this post was submitted on 18 Jul 2026
695 points (97.9% liked)

pics

29312 readers
218 users here now

Rules:

1.. Please mark original photos with [OC] in the title if you're the photographer

2..Pictures containing a politician from any country or planet are prohibited, this is a community voted on rule.

3.. Image must be a photograph, no AI or digital art.

4.. No NSFW/Cosplay/Spam/Trolling images.

5.. Be civil. No racism or bigotry.

Photo of the Week Rule(s):

1.. On Fridays, the most upvoted original, marked [OC], photo posted between Friday and Thursday will be the next week's banner and featured photo.

2.. The weekly photos will be saved for an end of the year run off.

Weeks 2023

Instance-wide rules always apply. https://mastodon.world/about

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I'm only half kidding. I'm a bit of a prepper and I have lots of powerbanks and devices that charge from USB but besides idling my truck I really had no other way to charge any of them in case of a long-term power outage which seemed a bit of an oversight on my part.

Not like this solves the issue. 30 watts (under ideal conditions) isn't much but it's a start.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] IcedRaktajino@startrek.website 200 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (43 children)

Be careful. Those things are addicting.

That's how I started: a little 5v, 6 watt panel I stuck in the window to charge my phone while I worked. Then I wanted to charge some other stuff, so I got a 15W panel. 15w panel was nice, but 100 watts was much better, so I bought two 100W fold-up panels like you've got.

Then I bought a big 1 KWh power station that could supply up to 2000 watts. I take it camping and charge it from the two 100W fold up panels.

But, sadly, the demon had its claws in me and refused to let go. "Why should I only use that solar power two or three times a year?" the voice said. So I bought 4x 200 watt panels so I could use the power station to power my homelab and refrigerator during the day.

Still, that wasn't enough to satiate my addition. Now I've got 4 KW on the roof, 32 KWh of house battery, and a 10 KW inverter that is currently powering our house.

Am I satiated now? Only time will tell.

[–] kieron115@startrek.website 5 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Am I satiated now? Only time will tell.

I haven't heard you say a word about your solar powered electric car...

[–] IcedRaktajino@startrek.website 14 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Check back in 2-3 years when I (hope to) get an EV. I'm sure I'll be crowing about it then 😆

In the mean time, would you like to hear about my solar powered lawn mower?

[–] kieron115@startrek.website 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Unironically yes haha. I hope it's just a manual lawn mower that you have your son push around.

Lol, no. And if you were expecting something clever like a goat, sorry to disappoint lol. Just a basic battery-electric push mower that I've charged from solar panels all season.

[–] HerbGrower@slrpnk.net 4 points 1 week ago

Could setup a solar powered desalination plant to water your garden too

load more comments (40 replies)