To answer the OPS question instead of debating the politics of green energy.
You said you tested your panel not facing the Sun and got 0.2 Amps.
Solar Panels will not even get close to the rated output if its not in direct Sun. Even a cloud passing by will crush the Amps. And you can not estimate the total power you are going to get by how many hours of daylight.
The suns power changes all day being strongest at noon and very week near sunrise and sunset.
IF you have to use that panel I would always keep it facing the Sun and at best maybe say 1/3 of the daylight hours X the Amps.
Since you need the power for something important. I would get a car battery or rv battery and charge it at home like someone said before. A car Battery can have 100 Amps hours, that is more then enough power to last you a week camping. You can even take you car battery out of your car and use that and have your car recharge it.
Or you can get a bigger Panel.
And definitely not useless and its the future.
How is free power from the Sun useless.
If you solar power your house and your house gets good sun, you can have the system paid off in about 9 years. The panels would last over 25 years, but you will still have battery maintenance. Still you save in long run and its only going to get cheaper in the future.
I always like the security you get by not being dependent on the grid.
i chose the not ideal conditions to test my system because that is how it is used when im camping. ie the max number of sunlight hours that i have are from sunrise to sunset. thank you for point out that not all the hours are equal.
also, i chose indirect sunlight because when im camping i dont have time to be calculating and adjusting the angle of the panel to the sun. why? well i guess im too busy camping.
anyway, ive come up with my best solution without buying more equipment.
here's my solution:
1 - i used the car alternator to bulk charge the battery for about an hour. because i dont want the alternator to charge the battery at too fast of a rate, i use the 7amp charge controller( the one that comes with my solar panel) to limit the current.
2 - then i connect the battery to my solar panel and let the solar panel do the only thing that it is good at, ie trickle charge the battery for the rest of the day.
on a good day, the battery experiences a full absorption charge from the solar panel.
i also have a 2amp charger that plugs into a 500 watt inverter that i own. it too bulk charges the battery in about 3 hours. it is gentler on the battery. but it involves running the car longer than i like. h9wever, i do carry it and use it if im traveling from one location to another.