There are many small appliances available for RVs, camping , boats and believe it or not, even hiking. Most of these appliances operate using a 12 volt DC power supply that can be obtained from a solar power system. Some of these appliances can even operate without any battery backup. They will operate with whatever power is available from a solar panel. Operating efficiencies may vary but that is often not important with fans and heaters for example. A fan operating directly from a solar panel will blow harder depending on how much sun light is available.

You can even set up your recreational solar power plant to supply 120 volt AC using a cheap 12 VDC to 120 VAC inverter which you can get from an auto supply store. You loose some efficiency in the process of converting the power but that is a minor detail depending on what the appliance is that you want to use. Many 120 volt TVs and radios will work fine while others will be noisy.

Just some of the things that you can power while boating and camping

• Battery chargers
• Portable coolers
• Lights
• Fans
• Laptops
• Small Heaters
• Pumps
• Radios
• Televisions
• Charge cell phones