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10+ years ago I had a laptop case with solar panels and an outlet. It worked well; could both extend the battery life and charge when not in use. Not mediocre,

10+ years ago I had a laptop case with solar panels and an outlet. It worked well; could both extend the battery life and charge when not in use. Not mediocre, and I imagine things have improved? There may be better solutions for low grid envs, but this one is viable.

macspoofing 5y ago
>10+ years ago I had a laptop case with solar panels and an outlet. Do you think they would work better if they were built into the laptop screen? Because that's what OP was raving about. You can get batteries and external solar chargers (they are cheap and come in any size you want) if that's what you want to do. Building them into the device is STUPID. For one thing, you would need to put your device in direct sunlight to charge them ... and heat is not good for electronics. Also, the solar array size will be limited to whatever size your device is, that is: "too small".
- naikrovek 5y ago
  man, you've got some bones to pick with solar power, don't you?
  - macspoofing 5y ago
    No. I think it's a perfectly fine technology ... but it isn't a panacea and it doesn't make sense for everything that people are trying to cram it into. Case in point, attaching solar panels to a smart phone or a laptop screen. I've conceded (somewhat) that if you really want to, it makes far more sense to get external panels and just plug them in.
gandalfian 5y ago
30 years ago I had a credit card calculator powered by a solar panel. Ideal pairing. Viewable screen in direct sunlight too thinking about it.
- Renaud 5y ago
  Calculators need mere microwatts of power to function. A very basic laptop is in the tens of watts. A difference of many orders of magnitude that you can't compensate by the size of solar panel on a small device.
  - supermatt 5y ago
    > A very basic laptop is in the tens of watts The latest version device in question (the OLPC) is ~5W under normal usage and less than 1W when idle. Im not sure about an integrated solar panel - im not sure i would want to keep my laptop exposed to the sun - but i was able to keep a 2015 macbook charged with a small solar panel while travelling (approx 4 hours a day of heavy usage). Obv depends on time of year, location, weather, etc.
    - AshamedCaptain 5y ago
      But even 1W is several orders of magnitude greater than the average LCD calculator.
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
- numpad0 5y ago
  It’s interesting that electronic calculators are basically the only type of devices ever to have successfully powered by integral solar panels. There are some electronic price tag products, wireless keyboards, decorative keychain tags, etc. that could work on solar only, but even those are rare. e: Forgot digital wristwatches. They seem to work fine.
  - AshamedCaptain 5y ago
    And it's pretty simple to figure out why it's so for electronic calculators. I had one of these, a modern-ish one though, except that the solar panel was defective and never actually worked. I only noticed after 3 years of use. That's how much the builtin _half-discharged_ coin battery would last... and how useless the solar panel actually is... I would even guess they only put in the solar panel for the look. You could probably power such a calculator from ambient radiowaves, using a galena crystal...

macspoofing 5y ago

>10+ years ago I had a laptop case with solar panels and an outlet. Do you think they would work better if they were built into the laptop screen? Because that's what OP was raving about. You can get batteries and external solar chargers (they are cheap and come in any size you want) if that's what you want to do. Building them into the device is STUPID. For one thing, you would need to put your device in direct sunlight to charge them ... and heat is not good for electronics. Also, the solar array size will be limited to whatever size your device is, that is: "too small".

naikrovek 5y ago
man, you've got some bones to pick with solar power, don't you?
- macspoofing 5y ago
  No. I think it's a perfectly fine technology ... but it isn't a panacea and it doesn't make sense for everything that people are trying to cram it into. Case in point, attaching solar panels to a smart phone or a laptop screen. I've conceded (somewhat) that if you really want to, it makes far more sense to get external panels and just plug them in.

gandalfian 5y ago

30 years ago I had a credit card calculator powered by a solar panel. Ideal pairing. Viewable screen in direct sunlight too thinking about it.

Renaud 5y ago
Calculators need mere microwatts of power to function. A very basic laptop is in the tens of watts. A difference of many orders of magnitude that you can't compensate by the size of solar panel on a small device.
- supermatt 5y ago
  > A very basic laptop is in the tens of watts The latest version device in question (the OLPC) is ~5W under normal usage and less than 1W when idle. Im not sure about an integrated solar panel - im not sure i would want to keep my laptop exposed to the sun - but i was able to keep a 2015 macbook charged with a small solar panel while travelling (approx 4 hours a day of heavy usage). Obv depends on time of year, location, weather, etc.
  - AshamedCaptain 5y ago
    But even 1W is several orders of magnitude greater than the average LCD calculator.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
numpad0 5y ago
It’s interesting that electronic calculators are basically the only type of devices ever to have successfully powered by integral solar panels. There are some electronic price tag products, wireless keyboards, decorative keychain tags, etc. that could work on solar only, but even those are rare. e: Forgot digital wristwatches. They seem to work fine.
- AshamedCaptain 5y ago
  And it's pretty simple to figure out why it's so for electronic calculators. I had one of these, a modern-ish one though, except that the solar panel was defective and never actually worked. I only noticed after 3 years of use. That's how much the builtin _half-discharged_ coin battery would last... and how useless the solar panel actually is... I would even guess they only put in the solar panel for the look. You could probably power such a calculator from ambient radiowaves, using a galena crystal...