More Solar MacBook Pondering
In my last post I discussed the feasibility of a 34Watt solar panel for charging portable electronics. One of the main points that I made was the charge times: With a custom 34W panel, you’re looking at about 2.5 hours to fully charge a MacBook Pro battery.
I started talking about these numbers with my roommate today. I mentioned that the MBP battery lasts a good 5 to 6 hours on casual use. This means that with a 34W panel, you could successfully USE AND CHARGE (simultaneously) a MacBookPro with that solar panel. If you dropped the panel in size to a 17Watt, you would be looking at a 5hour time for full charge. – But that means that you could use the laptop while charging, and essentially counteract the battery’s ‘uncharging’!
A 17W panel could be made small. Maybe as small as my MacBook Pro’s lid. Exciting…
Brennan. Thank you for putting your work out there. Any beginning pointers if I want to use solar power for my laptop when I get home after work for a few hours? In otherwords, panels charge something, maybe the macbook’s battery directly, maybe a car battery or two, or a Duracell emergency battery, etc. I’m trying to go all solar at home in otherwords, but only for my laptop, or maybe a Mac mini if they make more sense (but they need a screen!) and DIY. I’ve got a sunny roof and not much money…
Hi Caleb,
Thanks for reading!
As far as charging your laptop goes, check around the web to see if someone has already done it. There are very few solar laptop chargers out there, but if you can avoid coming up with the circuitry yourself, you’re going to avoid the biggest hassle.
Keep me updated on your progress. I’d love to see how it goes.
-Brennan