Portable Solar Power For Portable Hardware?

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?"

Comments

Solar and handcranked are the way to go

[BadAnalogyGuy]

Solar has a lot going for it as an alternative power supply for portable items. The problem is that many of those items aren't exposed to sunlight for enough time to actually charge the reserves.

That's why I use a hand-crank as my primary source of alternative power to my portable items. Especially in the winter time when sunlight is at a minimum, good old elbow grease is always there.

Re:Solar and handcranked are the way to go

[rusl]

Are you serious about hand cranks?

I'm a cyclist and I sure would be. Human power is seriously overlooked. Using your much stronger leg would be easier.

I have a cheap hand crank flashlight that has a plugin supposedly able to charge a cell phone. Never tried it but I don't see why it wouldn't have sufficient power - a cell phone is extremely frugal and has a great battery. The biggest obstacle would be getting the power at the right level to charge and circumventing proprietary plugs for phones.

Are there practical crank chargers out there?

Thus the sun charges the plant, I eat the plant, I crank the laptop. (Or you could insert meat into that supply chain if you wanted it less efficient but more tasty)

solarcells in the netboot/laptop lid

[Ptur]

I'm still waiting for the first netbook or laptop to feature solar cells in the lid, instead of the stupid logo they put there now.

Come on, it can't be that hard? And don't tell me I'm the first to think of this?

"Green Revolution"

[lobiusmoop]

While the sentiment is admirable, please don't use 'going green' as an excuse to buy more toys; just buy the toys. Realistically, the power ranges you are talking about are in the 50-100W range for portable solar charging. In comparison, a typical 100 horsepower car is using around 75KW. (1HP=750W), so the power savings possible by simply traveling less dwarf anything possible via solar.

If you are _really_ concerned about going green, the biggest (and likely simplest) impact you can have is to never have children, especially in the developed world where per-capita energy consumption is highest.

Wait for Better Solar Panels

[EEthan]

In my experiences dealing with photovoltaic power supply systems of all sizes, I've become convinced that solar panels are currently not a viable solution for powering mobile devices for a few reasons, mainly cost, unreliability, and inefficiency.

First of all, look at how much these things cost. the Portable Power Pack retails online for 420 pounds, or about $660. You could buy more than a dozen eeepc batteries for that much and just keep them stocked in your car or rucksack or whatever. LiIon batteries aren't terrible for the environment, and you won't even need sun to use them...

Speaking of the sun, I live in beautiful southern California, where one can definitely count on the sun 99% of the time. But most parts of the world aren't that sunny, and even if the sun is shining there's bound to be a tree/building/civilization in the way just when you need it most. You're not going to walk or drive around the city looking for a nice open space to sit in for an hour and roast while you check your email, just so you could feel good about spending $600 on a solar panel, no matter how good your intentions are.

so how do you charge your devices with a solar panel while actually "on the go"? you can try to drape it over that rucksack of yours while you're walking somewhere, but if the panel isn't facing the sun directly you won't get anywhere near the peak power output advertised. Instead, you need to find an open space and lay out your few-square-foot mat-- and then you're tied to the ground.

And what about that generous peak power they keep advertising? solar panels output their peak power when they are laid out flat, directly facing the sun, on a completely clear, sunny day. I know from personal experience with small panels that small deviations from the sun-facing angle mean big drops in power.

So alright, let's say that you bought a 30 watt panel and it's noon on a clear, sunny day, so you're getting 30 watts out of it. Please correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that EeePCs use 36 watt power adapters. How do you plan on charging and using your EeePC on less than 36 watts WHILE charging your phone and whatever else you have plugged in? all you could possibly do is increase your battery life considerably-- which might be great, but i'm not sure it justifies the costs and the effort involved.

Here's my suggestion: Save the money you were going to spend on that portable panel. Use a little to buy extra batteries for your gadgets, and put the rest in a savings account. Save up for a large, multi-kilowatt solar system for your house, which will save a lot more greenhouse gas emissions per dollar you spend than one of these portable things. Use that home solar system to charge your batteries, and you're gold... er, green.