I've just scored 2 x 33 AH batteries from my ladies wheel chair (No, she not stranded, new ones arrived on Friday
) and theres a 3w panel in the shed. Should be enough to keep my drives, DSI and laptop going for a night or two.
I did consider going down the generator path, but since we are both environmentally concerned, went for the solar charger.
Not sure that its a good idea to hook the panel directly to the batteries Alex even if it does have a built in diode the input voltage can still exceed 20v on a bright day, not good for the battery. Better with some sort of regulator.