah battery anyway so it doesn’t take much to charge it up, but the bike’s a big 1000cc Vtwin so it needs a bit of persuasion to turn over, especially when I haven’t ridden it for a couple of weeks. The best way to do that is with a fresh battery, and the best way to keep your battery fresh ain’t no battery tender – it’s a camping solar panel!

4. NO ACCESS TO A 240V WALL PLUG? NO WORRIES!

Heaps of campers these days run a Kings Battery Box and AGM battery as a way of powering their campsite and running a camping fridge, LED camp lights and the like. However you do need some way of recharging your battery – the best way to think of it is like a bank account, with the battery being the bank account and the electricity being coins. You can only take out a certain amount of electricity before you have to start putting it back in again. That’s what your camping solar panel does while you’re camping – but what about putting it to use when you’re back home again? A lot of campers don’t tie their battery box into their vehicle, and instead choose to keep it removable. That way when you get home from camping you can empty your camping gear into the shed or the garage and you’ve got the full space in the back of your vehicle free again for anything from the shopping to the kids’ sports gear. However if you don’t have a dual battery system or a DC charger then you still  need some way to put those coins back in the bank – and that at home means a 240v charger, but if you don’t have easy access to a 240v plug to charge your battery, just use your camping solar panel! Yep, you could even leave your deep cycle battery out the back yard in the sun, and leave your Kings solar blanket or solar panel for camping plugged in (assuming you’re using the included regulator) to safely leave your battery on trickle charge before your next adventure!

5. CAR WON’T START IN THE MORNING? SOLAR TO THE RESCUE!

Finally, here’s a trick we’ve used before – that took a couple of hours, but did work! One cold, chilly but sunny winter morning we woke up to find that our starter battery had packed it in overnight – most likely due to a combination of age and the cold weather. Whatever the reason, it wouldn’t start the car. Out came the 200w solar blanket and onto the main battery it went, where we left it while we made another cuppa and sat back down for a bit. It took a bit shy of 2 hours, and a few failed attempts, but we were eventually able to get the start started by pumping some amperage into the battery and warming it up. That’s a win for the camping solar blanket!