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Unpopular opinion: my solar panel failed halfway through a camping trip and it was actually hilarious
I was at Sequoia National Park last summer, three days into a five-day trip, when my portable solar charger just stopped working around noon. It was totally cloudy and the thing must have gotten a crack in the panel from stuffing it in my backpack wrong. I ended up using my car's 12V outlet to charge my phone for an hour, which felt super wasteful but I had to check the weather for the next storm. A ranger saw me and laughed, saying she had the same thing happen with her setup last year. Has anyone else had a solar gadget fail at the worst possible time?
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fionanguyen11d ago
You said "a ranger saw me and laughed" and honestly that's the part that hits home for me. I used to be one of those people who thought solar stuff was foolproof and would never break, like it was magic or something. But last year my little foldable panel got a bad connection right when I needed it most, and I had to sit in my car for 45 minutes just to get my phone to half battery. It really changed my mind about how delicate this tech can be, especially when you're out in the wild and not careful with your gear. Now I always bring a backup battery pack or a car charger just in case, because laughing at yourself is way better than being stuck with no phone.
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gracej999d ago
Didn't I read somewhere that solar panel efficiency drops by half on cloudy days anyway?
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