I need POWER

[Cogman]

Just a few questions, First would this work to charge a laptop? It does not say laptop in the discription, but it has a 12V output, and I belive that is what my laptop uses. Next, If im going to get a laptop for myself, Im concerned about the battery. I want it to last as long as possible. Would a AMD XP Mobile, or Pentium 4 (mobile?) last longer.

 

[OulOat]

Originally posted by: Cogman
Just a few questions, First would this work to charge a laptop? It does not say laptop in the discription, but it has a 12V output, and I belive that is what my laptop uses. Next, If im going to get a laptop for myself, Im concerned about the battery. I want it to last as long as possible. Would a AMD XP Mobile, or Pentium 4 (mobile?) last longer.

I really doubt that would work. First, it's not alternating current like in the walls. Second it's not enough Volts. Third, i doubt you want to carry that around with you since laptops are made to be portable. Finally, for your second question, P4 easily.

 

[Cogman]

about the solar powered charger, Why do you say it would not work? The power adapter for laptops changes AC to DC. Laptops only use a 12v Battery. As far as portability, Wouldnt this, in fact, make it more Portable? I mean, Whats easier, Finding an outlet, or just charging about anywhere (including outdoors)

 

[fyleow]

Originally posted by: OulOat

Originally posted by: Cogman
Just a few questions, First would this work to charge a laptop? It does not say laptop in the discription, but it has a 12V output, and I belive that is what my laptop uses. Next, If im going to get a laptop for myself, Im concerned about the battery. I want it to last as long as possible. Would a AMD XP Mobile, or Pentium 4 (mobile?) last longer.

I really doubt that would work. First, it's not alternating current like in the walls. Second it's not enough Volts. Third, i doubt you want to carry that around with you since laptops are made to be portable. Finally, for your second question, P4 easily.

Uhhh the laptop has a transformer box that converts the AC current into DC.

You need to check the Ampere rating of your power box and the solar panels. If they match up it should work.

The Mobile XP and P4 should work just as well, you need to be careful that you don't buy a notebook with the desktop processor (P4) though or battery life will be very short. Careful with some laptops as well, Tomshardware had an article up where the Dell worked at half speed while on battery.

EDIT: Checking out the link it gives about 70mA on the 12V line. That is probably not enough, it can power my headphone amp maybe but definately not a laptop.

 

[Cogman]

tnx

 

[OulOat]

Originally posted by: fyleow

Originally posted by: OulOat

Originally posted by: Cogman
Just a few questions, First would this work to charge a laptop? It does not say laptop in the discription, but it has a 12V output, and I belive that is what my laptop uses. Next, If im going to get a laptop for myself, Im concerned about the battery. I want it to last as long as possible. Would a AMD XP Mobile, or Pentium 4 (mobile?) last longer.

I really doubt that would work. First, it's not alternating current like in the walls. Second it's not enough Volts. Third, i doubt you want to carry that around with you since laptops are made to be portable. Finally, for your second question, P4 easily.

Uhhh the laptop has a transformer box that converts the AC current into DC.

You need to check the Ampere rating of your power box and the solar panels. If they match up it should work.

The Mobile XP and P4 should work just as well, you need to be careful that you don't buy a notebook with the desktop processor (P4) though or battery life will be very short. Careful with some laptops as well, Tomshardware had an article up where the Dell worked at half speed while on battery.

EDIT: Checking out the link it gives about 70mA on the 12V line. That is probably not enough, it can power my headphone amp maybe but definately not a laptop.

Yup, you need the transformer, you can't just plug the solar power directly in (I doubt it has the right adapter anyway for that). And since the site says it's for light usage, it would be very unlikely that it would work for laptop. It'll make it less portable because instead of carrying one thing, you are carrying 2 things and twice the weight.

 

[Cogman]

OulOat,

I think your alittle Off Base with your hardware Knowledge. The Transformer Converts AC to DC, Cutting it out will make no diffrence. (using a DC voltage source that is) The resion this would not work is because of the MilliAmpure, This im still debating on to as higher amps = more damaging waves (or something to that effect). But as far as the transformer thing goes, it just converts AC (alternating Current) to DC (Direct Current). Dc has a lower voltage than AC (AC 120V converts to DC 12V). All a Transformer does it convert AC to DC nothing more. If you get a Direct DC voltage it is more effective as you dont waste energy Converting AC to DC.

 

[ai42]

Ok it COULD work, but I don't think it would be all that effective.

1. Solar pannels give you a very small amount of energy. The link provided says trickle charger, which means it can charge but due the the small amount of power it would take 3-4x longer to charge.
2. Most laptops charge at 19v (and will vary), so you would have to use a DC to DC transformer to transform 12v to whatever v your laptop uses.
3. Your laptop will probbably be rather confused running on this, because it is given the correct voltage (which is usually all it checks), but not enough power to run it. So it thinks it on AC power source but in reality it still needs to suck some power off the battery to run, which I doubt the laptop manfuactuer had kept in mind.
4. However I don't see a problem charging your laptop battery in this setup, it would just take longer.

 

[Mark R]

Nowhere near enough power - you'd need at least 10 of them (20 or 30 for a high-end laptop) and full sunlight, with an appropriate voltage convertor for a laptop to work adequately.

If you just used 1, even with a voltage convertor, as soon as the laptop tried to draw power from it, the voltage would just drop to virtually zero, and the laptop would think it had been disconnected.

 

[element]

The misinformation here is staggering. "higher amps = more damaging waves (or something to that effect" lmao. Say what?

Ok truth is that solar kit you linked to only delivers 70 mA. What that will amount to is an extremely slow charge for a laptop whih would be all but useless, and that's only if you can actually get the power to the battery properly. What I mean by that is, does your laptop come with a capability to charge in a car for example off of the cigarette lighter? If not you'd have to fashion one yourself and it doesn't seem like you have the know how to do that. I myself could do that but I don't recommend you try it if you've no idea what you're doin.

But if you can charge your laptop off 12v, or someone else reading this thread might, for example have a 12v cig lighter charging jack perhaps as an extra accessory to buy, then something like this solar setup would provide enough power (500ma as opposed to the 70ma in your link) to charge a laptop battery properly.

Of course it is more expensive too. $125 instead of $30.

 

[Cogman]

Tnx Element, after thinking about amps I was off base. And I do have it set up so I can use a Charger for our laptop in the car (DC-AC converter) but I like the Idea of solar powered stuff 🙂.

 

[element]

yw, good luck.

Also, here is another solar panel that has yet even higher current, specifically designed for laptops. CetSolar

With the one I showed you earlier you probably can't run your laptop off of it just charge it. But with htis one you may actually be able to run the laptop depending on how much power your laptop needs. Their technicians can help you determine what you'll need. They won't have it in stock until January '03 according to their website though.