Reviving an old thread...

I am ready to get serious about a foldable solar solution with the primary use being to charge batteries and possibly, if necessary, to directly power a SteriPEN or other small device. I wonder if it would be wise to buy two or three small panels which, when linked together, are equivalent to the output of one large panel. My thinking is that if I have only one panel and it fails, I'm out of business. With a multi-panel setup, there would be something to fall back on (assuming that something catastrophic didn't destroy everything). What say ye experts on the matter?

Once that's decided, pointers to decent panels at reasonable prices would be greatly appreciated. I suppose I would shoot for something around 40-50 watts of output.

I have absolutely zero knowledge on solar devices so thanks for any input that you might offer.