Each year, millions of Americans head out to their local campgrounds. Camping in the great outdoors is every camper’s dream; however, not everyone is able to camp at a campground or state park. If you find it hard or impossible to go camping, you may want to think about backyard camping. You may very well find that it is the perfect backyard activity, especially in the evening.

Even though camping in your backyard may not sound glamorous, it can be a fun and exciting adventure. In fact, it is an adventure that thousands of families enjoy every year. Backyard camping is popular for a wide variety of different reasons. One of those reasons includes the ease of camping. If you are an avid camper, it is likely that you may know all too well how difficultit can be to make it to your campsite. Not only do you have to worry about getting yourself to the campsite, but all of your supplies as well. And, imagine if you leave something behind! In most cases, backyard camping cuts down on the hassle of most camping trips.

Backyard camping is also popular because it allows campers to camp in a safe location. Unfortunately most campers, while camping on public grounds, are unfamiliar with their surroundings. Not only may they be unfamiliar with the land, but they may also be unfamiliar with other campers. Sadly, in today’s society it is just too much of a risk for some individuals. If physical safety is a concern of yours, that apprehension can almost completely be eliminated with backyard camping. Not only do you know the area, but you also know who or what should be in your neighborhood.

Backyard campouts are very popular among those with kids, especially young kids. When it comes to camping, there are many kids who are not at the right age to go. Whether it is due to unfamiliar territory, uncomfortable sleeping spaces, or being away from what they know, there are many kids that are unable to handle a camping trip. However, as a parent, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be able to enjoy camping. With backyard camping, everything should work out for everybody. Not only will you be camping in the outdoors, but you will also be near your home, in case you need anything for your children.

While backyard campouts are perfect for those with small kids, campouts are also fun for everyone else. Many individuals, including adults without kids, enjoy backyard camping because it is convenient, safe, and free. Most public campgrounds, in the US, charge a fee for campers. While this fee can vary from location to location, it can become quite expensive. That is why backyard camping is so popular in the US.

If you are interested in having a backyard campout, you will have to decide what supplies you require. Depending on your preference, you may be able to sleep in a tent or underneath the stars. As well as sleeping equipment, you may want to think about food, drinks, snacks and backyard toys.

By preparing for your backyard campout, you should have everything that you need. Proper planning will also prevent you from having to go inside your home. Avoiding your home as much as possible, even though you are in the backyard, is a great way to make the most of your backyard camping adventure.
Other articles:
Easy face painting designs
face paintings
face painting ideas

Solar Battery Chargers can be used to charge batteries when one is not connected to the power grids and does not have access to another form of electricity. (In other words, when there isn’t a wall socket to plug into.)

The way a Solar Charger works is simple. You connect it a battery and you then allow the solar charger panel to sit in the sun. The solar panel of the battery charger collects energy from the sun, and converts this energy into electricity. The electricity thus produced is then used to charge a battery. That battery can in turn later be used to run your equuipment.

There are several different types of solar battery chargers, as well as different types of batteries that you might want to charge. Some solar chargers generate more electricity than others. As all solar battery chargers use some type of solar panel, the amount of power they generate generally depends on the size of the panels. Solar panels are made up of individual solar cells. Solar cells are the units which create electricity out of sunlight. They are connected together on a solar panel. The more solar cells there are on a solar panel, the more electricity they generate. So you will generally find that bigger solar panels produced more energy, and smaller solar panels produce less.

Some solar battery chargers work with simple AA batteries, (like those that you would use to run a flashlight). Others work with special batteries, which can in turn be used to charge equipment such as cell phones (mobile phones), iPods, MP3 players, cameras, etc. Some solar chargers power the batteries of your equipment, such as the battery in your laptop computer.

The type of solar battery charger that a person would use depends in a large degree upon what the solar charger will be used for.

You might ask why one uses a solar charger to charge a battery, instead of directly running one’s equipment from a solar panel.

Well, this becomes a bit obvious if you think it through. If your equipment could only be powered by a solar panel, how would you operate it indoors, at night, or on a rainy day?

Secondly, imagine trying to charge your cell phone directly from the sun. You would have to leave the phone outside with in the heat with the solar panel. The sun’s heat might damage your cell phone. Or, what if it starts to rain? Or you might be inside when you receive a phone call, but your phone is outside charging in the sunlight.

