What do you need power for?

We here at Phalcon have a passion for vehicle dependent travel and are always looking for ways to do it better.  On a recent trip off the grid and into the wild we brought our kid’s minibikes, quads, and bikes.  On this trip, one of the quads was also electric as was the bike with the quad upgraded to Li+ batteries by yours truly and ridden by his intrepid 5 year old. 

The eBike was already a 48V lithium architecture (500W) so it was good to go.  Typically we use the Solar Generator (SG) to power the fridges and/or charge phones / headlamps / BT speakers.  On this trip, the electric quad and bike were also recharged with the same 1kWh (1000Wh) power supply supported by a 100W solar panel to create the SG.  

While it’s nice to do things that reduce one’s environmental impact, the author had a more basic question in mind – could the power supply keep up charging the quad and bike as we took off on our expeditions to explore our surroundings?  

Due to the frequently encountered thick sand, both were clearly using a lot more energy than they typically did cruising around the neighborhood at home.  The answer was yes, the SG kept up with energy to spare and it gave the author a bit of that “Ah ha” moment as far as a different ways to keep the kids riding that didn’t include carrying extra gas which the Land Cruiser would be happy to consume!  And, it made the SG that much more useful. 

This brings our uses for our SG’s to:

• Charging cell phones, headlamps, BT speakers
• Charging quads and bikes
• Powering lights
• Powering fridges

What other uses do you have for something like a solar generator or power supply?