I know, it’s pretty annoying when your ipod battery is flat only a few hours into a long journey. No music, no audio books, gee you’ll have to think of something else to do.

Or maybe it’s your cell phone that is low on charge and you need to talk to someone. You hear those dreaded beeps and then the phone goes dead. You’ll have to find a phone box somewhere - one that works that is. I guess I’m as guilty as the next person when I want my entertainment or business ready at the touch of a button. That’s probably why I have more gadgets and hand held devices than I care to think about. However they all need power and quite often I forget to charge them fully leaving me stranded. The solution to this problem is to use a portable solar power generator.

There are quite a few portable solar power generators around at the moment. They all have the same basic set up. A number of solar panels will absorb photons from sunlight to create electricity. This is stored in a battery, like a lithium ion battery that you might find in laptops. The generator has a power point where various devices can be plugged in to use the current of the battery as if they where plugged into a wall socket. The advantage of the solar generator is that if it is running low on charge then sunlight will help to top it up. Provided there is some sun out the battery will always be charging. This should mean that whatever hand held device you may be using will always have a potential power source and you will never have that flat battery experience again.

When going for a portable solar generator there are a few things to consider. First should be the type, size of efficiency of the solar panels. Larger panels will be able to charge a battery quicker but they may be bulky too. You want your generator to be compatible in terms of size with the devices it will be powering. It should be easy to carry round on a belt or in a backpack.

You also want to find out what kind of capacity the battery has. How long can you use an ipod with out needing to recharge for instance. Obviously the longer time this is the better but again size will be a factor if you want it to be truly portable.

You also need to find out what can be plugged into it or how you plug devices into it. At the very least it should be compatible with a cell/mobile phone, a gps device, a blackberry and a pda. It should also be compatible with entertainment devices like an ipod, psp, portable dvd player and a digital camera.

For more information on portable solar power generators visit http://www.solarpowerappliances.com The site also features many other products including solar powered ovens and outdoor lighting. Adrian Whittle writes about using solar power and appliances that can utilize renewable energy sources.