Furthermore, the amount of solar power you get from the sun could vary under different conditions. A cloud could pass overhead and your stream of power would falter. It is not a stable source of electricity and it is far more stable to use a battery which has already been changed by solar energy and which can provide a steady stream of electricity to your equipment.

It would be far more workable if you could charge a seperate battery outside in the sun, and then use that battery to charge your other equipment.

There are a variety of solar battery chargers and other portable solar power devices available on the market today. In order to decide on which one you need for your purposes, you will need to understand the different types available and their uses. It also helps to have a basic understanding of solar energy and how it works. Further information and answers to common questions can be found at Solar Chargers and Portable Solar Power Devices.

by Anna Stone

Find more information at Renewable Energy

As a relatively generic word, camping means different things to different people. It may remind some of hiking through a forest or backpacking in the mountains. Or perhaps, it brings to mind a time when you and your best friend used to set up a tent in the backyard and try to stay out there and awake as long as you could. This usually meant you stayed unless it got too cold or rained. You would have stayed out in the rain, but of course mom said no.

Many kids enjoy going to summer camp so they can hang out with a bunch of other kids and tell ghost stories around the campfire while everyone pretends they are not really scared. You can’t admit you are actually afraid because that’s not cool and they may make fun of you. Yet you are already thinking about the camping equipment you may need for next summer and starting your camping checklist, as well as planning your revenge for the year before.

Is this the year that you and your family are going to load up a camper van or something similar, gather any and all camping equipment that you will need and head for the hills on a great camping vacation? Depending on the time of year, you may need campground reservations, so it is a good idea to plan ahead and call just to be safe.

If you are planning to travel to the great outdoors in an RV camper, then plan ahead and find out if any of the locations you plan to camp in have restrictions in place. They may not allow motorized vehicles of any kind, or maybe there is day use only and they have no overnight accommodations available. This type of planning helps to avoid what could be a huge problem for you, not to mention having to deal with “are we there yet?” from the kids. If you have not already decided where you plan to go, then consider a lake campground where there will be swimming, fishing or just relaxing options for everyone. Remember to call and double check on what, if any, restrictions are applicable for the locations you plan on visiting.

Sometimes, despite all the planning, something may go wrong or happen unexpectedly. Which is why traveling in an RV has some advantages. If you are unable to find a family campground or anything else acceptable, then you already have all the equipment that you need, so you can choose to keep going until you find something or stop for the night and continue your camping vacation in the morning. What could be better than a new adventure each and every day? Don’t worry about the kids, they will have a blast.

Solar Chargers and Portable Power

Today’s electronic age provides millions of new opportunities for people of all walks of life – and this includes photographers, writers, travelers, backpackers, and even mountaineers who may be far away from a power supply when they need to use their digital cameras or other electronic equipment. Along with the new horizons and possibilities brought about by the digital age, come certain challenges. One of these challenges is – “how can I use my electronics when I’m deep in the wilderness?”

One method of meeting this challenge is the use of portable solar power devices.

But if you are looking for a portable solar power, you might feel confused about all of the different sizes, shapes, versions, and ratings of the various items available.

You might want to know how long it will take for a solar cell to charge your camera or batteries. Or whether or not your power supply will allow you to run and charge your laptop at the same time. Which solar charger is correct for you, and how much money do you really need to spend?

To make the estimations and predictions necessary, in order to choose the correct device to suit your needs, it will probably be helpful to have a little bit of knowledge concerning electricity.

First of all – what is a watt? (Pun accidental!)

A watt is a unit of electrical power, equal to the power produced by an electric current which has one ampere and one volt.

A watt-hour is a unit of electrical energy, equal to the energy of one watt operating for one hour.

A milliwatt (symbol mW) is one thousandth of a watt. A milliwatt-hour is equal to the energy of one milliwatt operating for one hour.

A fully charged battery contains a certain number of watt-hours or milliwatt hours.

These days, solar chargers for batteries exist on the market, which use the power of the sun to charge a battery in the sun, during the day. The battery can then be used (day or night rain or sun) to run or charge your other electrical equipment.

Now, lets say you have a solar panel which you can use to charge a backup battery, and you can use that backup battery to charge your equipment. You want to know how long the backup battery will last, when you are using it to run one of your devices.

You can make an estimation of this, if you can find out how many watt-hours or milliwatt hours the fully-charged backup battery contains, and if you can find out approximately how many watts or milliwatts your equipment uses per hour.

Let’s take the example of a laptop computer.

