If you have looked for a portable solar power device, you have possibly gotten confused when you encountered the various types of solar chargers available, as well as the technical specs which can seem indecipherable if you're not an electronics engineer.
Without going into an entire tutorial, there is some basic data which can help you understand enough to determine which portable solar power device you need.
You may want to look at the device which you are planning to charge, and find out what watt rating it has (pun is accidental).
A watt is a measurement of how much electrical power is produced or used by a device.
To find out how many watts you need for your device, look at the adapter of the device, which you use to charge it from a power outlet.
Look at the "output" rating of the adapter. It should tell you how many watts the adapter generates. If it doesn't contain this information, it should contain the ratings for amperes (amps) and volts. (If you don't know what amperes and volts are, please see the glossary at http://www.findportablesolarpower.com/glossary.htm.)
To find out the watts rating of your device, simply multiply the amps times the volts. The following is the equation:
Amperes x Volts = Watts
In theory, if your solar power supply has the same watt rating as the item you wish to charge, it should charge it and run it at the same speed as the wall socket. However, there are several variables that come into play when one is dealing with solar power - the strength of the sun, the lattitude of the location, the amount of dust or cloud obscuring the light, impurities of metals in the electrical wires, etc.
If a portable solar power produces less watts than the output rating of your device's adapter, you can still use it. It will just take longer to charge. If your solar power supply has more watts than the item you wish to charge, it will probably improve the charging speed.
Keep in mind that electronic devices do not always use the same amount of power. For example, a laptop which uses 60 watts may need 60 watts when it is running at maximum power usage, and charging its battery at the same time as you are using it. But this does not mean that it always needs 60 watts, or that you can only charge it with a 60 watt charger. A charger with less wattage may take longer than a wall socket, but it can still charge the laptop. Get a solar charger with a watt rating which is as close to your equipment's rating as possible. In other words, don't get a charger for an MP3 player and expect it to be useful in charging your laptop.
Bigger solar panels usually supply more wattage, and will power your devices more quickly. But "bigger" usually also means "heavier" and "more expensive." So you will have to decide what is the most important. A rule of thumb is to get the biggest charger that you can afford, taking into account the weight and cost.
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