I have something similar.
I have three 12-volt 5 watt solar panels from Sunforce
that I link together in parallel into a 12-volt 15 watt panel. I hook this to two 12 volt 12 amp-hour batteries in parallel that I store in a small Coleman cooler.
It's portable, and with a DC cigarette lighter adapter from Radio Shack, can charge many small devices. The battery should be able to run some small electronics overnight until the next charging cycle the next day.
I also have a single 12 volt 15 watt panel
that can be linked in parallel to create a 12-volt 30 watt pane.
A charge controller would be required if you go to 15 watts or beyond.
-PJ
Nice.
I have exactly the same setup.
I keep several 12 volt sealed lead acid batteries around (charge them up every 2 months or so), mostly in the 8-18 amp hour range, which is enough for a small car accessory hot water pot, or a small car accessory oven to effectively be used for heating water and some food for a day (then it needs to be recharged, which with that sized solar panel - takes about a day.
With a reasonable sized inverter, it can also run your desktop to post on FR for a short while (though an iPhone or something similar is far more efficient powerwise anymore)
Not breaking new frontiers in solar engineering with it, but in a pinch it’ll be better than nothing.
I figure mine will most likely be needed for an earthquake.
It’s fun, but ironically one could be better prepared, simply by imagine you’re going camping and having what you would need for that... :D
Small camp stove, standard kitchen stuff and a few fuel canisters, and you’re prepared enough for most things you’re likely to encounter.
Always have some water is, I think, the key.