Outdoors

Wagan Tech previews five-panel solar-powered generator

Wagan Tech previews five-panel solar-powered generator
Wagan Tech's five-panel solar-powered generator
Wagan Tech's five-panel solar-powered generator
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Wagan Tech's five-panel solar-powered generator
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Wagan Tech's five-panel solar-powered generator
Wagan Tech's five-panel solar-powered generator
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Wagan Tech's five-panel solar-powered generator

There’s a number of small portable solar chargers available which are designed to keep mobile gear such as MP3 players and mobile phones powered up when there’s no electrical outlet around. But with people cramming more and more devices on their person or in their cars when heading off the grid, we're seeing a growing number of larger and more powerful units designed for more power hungry devices. The latest is thid portable solar-powered generator from Wagan Tech which provides 1,500 watts of power for seven to eight hours.

Intended as the perfect accessory for campers, hunters and RVers, Wagan Tech’s generator is small enough to throw in the boot and has wheels to make it easy to transport from the car to the campsite – although you’ll probably want the campsite and the car in pretty close proximity. The unit comes fully assembled with one 12-volt battery – with the option of adding two more – and folds open to display five solar panels – again, with the option of adding two more.

Wagan Tech's five-panel solar-powered generator
Wagan Tech's five-panel solar-powered generator

Wagan Tech had a unit on display at CES 2011 and said, in its basic form – one 12-volt battery and five solar panels – it would supply 1,500 watts of power for seven to eight hours. A spokesman said the company was still tweaking the design, but was aiming for a Q2 2011 release date and a price of around US$1,100.

4 comments
4 comments
Anumakonda Jagadeesh
Good Mobile Solar Generator.

Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore(AP),India
Akemai Olivia
I can build a foldable expandable solar panel charger like this at one-third of the cost.
bdaaa
I can too!! And I know plenty of sites that can help with this. The resources nowadays are too good to be messing with such overpriced stuff. Like one called How to make solar panels - I did a simple link to show. This place and others like it produce enough info to make stuff way better than this even. Man...
Chris Jackson
1500 watts in 8 hours means 37Wp per panel, in perfect light conditions, also this appears to be polycrystalline so will be near useless in cloudy conditions. Or you could get a monocrystalline module for 1/6 of the price that gives you 250Wp which based on 8 hours could generate up to 2kWh in half decent conditions. Overpriced, inefficient and poorly designed.