Solar Products

21st Century Solar is no longer taking online orders for solar products.

We recommend you visit 21st Century Goods for solar products and small electronic devices with solar charging capabilities.

21st Century Goods carries a full line of: solar panels for car, boat and RV battery charging, folding solar panels, solar powered lanterns and flashlights, Voltaic backpacks with built in solar panels for charging small electronics, and solar powered radios.

Charging your car, truck, RV, or boat's battery using solar energy

Small, portable solar panels are capable of recharging a vehicle's battery via trickle charging. Trickle charging is one of the most gentle methods used to recharge a battery because of the slow speed at which it rebuilds the charge. Trickle charging is meant to keep the battery fully charged when the vehicle is not running. It compensates for the small electronic drains that occur even when the car is parked.

Charging your cell phone's battery or small electronic products using solar energy

The two fundamental questions that need to be answered when considering using solar power for cell phone charging are:

Do I have a way to connect my cell phone to the solar panel or solar power source?
Does the solar panel or solar power source provide enough power to charge my cell phone's battery?

What is the easiest way to connect my cell phone to the solar panel or solar power source?
The easiest way to connect a cell phone to a solar panel is by using a Cigarette Lighter Adapter (CLA) specific to your cell phone model. All of the SunLinq folding solar panels come with a female CLA cable. So if you have a male CLA that works with your cell phone, you will be able to quickly connect to these solar panels to recharge your battery.

All of our solar charging products that come with adapter tips will list the specific cell phone models for which the tip can be used. For the Solar Style Solar Charger that list includes many models of Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, and Motorola RAZR cell phones. There are also additional adapters available other products phones. This compact solar charger is also capable of charging Palm and Treo PDAs.

What about these various cell phone adapter tips that come with certain solar products and which one will work with my cell phone?
Unfortunately, cell phone manufacturers have not yet agreed upon a standard plug that all of cell phones would use. So each cell phone brand, and even each model, uses a distinct plug, and thus needs its own unique adapter tip through which various chargers can connect.

What size solar panel do I need to have in order to power the recharging of my cell phone?

The general rule of thumb for determining how powerful a solar panel you need for recharging your cell phone or small electronics is based on how many features the product contains. The more of these newer add-on features, like web browsing, built-in camera, music player, etc., your cell phone or product has, the more powerful the battery must be, and thus, t he more powerful the solar panel needs to be in order to recharge it.

The Solar Style SC02 is a compact and rechargeable solar product that's ideal for adding hours of talk time to your cell phone. With a flip open solar panel and rechargeable battery included within the device. There is also additional adapter tips that provide a USB and CLA (cigarette lighter adapter) compatibility.

SunLinq foldable solar panels are capable of recharging your small electronics even faster.

How long does it take the solar panel to recharge my cell phone's or electronic product battery?

The Solar Style Solar Chargers requires 6-14 hours to fully recharge their internal batteries, but can also be recharged faster (4-5 hours) using the AC or car charger.

The SunLinq folding solar panels, on average, are much faster, and take between 2 and 4 hours to recharge a cell phone's battery.
There are many factors that determine how long it will take a solar panel to recharge a cell phone. The most important factors are the size/capacity of the cell phone's battery, how far the cell phone battery has been discharged, and how much sun the solar panel receives. This last factor is dependent on how often clouds are blocking the sun, what time of the year it is, and whether the solar panel is oriented to directly face the sun.

To decrease the charge time of your cell phone, don't wait until the cell phone's battery is completely empty, or "dead". It takes a significantly longer time to recharge a cell phone's battery if has entirely discharged. It is much better to start recharging when the battery is only low on charge.

What is a battery pack and how can it be used with a solar charger to recharge my electronics battery?