Solar powered laptop charger?

[goingtoafrica]

Hi!

I am moving to Africa in three weeks, and am looking for alternative sources of power for road trips. I stumbled upon this solar powered laptop battery charger, though I am skeptical that it would work with my T21 Thinkpad.

Does anyone have any opinions of this product? Do you really think this might work?

Thanks....

Linky

 

[MercenaryForHire]

I doubt it. From the site it says it only makes 0.6A at 16.5v - I'd think a laptop would draw more than that in the recharge state.

- M4H

 

[goingtoafrica]

Yea, but they guy in the chair looks to be typing away happily in his big hat and 1932 computer. I am still tempted.

 

[CasTroLTraN]

Dude...I think that I have the same thing. I recently bought this from Frys' Electronics (like 2 weeks ago). And let me tell you that this is enough to charge my cell phone (samsung s105). It is pretty useful when you cell goes out of battery. I also tried it on my sony fr130 labtop and the thing would not get enough charge.

 

[Mark R]

That panel is likely to be insufficient for all but the thinnest, lowest power laptops.

You'd need at least double that for most laptops (they do sell a double sized panel). However, for the most powerful, I suspect that even the double panel would not even be enough.

Also, some laptops, notably Dell - need a higher voltage (20.5 V - instead of 16.5) and may not charge at all even with the high power panel.