Canadian Tire recently launched a television "demo-mercial" that shows viewers what its new generation of solar products can do.

The ad begins with a couple of guys opening their cottage for the spring. They are immediately ready to saddle up on their all-terrain vehicle, because a 1.8-watt solar panel has been topping up the ATV battery during the winter.

Cut to the winter and a woman taking her minivan out for a drive. The same $29.99 Eliminator Solar Panel in the last scene now sits on the van dashboard, plugged into the cigarette lighter, where it is helping the vehicle to an easy start on a bitterly cold day. The need for booster cables or a tow truck are all but gone.

In the third scene -- now summer -- a heftier five-watt model of the Eliminator ($69.99) is connected to a battery on a boat, where it keeps a cooler chilled and runs the trolling motor and fish finder.

Canadian Tire's solar panels of five-watt and higher are designed to work with inverter-equipped Eliminator PowerBoxes that allow you to plug in your laptop or portable television in the backwoods.

The power boxes, which cost between $99.99 and $249.99, store the captured sun's energy in a 12-volt direct-current battery and convert it into a 110-volt alternating current.