12V Emergency Solar Power Kit

It appears that the family who was recently found snow-bound in the mountains of Oregon was not adequately prepared for an emergency in a remote area. Through the years many have advocated that anyone attempting such a trip include in their trunk a 72 hour kit with emergency water, food, first aid and other emergency supplies. We have heard time-and-time-again that a simple thing like a cell phone can be a life-saver to someone stranded. This was the case with this lost family, but it appears that the family had no way to recharge their cell phone while stranded. We have also heard of a lot of people who could have been rescued sooner had their cell phones not run out of battery power.

Like it or not, we are in a techno-world and we need more and more power to run our toys and communications devices. There are a lot of solar devices on the market that will charge a battery or an electrical device directly. We probably should include one in our 72 hour kit at home, at work, or in the trunk.

Recently I found a pretty cool solar product that will power up a little more than just a cell phone. It is a 12 volt Emergency Solar Power Kit made by Innergy and available on the Alternative Energy Store website. It is a solar panel with a slim battery attached to the back with a 12 volt cigarette lighter type receptacle attached so you can plug in any device that has this type of plug. It only has 8 amp hours in the battery so it won't run your 12v TV for very long but it will run an emergency light or charge up any device that uses 12 volts to recharge.

Oh, it also comes with a small energy saving LED light that plugs into the receptacle that will run for 18 hours on one charge. Hey, this kit won't run a house, but it could provide critical power in an emergency. Check out this kit, or take a look at some of the other solar products that might fit in your emergency preparedness plans.

All the best, Mike