8 cool solar products for your home: buyer’s guide

Take this versatile Big Blue solar charger on a camping trip or just out to the back porch and unfold it. It’s best to plug it into the wall to give it a full charge, but the solar panel will keep it charged. 

Meanwhile, it has three USB ports. Use it to charge any combination of phone, tablet, laptop, battery pack, digital camera, and more. It’s compatible with both Apple and Android products, but not with all the products of either. 

It has a hook that lets you easily attach it to your backpack. Or you can just spread it out on your lawn or picnic table or by the pool. It’s waterproof and splash proof, so don’t worry if it gets wet.

Don’t leave it out on sand, rock, or concrete, though. It will overheat.

When people see you with this solar backpack from ECEEN, they’ll know that you’re into both the environment and technological innovation. Such personal and visible solar products might even start some meaningful conversations. 

This roomy backpack has plenty of compartments for maps, documents, electronic devices, and other essential gear for hiking or other outdoor activities. Or for students, room for textbooks and all but the largest laptops. It also has a detachable 7-watt solar panel that’s scratch-resistant and weather-resistant.

Use its USB port to charge your phone, GPS system, Bluetooth speakers, MP3 players, battery packs, and more—but not a laptop computer. The rip-resistant, water-resistant fabric makes it ideal for heavy outdoor use.

Be careful when ordering, though. Different colors have different features, and not all include the solar panel. Some include a bladder bag so you can carry water without having to pack a separate water bottle. So choose the one that best suits your need. 

Enjoy your music wherever you happen to be. This solar powered Eton Rugged Ruckus Bluetooth speaker charges in direct sunlight in less than five hours. It also charges with a USB cable. Then it can play music—or the news from a radio station––for eight hours. 

And while it plays, you can power your phone or other devices through its USB port. So if you’re drawing music from apps on your Bluetooth-enabled phone, the phone won’t run out of power before the speaker does. 

(It’s not a regular charger, though. It only brings a phone to 87% charge and does not charge larger items such as tablets. Also, charging a phone takes a lot of power, so it will reduce the length of time it can operate on a single charge.) 

It comes with a USB cable so you can play it through a computer. You can also plug it into the wall, but you need to buy an adapter to do it. 

Besides Bluetooth, it also has a regular audio jack. Besides a phone, it works with an iPod. It’s water resistant, so don’t worry about rain or getting it splashed at a pool, but on the other hand, it’s not water proof. Don’t submerge it.

It has become more important than ever for children to learn STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics). And learning them has become much more fun than when most of us were in school. Sillbird’s STEM 12-in-1 solar robot toy is a very popular kit that can make twelve different solar robots, six at each of two levels of complexity.

Since it’s solar, you’ll never need to hunt for batteries. On the other hand, it’s strictly an outdoor toy in sunny weather. It’s possible to build the robots indoors, of course, but they won’t do anything without the solar panel charging them. They operate both on land and water

The kit comes with 190 pieces. It’s intended for children at least eight years old. The pieces present a choking hazard for very young children, so adult supervision is critically important. 

Fortunately, making the robots together can be a great bonding experience between parents and children. Just don’t assume that assembly will be easy. It might take a couple of hours to complete your first robot. Once you get the hang of it, the next ones should go together with less trouble. 

Besides STEM subjects, this kit helps children develop imagination, fine motor skills, teamwork, and confidence. 

You and your guests can safely walk at night and easily see steps or anything left lying on the ground with these solar pathway lights from Gigalumi. Illuminate your driveways and sidewalks with no wiring. 

These lights have glass lenses in a brass housing. Only the stakes are plastic. Some users report trouble moving them if they don’t like where they put them in the first place, but at least one user has drilled holes in a wooden fence and mounted them there. And if you can find metal stakes, you can use them instead of the plastic. Considering that so many pathway lights are all plastic, that doesn’t seem like too much of an imposition. 

When these lights come on, they cast a pretty pattern on the ground. And the light doesn’t project upward to shine in your windows or contribute to light pollution. It’s bright enough so you can see where you’re going, but not at all harsh. Your property will look great at night.

These are only two of a number of outdoor solar LED lights you will find handy.

In emergencies, you need to keep informed of what the weather is doing, but it’s hard when the power goes out. That’s why you need a NOAA radio that doesn’t need to be plugged in. 

This NOAA radio from JALL can be charged with a USB port, a hand crank, or a built-in solar panel. It’s probably not best to use the solar panel as the primary way to charge it, but when the storm has passed and the power hasn’t returned, solar products like this will certainly give you peace of mind. 

It will come on with weather alerts. The earlier you receive alerts, the more time you have to prepare to act on them.

Not only does it find weather stations, but it also has an AM/FM radio, a bright flashlight with three settings, an alarm, a motion sensor, a reading lamp, and a phone charger. So if you can’t charge your phone from your wall socket, you can use this radio.  

You don’t need to wait for an emergency to use it. If you like to listen to the radio while you shower, for example, this one is perfect. It’s also great to take camping. For a device with so many features, it is not large. That is, it won’t take up too much space in an emergency kit or backpack.

Here’s the clock I mentioned earlier. 

Just as “solar clock” isn’t precisely accurate, neither is “atomic clock.” The actual atomic clocks are precision scientific instruments, and only a few exist. The official clock in the US is located in Boulder Colorado. It sends out a radio signal. The clock you buy is actually a radio-controlled clock that detects that signal and sets itself automatically. But isn’t “atomic” easier to say than “radio-controlled”? Not all atomic clocks are also solar products, but the combination is a good one.

So you need to set your solar atomic clock from LaCrosse Technology to your local time zone. After a few minutes, it will detect the radio signal from Colorado and set itself. You won’t need to do anything more, because it even switches between standard and daylight saving time automatically. It’s a digital display, including seconds.