Originally Posted by
staehpj1
I have to say that I have a hard time imagining a 40w solar panel making much sense for most touring unless they have gotten a lot lighter in recent years. Aren't the flexible ones something like 2-4 pounds and the rigid ones more like 8-10 pounds? You could carry a lot of batteries or a pretty big battery pack for less weight than even the flexible ones.
I guess if you will be away from civilization for weeks on end and need to use electronics a lot it might possibly make sense, but it seems like it would have to be a pretty unusual set of conditions and requirements.
Ahh yes, this is true. My panel weighs about 4kg. So not insignificant.
The batteries I carry are 10Ah LiFePO₄s weighing 2kg each. With a netbook that draws nearly 40W and a radio that draws 10W when idle (200W when transmitting full power), I'd need quite a lot of them to power my gear for a week as I'd be staying in places where no mains supply is available.