Solar charger can work without sunshine?

Solar charger is convenient for people who usually travel out. But sometimes I want to ask such question “solar charger can work without sunshine?” Perhaps it is a stupid question. But I still want to know the answer. And if they can not work, is it still convenient. You can not use inside and you can not use in winter. Only without sunshine, it becomes rubbish. So is it worth for us to use?

 

What are you charging? There exist devices with photovoltaic cells that work off of any reasonably bright light, but these tend to be extremely low energy. For anything that consumes more energy than a scientific calculator, you're probably going to need sunlight so yes, it's uses are rather limited. However, I don't see why you can't use it in winter (the sun is still there) and you can use it indoors as long as you place it by a window (although indoors usually has AC power outlets so it's not necessary).

 

Solar is a good way to supplement energy, but not a good mains source as you need very large and expensive solar panels to get any real amount of power.

I cant imagine any form of solar power being good for a notebook on the go.

 

AFAIK solar cells even work under artificial light (at least those put inside calculators do), but the amount of power you can generate under artificial light can vary depending on the cell type. Usually you need sun light to get the maximum output. In any case you need a considerably large solar panel to get enough current to drive a computer (probably larger than the laptop itself).

I wonder why anyone want to use a solar panel indoors (other than for small devices like calculators of cause) If you are indoors and if you have artificial lighting that means you have electricity.. so why not just plug in directly ?

 

Solar cells need any sort of light.

In fact, in my days at school in Germany we had a week of projects and BP gave us some solar cells for free.
Thanks again There were still intact when I left for the UK 2 years ago.

Back on topic:
Solar cells work with infrared, visible light and even ultraviolet.
It the energy -> photons that are important - and they exist in any form of light.

Problem is, as mentioned before:
Light intensity, sunlight can be 100 times brighter than internal lights...
Indoor lighting will lead to electricity production in a solar cell, but its going to be very little.

I suppose you'd need quite a few solar cells in a very sunny place to provide the average 90W for a modern laptop...