1. With your battery fully charged, turn on the laptop, and then unplug it. Look at the power meter to find out how many hours your battery will last. (You might want to test the accuracy of this data, by using the laptop on only battery power and seeing how long it runs.)

Let’s say that you can run your laptop for 8 hours on battery power. (Remember the amount of hours it runs will probably vary, depending on your power settings for the laptop and what you are doing with it. But you can try to find an average.)

2. Now turn the laptop off and take the battery out. Look at the data written on the back of the battery, and try to find out how many watt-hours or milliwatt-hours that battery contains.

In our example, it contains 80 watt-hours. Divide that number by the number of hours you found in Step 1 above.

80 divided by 8 equals 10.

So we estimate that the laptop uses approximately 10 watts per hour.

3. Now find out how many milliwatt hours your solar battery backup contains, when it is fully charged (these backup batteries are often used in conjunction with solar battery chargers). You can usually find this in the specs of the item, where it is advertised (if you haven’t purchased it yet).

In this example, let’s say the fully charged backup battery contains 60 watt hours.

Your laptop uses approximately 10 watts per hour.

60 divided by 10 = 6.

Theoretical conclusion – if you charge your laptop from a fully-charged solar backup battery, it will run for approximately 6 hours.

But there are several other factors which influence this. This includes the settings of your laptop, what your laptop is being used for and how hard it has to work, how old your battery is, the temperature in which your battery has been stored, and probably some other factors only understood by God.

4. Now, not to thoroughly confuse you, but what if you don’t have a solar backup battery, but you have a solar charger for your laptop? And what if you want to know how much “sun time” you will need, to run your laptop for a certain period?

It’s impossible to say exactly, there are variables.

The amount of power generated by the solar device depends on the intensity of the sun, how much impediment there is to the sun, and the length of exposure to the sun.

The charger will create more power in the middle of the afternoon, than it will at other times of the day.

Your solar charger will create more power when it is closer to the equator, than it will in far northern or southern regions of Earth.

Your charger will also create more power on a clear day than it will in cloudy, misty, or dusty conditions.

But if you want to make an estimation, try the following.

Find out how many watts your solar-powered device produces under full sun.

Then look at the power adapter of the equipment that you want to charge. Under the output rating, it should state a certain number of watts. If it doesn’t give the watts, it should give the amperes (amps) and the volts.

Multiply the amps times the volts, and you will get the watts:

Amps x Volts = Watts

We will say, for example, that the output rating is 60 watts.

Remember, that’s the maximum amount of power that your device will use.

When the laptop is turned on, and when it is operating and charging the battery at the same time, it uses more power than it does when it has less work to do. It may have power-saving options which allow it to use less power. It will also probably use less power if it is only charging the battery but is not turned on (or if it is turned on but the battery is already full).

In any case, to estimate how long it will take to charge your battery (under full sun) use the data on the output rating of your adapter.

If the output rating is 60 watts, and your solar charger is 15 watts, you could estimate that it will take the solar charger 4 times longer to charge your battery, than it would take to charge it from a wall socket.

So… if charging your battery takes two hours from the wall socket, then charging it from your solar charger under the same conditions (and under full-sun) would take 8 hours.

Remember that full-sun (if it occurs) only occurs in the afternoon, and it does not usually continue for an 8-hour stretch (unless maybe you are in the Sahara). So you will have to make allowances for this.

And… the ultimate test? Get your solar panels and your equipment, go up on a mountain top, and see what happens. (Or, maybe you can try it in your backyard first.)

Solar energy is still a pioneer field!

It shouldn’t be, because it has been around for so long. But some people would prefer to complicate their lives by destroying the atmosphere and running up big electrical bills. So solar energy hasn’t taken off as fast as it should have.

The information above is to help you choose which portable solar device will best suit your needs. Once you have obtained it, experimentation will tell you in the end, what results you can achieve.

And - who knows, portable solar power devices may some day become much more powerful. Solar energy may someday be an element of a better future for all of us, and a key to a cleaner world.

Future development may make it efficient enough to replace the use of fossil fuels, which are creating the pollution that is so damaging to this planet. Some individuals on this earth may not want this to happen (if they are making a lot of money from fossil fuels).

But the sooner we all understand solar power, the sooner we can effect a change.

P.S. If you feel utterly confused right now, try sketching this all out on paper. If you ever need to choose a portable solar power device to suit your needs, this information may be very important for you. If you still feel confused after sketching it out, contact me and I will try to make my article clearer!