PowerTraveller's PowerGorilla + solarGorilla for remote power

Saw a mention about something called a PowerMonkey in the Feb 2009 issue of Circuit Cellar Ink when Ed Nisley was writing about testing solar panels and I started investigating - dunno who has seen these before and actually used them, but I have not until just now, and I'm very impressed.

The things I am referring to are the PowerGorilla (a portable large capacity battery unit) and SolarGorilla which is a portable solar power collector that can work on its own or connect to a PowerGorilla to charge it from the sun.

The products both come from Power Traveller and look like really excellent ways to handle remote power requirements when depending on existing battery storage and using power from vehicles isn't enough!

What I'm curious about is how beneficial such an arrangement would be people like us who use rugged PC's and other rugged electronic devices in the field.

There was a thread not too long back where an Italian-sold portable battery unit was being marketted on Ebay and it was discussed here a bit, but the stuff from PowerTraveller looks better designed and engineered.

If any of you have uses their products I'm keen to know how they go as it could provide an excellent way to keep toughbook and similar rugged computing platforms powered in the field away from other sources of electricity.

Craig.

 

Craig,

One of our members (Terminus) wrote an excellent article about using solar for power a while back and included a PDF download loaded with info... Here's a link to the thread!

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=223655&highlight=solar

EDIT - Not that I read the post again I see you've already read it.

<Takes out large mallet to hit on head>

 

Yeah... well...

one can tell just by it's size the SolarGorilla is not going to be adequate for any long-term use; it says so in the documentation that it is a "charging solution which must be used with the powergorilla battery pack" to provide power for your device. What this means in english is that it does not generate enough power to keep up with the demands of a modern laptop, so (based on my experience with other small solar panels) you would have to charge for 12-20 hours to store enough energy to run your laptop for 2 or 3 hours. The thread TB mentions is more directed at using solar as one's ONLY source of power for laptop, cell phone and keeping rechargeable lighting up for use at night.

The bottom line is you need to soak up a certain number of photons to make a given amount of electrical power; and for that, you need a given amount of AREA. No small, convenient panel is going to be big enough to really be useful in this arena, it is simply a marketing ploy to tap into the "Green Craze" as a means of selling an overpriced product that is little more than a curiosity.

he dead giveaway? NOWHERE ON THE SITE do they give details on the actual wattage capacity of the solar array or the AH capacity of the battery pack; ALL serious power production equipment does that. Even when you click on the "Specifications" button it's just an ad for the product with only dimensions and how much current the battery pack will provide (500ma - approx 1/10 what you need RUN a laptop) at 20V or 5V. Utter BS, Im afraid.

mnem
Why don't we need square eyes for reading square print on square pages?