Would a solar panel Incorporated into a laptop lid work?

[billvon]

This would not be useful to run a laptop, but could be useful to charge it. My netbook is of most of the time. A 5 watts solar panel could charge its 30Wh battery in a day or two even under ambient light.

Warning - many devices (laptops/tablets) will not charge unless adequate power is available. The battery connects, voltage drops, it hits the low voltage limit, battery disconnects etc and no charging occurs. With my laptop I had to provide at least 15 watts to be able to charge it (i.e. 16 volts at ~1amp)

[Shmel]

This would not be useful to run a laptop, but could be useful to charge it. My netbook is of most of the time. A 5 watts solar panel could charge its 30Wh battery in a day or two even under ambient light.

[russ]

You know.... you guys are being silly but... it would be kind of nice to have a solar panel on it if it would at least make the battery last longer. You guys always seem to think we need to address the entire energy needs. Well I understand why, you wouldn't put only 3 gallons of gas in your car if the trip requires 5. But what I'm getting at is if you give me 1 gallon, I only need to buy 4.

How about if it puts in 0.01 gallons, costs a lot and adds size plus weight to the laptop?

A losing proposition.

[Sunking]

you wouldn't put only 3 gallons of gas in your car if the trip requires 5.

Dave I certainly understand where you are coming from, and if applying a panel to a laptop could provide 3/5 of the power, then it might be worth considering. But the problem is physics, economics, and practicality of it just gets in the way, and there is no way around that.

Take the practicality issue. How many times have you found yourself outside with your laptop with the back of the screen where the panel would be facing up into the sun. Or how about leaving your laptop outside broiling in the sun.

[inetdog]

You know.... you guys are being silly but... it would be kind of nice to have a solar panel on it if it would at least make the battery last longer.

And it would be a great conversation starter if that adds value for you.....

[daveb]

You know.... you guys are being silly but... it would be kind of nice to have a solar panel on it if it would at least make the battery last longer. You guys always seem to think we need to address the entire energy needs. Well I understand why, you wouldn't put only 3 gallons of gas in your car if the trip requires 5. But what I'm getting at is if you give me 1 gallon, I only need to buy 4.

[Sunny Solar]

If the laptop has a 27" LED screen and the rear of the panel can be glycol cooled with a small radiator mounted under the laptop it should be feasible under good sun conditions providing you also place a mirror the same size as the panel flat on the desk behind the laptop to reflect the sunlight on the the panel.

[Offgrid]

This is funny sh#$! lololol

[Naptown]

Now that I have learned to recognize the sarcastic font I am being amused

[inetdog]

This is a bit silly. a laptop has around 1 foot square surface area. Using the highest efficient panel you can buy is 19% or so. That works out to about 18 to 19 watts at best at noon facing directly into the sun on a bright sunny day with very low humidity.

I guess I am going to have to crank the backlight on the laptop screen up to max brightness to be able to read it under those conditions. That may double the power consumption.

[Sunking]

This is a bit silly. a laptop has around 1 foot square surface area. Using the highest efficient panel you can buy is 19% or so. That works out to about 18 to 19 watts at best at noon facing directly into the sun on a bright sunny day with very low humidity.

[inetdog]

The lid would not be large enough for the panel required to keep up with the computers draw. Look at the WATTs supplied by the charger. Then look at how big a panel is that can supply that wattage.

WWW

The power output of the supply is meant to both power the computer and charge the battery pack at the same time. But that only buys you a factor of two. Unless you only use the computer for 1/10 of the hours that it is in the sunlight.

[Wy_White_Wolf]

The lid would not be large enough for the panel required to keep up with the computers draw. Look at the WATTs supplied by the charger. Then look at how big a panel is that can supply that wattage.

WWW

[billvon]

So it keeps the battery charged while your using it? I think it would be a cool idea as long as its feasible? What do you guys think?

I tried that once, with a 20 watt panel. It worked OK, but would only charge when the laptop was off. The battery died after about three weeks, though - the laptop was just smoking hot all the time and that killed the battery very quickly. You are MUCH MUCH better off having the panel be separate so the heat doesn't get transferred to the battery, and you don't have to leave the laptop in the sun.

[DBaldwin]

No!!!! To hottt!!!!