solar panel to power toughbook?

I thought this would be a great way to show some independence from the grid and in the field. Has anyone tried this? if so, how big of a panel is required to power a cf-29?

 

You need to see Sadlmkr (Jeff) on this one...he lives in the middle of nowhere and that's all he has

 

We talked about this once. I suggested a solar serape/poncho.

It's probably best to "filter" the juice through as in my case a true sine wave inverter. A panel can kick out 17.5 volts ...or in the case of 24V 34 -35 volts. My home inverter will do a high voltage shut down at about 30-31.

I am strictly solar here and catch all the extra amps in the daylight in a series of deep cycle 6 V batteries. (2 banks of 4) Why 24?....... the higher the voltage the smaller the wire.

Any panel will charge the lappy...it's the fluctuations that are killer, hence the batteries (or see Lind below)

Sample: 60 Watt panel / 12V =5amps....safe enough but the cool weather will spike your panel upwards to unsafe V for the lappy.

In my vehicle I use a 300 watt inverter to convert to 110 and use a standard power supply.

Something that may be worth checking is direct connect from a 12V panel to a Lind charger (12V) This in the case of portability. The bad part with batteries is weight. As I think about this I believe that you need a converter to bring your voltage up to a steady 15.6. Amps can fluctuate. Low voltage is heat which is killer for the lappy. The Lind will shut down at low voltage but provides a safe 15.6 until that point. (I think)

Forgive the random maundering (is that a word?)yep.Googled it

O.K.
Bare minimum 40W panel=3.33 Amps
For vehicle carry run it through an independent deep cycle battery.
Regulate with Lind charger or 110V inverter with Panasonic Power supply.
For back pack carry wait a little and someone will pitch in....

That's better. And that panel has to be facing the sun. Figure on moving it every three hours.

Jeff

 

I seen a couple of pictures of set ups a while back in some of the old threads.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/panasonic/223655-powering-your-laptops-field.html



http://forum.notebookreview.com/member.php?u=313378 Read the info in his signature.




http://voltaicsystems.com/blog/test-results-solar-charging-a-panasonic-toughbook/

 

I have the Lind adapter, CF-LND8024FD. It is capable of 12-32 Volt input and regulates it back to 15V 6A (80W).
Like Sadlmkr says, 40W is absolute bare, better would be 80W, because with clouded weather, non-optimal orientation etc. you can loose a lot of power and it will stop charging alltogether.
A 100W panel (1.2 meter x 0,55 meter x 3,5cm) weights 7,5Kg and costs €155 at a "local" webshop.
I don't know what kind of car you have, but on a typical van, this size wouldn't be a problem, I guess.

A 100 watt panel wil give you even in clouded weather enough power to slowly charge a toughbook.

I have used a small 15W panel for charging CR123's batteries that I used in a flashlight. Worked like a charm

 

If size is no issue buy by the watt. We had some big panels on sale a while back here on the left coast. $1.40/watt.

 

I think mobile solar panels have to be foldable. Waiting for something like 60W and reasonable price

 

Mobile as in walking, then is foldable handy. But often it is either to heavy or to small (low watt).
When you mean mobile as in on a mobile home/camper/van, than the bigger the better. Up until a reasonable amount.

 

I'm thinking about trying this for a week long camping trip. (it's not hiking, so I don't need foldable, etc) Anybody every use Instapark or Epcom (available on Amazon, example Amazon.com: Epcom 50 Watt Polycrystalline Solar Panel - 5 year warranty: Patio, Lawn & Garden I've seen some much more expensive that are sold specifically for laptops, but I'd like to not spend $400 on a charger.

Thanks,
Aerik

 

I spoke {wrote} of $1.40 a watt. That's $225 for a 160 watt panel with an unknown life time. They degrade to 85% and stay there. 'cept the two I dropped...well the wind was at fault one time.

Deal with Backwoods Solar/ Idaho for instance...check there catalog...if you see fur lined toilet seats it ain't the right one. What i call gucci. Fancy but no substance.

Advance Solar, Calpella CA is the place in the north woods. You still need a converter/inverter but look.

Go slow and get good stuff.

Amazon is handy but this stuff you buy from those that are using it.

 

Great topic. I have some revolutionairy ideas about clean energy for laptops.

1 - Use kinetic energy (walking)
- example shoes that are connected to an electronic circuitry that re-charges a battery pack.
2 - Solar energy, jackets/bags all things that can get solar energy. Use it with foldable solar cells (there are jackets/trowsers and bags that have these things) that also recharge the battery pack.
3 - Use a keyboard that uses the kinetic energy of your fingers while typing, and re-charges a battery pack. Simple: by typing on your keyboard the energy that normally is wasted now gets put into a battery pack.

these things can make my dream laptop. A laptop WITHOUT a power plug. Nope. It works on pure nature energy.

