Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Portable Solar Power For Portable Hardware?

Posted by kdawson on from the try-chlorophyll dept.

Tjeerd writes "Because the 'green revolution' is accelerating, I felt it was time to get involved. Last week I started with buying a portable solar energy charger for my mobile phone. But soon I was thinking of also recharging my Asus Eee netbook with a portable solar energy recharger. I found things like the Portable Power Pack, Foldable Solar Chargers, and the Solar Gorilla. The Solar Gorilla looks quite interesting and might be able to recharge my netbook and fits nicely in a rucksack. But I would like some real-life feedback. If you have experience with these or other portable solar devices, what has worked for you?"

5 of 262 comments (clear)

  1. Come again. Because what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Because the 'green revolution' is accelerating, I felt it was time to get involved."

    Have another sip of cool-aid. Everybody is doing it.

    Not saying that being more green is bad - just your reasons to do it.

    And I'll quote the famous wise guy Kermit.

    It isn't easy being green.

  2. Watch out by Bruce+Perens · · Score: 5, Insightful
    There are a lot of underpowered units with inferior solar cells out there, for sale at very large markups. You probably want a folding unit, with reasonably durable cells. The ones I've seen aren't so great. There was a 6-watt folding unit at Fry's for about $100. That's 6 watts in full sun in optimal conditions, not nearly enough to operate and charge your laptop at the same time.

    If you are running linux, the stuff in /proc/acpi/battery/*/* will probably give you the battery voltage in Volts and current draw in Amperes, and you multiply them together to get Watts. You need about twice that to operate and charge at the same time. Charging might be 60% efficient.

    --
    Bruce Perens.
  3. Re:Solar and handcranked are the way to go by sumdumass · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Hey, wait a minute. I found myself in that exact same situation last year. Did you read my article in "outdoor geek's playhouse"?

    Well, if you did, you would have realized that the answer was using the candy wrappers to fashion a sail on the cranks with your tongue then role over and fart while moving your ass from side to side to turn the crank. It helps if you ate microwave burritos before the hike. You then think about using the force when you use your tongue to dial 911 and wait for the ranger to show up talking about putting on his robe and wizard hat.

  4. Re:This isn't "green" by stranger_to_himself · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The CO2 produced by making those things is more than you'll ever get back from using them.

    Make one car journey less (eg. the one needed to go and buy the solar charger) and you'll probably achieve more green credit.

    Probably right at the moment - but buying into this technology now will help drive development which hopefully will bring far greater long term benefits.

  5. Re:This isn't "green" by crashumbc · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We have all this beautiful technology and we can't agree on their interfaces.

    The interfaces are intentionally designed not to match... Blame the greedy Manufactures that want to sell a new car charger with every cell phone...