There’s plenty of solar panels that don’t weigh a lot these days
Comment on Solar powered personal umbrella with battery?
floop@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
Probably because it would weigh 40 pounds and cost $700
Jimmycakes@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
nimpnin@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
Nah. You could DIY something like that for 30€ or something, let alone mass produce. The only problem is that the folding would be more clumsy and probably take a bit more space folded
floop@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
Slapping one together out of spare parts is not at all the same as mass producing one in a factory. And whatever you could slap together for 30 bucks would, as I said, in previous comment, suck and break very easily, not to mention that you wouldn’t be able to bring it anywhere close to the ocean for fear of everything corroding extremely quickly.
nimpnin@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
Yeah. Mass producing can be orders of magnitude cheaper.
It’s a ridiculous argument. Of course something like that could be manufactured, it’s just too niche of a market so nobody has made it a reality (yet).
Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 3 weeks ago
Lol that tiny ass solar setup ain’t charging both a laptop and a phone, least of all with them running.
That can just barely charge a phone (source - I’ve done a lot of math around this, solar panels have very low output per square meter).
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
I would think of using the solar panel to charge a battery pack instead, then you can power devices from that. Although you may be charging the battery for 8 hours to power a laptop for 2.
nimpnin@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
Who said it would?
shalafi@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
The picture clearly implies that.
Valmond@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I have 2, around 25cm x 30cm and, when perfectly aligned to a strong summer sun, they do 1 watt and 2 watts respektively. Amazing.
Also, sitting outside in the harsh sun with a laptop? No thank you 😁.
This is really niche stuff for when you can’t even reload your power bank once every couple of days IMO.
Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Yeah, that’s my experience as well, you leave them out all day and get half a power bank if you’re lucky. Basically only worthwhile if you’re camping somewhere remote for an extended period of time.
pineapplelover@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
I got one to charge my phone to 1%. Pretty happy
nimpnin@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
Now look at the standard umbrella and figure out if it is 25x30cm…
Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
I’ve got a very similar panel myself, in fact it’s probably a bit bigger.
If you leave it out all day, under ideal conditions, it will put around 10AH worth of charge into a power bank, maybe a bit more, so 40-50 watt-hours if you’re lucky, over twelve hours.
Not a worthwhile amount of power.
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
Yeah this has always put me off solar panels like this, for their cost they make fuck all and if you just need power for a day or two it’s better to get a battery. Only if you need weeks does solar+battery start to make sense instead.
nimpnin@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
That charges a phone just fine?
I use a smaller panel to charge a battery at a summer cottage. That keeps my and a few other people’s phones charged pretty alright.
Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Not worthwhile if you’re carrying it around all day.