this post was submitted on 15 Jul 2026
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I've put solar panels everywhere.
On my house, on my tent, even on my hat.
Nothing beats getting free energy from the sun. Found some cheap solar power banks that I repurpose for all kinds of things.
Is it worth it to have panels without direct sun in your opinion? I would like to test one of these plug-n-play offgrid balcony kit but I'm not sure.
It will charge for sure, just not optimally.
For low power applications or where you have plenty of time it is totally fine.
When it relies on only indirect sunlight, you can still get 50% of the power generation.
Talk to me about these cheap power banks - what kind of cheap are we looking at here?
20€ for 3 solar panels and a powerbank.
https://www.conrad.com/en/p/voltcraft-solar-charger-5w-powerbank-capacity-mah-ah-4000-mah-2127239.html
The powerbank itself isn't that big. But it charges fully in 4 hours and it is really easy to cut them up and extend the cables to put the solar panels wherever you want. And it powers every USB device.
You could also theoretically solder the panels in parallel to charge even faster. But I just connected 2 of the powerbanks with a USB splitter to get 1 USB output.
They also charge the powerbank with the slightest of light. Even just a light bulb is enough for it to start charging, lol.