Sadly this laptop does not exist yet. maybe a member of this forum has a small laptop factory or so, that can make this possible. hehe.

 

That is always good advice, but I am really trying to do this on the cheap as I will only use it occasionally and frankly, I'm broke. I re-read the other posts and I am thinking of maybe getting one of the aforementioned cheap panels, or maybe a 50 or 60 watt HQRP ( Amazon.com: HQRP 50W Mono-crystalline Solar Panel 50 Watt 12 Volt in Anodized Aluminum Frame 10 Years Limited Power Warranty: Patio, Lawn & Garden) with a charge controller.

I have a LIND car adapter, which sounds like it is very good at conditioning the power for the laptop. But here I read that the LIND needs 80 watts, but I'm not 100% clear on that. Frankly, I don't quite grok charging - it seems to me that as long as there is sufficient voltage, a very small amperage could be applied to a battery (trickle charging, right?)..

Anway, drawing heavily from Sadlmkr's post, I am thinking I could try using the LIND to charge the laptop from a 50 or 60 watt 12V panel. Worst case, I can use the 12V panel and a controller to charge two 12V deep cycle scooter batteries I have laying around, then use those to charge the laptop through the LIND...

Just stumbled accross this too, thought it was interesting, uses a 60 watt panel: http://www.lindelectronics.com/cgi-...D!/ppack/PFSC1555-2458/dbx_gen_detail_product

 

did you see the price of that lind unit? Not somethin you want to spend when you're broke.

The cheap pannel is most likely going to charge your laptop in 6 hours when you have full sun. Expect on an average day it might take 10-14 hours.
One question, what is the maximum voltage the Lind charger can handle? I bought a specific model that could handle 12-32 volts, most units can only handle 12-16 volts (which is more than enough for a car alternator as that one typically generates 14.5V). But the panel is capable of deliveirng 17.2 volts.

 

Look around for used stuff. As I said before this equipment downgrades to near 85% and stays there who knows how long. (nobody knows yet)
Two 40W used panels, a piece of piano hinge and you have a relatively portable device. Hook the black to the white and black to white and you have 12V (max 17.75) and 80 Watts or 80/12 = 6.67 Amps. (less downgrade)You could "nearly get away with a direct connect to the batteries w/ no risk.....but a cheap controller would make it safer.
I have four panels out back you could try. I'm about to add two ...maybe four panels. Thinking of roofing the battery shed with panels. Since it would always be pointed the same direction I lose sunlight so I UP panels. Another option is to hang 4 panels two on each side of my dog house. (East /West facing..the ridge is N/S)If I hook these up for (what's 4 x 24) 96 V then +12 wire would have little line loss and it's a run of near 40 feet to the batteries. Needs a converter at the end back to 24VDC.
BUT I have not had an electric bill in 15 years.
BTW the dog house covers four kennels 16'x30'?
Ain't this fun?
At the risk of repeating myself with sage advice...get good commercial equipment ..even if it's used.
One more idea and I'll shut up. Two solid panels (even 30W) backed by plywood (3/8") and you have a handy little box of power.
Sorry one more....since you will not get more than 75% of solar power at any one time (except optimum) please start with at least 60 watts.

Jeff...FWIW...

 

why not use the 12 volt dc-dc converter that you can by from panasonic?

Anyway, what is the model of the lind converter? what is its cost?

 

Lastly, kentic anatomy charger would make the most sense if you are to do alot of walking. I may do such a thing since I have a direct line to a rare earth neomagnet company in china. I could make a prototype first for cell phone batteries, then for bigger batteries.

 

usual 12V means 12-16V. most panels deliver up to 17.5V and 25V short-circuit. I'm not sure those converters survive this voltage and if they do, I'm not sure the voltage on the laptops is still correct. You can easliy measure it with a voltage meter and the summer-noon-sun burning on the panel when you have a converter connected.

Btw. AFAIK Panny uses the Lind converters. At least that is what I got when I bought the orrrrrriginal.
Look for the CF-LND8024FD, that is 12-32V and bought from my official toughbook dealer/repair centre. They told me it is for trucks and other large vehicles that often use 24V instead of the 12 Volt on smaller vehicles.But I thought it might be wise to use when I want to work with solar panels that usually don't stay below 16V.
I haven't gotten that far yet, I need to get my mobile office first and then equip it with one huge solar panel. I hope a huge 200 to 300 Watt panel will fit. That way I can charge even on gloomy clouded winter days when they are certainly not performing at their optimum.

 

btw, is there a backpack that can hold the tough-book snugly with other tough book supplies?

 

There is THE official Panasonic backpack. I'm not sure who made it, case logic or something I believe, but if it is the same as the always on case for the cf-19, I will not be impressed.
But one of the points of the toughbooks is that you don't need a huge protecting hard sides and thick foam bag, you can just shovel it in pretty much any bag and be good.