Portable (Folding) Solar Panels – what to look for Solar Panels are great – they allow us to put charge back into our batteries no matter where we happen to go. No doubt you’ve also realised that with panels there’s a major choice to be made – put them on the roof or have them […]

 Parallel, Series, Shading and Diodes   This is a subject that repeatedly comes up in debates, we often have solar panels in parallel, and adding diodes into the chat seems to fuel the confusion as well. And aren’t blocking diodes built into all solar panels these days anyway? Or is it in the regulators? And […]

How Much Solar? The size of solar panels and the size of batteries are determined pretty much independently of each other, but because they work together in any 12Volt system, if we get one wrong then it will probably affect the other. Also, if you’ve already got a 12Volt system but are unsure whether to […]

Solar Insolation in Australia In Australia we are very lucky to have the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) who collect weather data from hundreds of stations around the country. Even better, they now compile this data and make it available online. In the 1990s solar insolation[*] was added to the historical figures for rain, temperature and […]

Solar Panels and Regulators Solar Panels convert the sun’s rays into electrical power – I think we all know that by now – but what are the if’s and but’s of it all, and the conditions that affect its operation and efficiency. Most of us also want to know how much solar is needed, and […]