chez
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Solar laptop chargersAnyone use one? Any recommendations?
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vegplot
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Unless you leave your flappy out in the sun then it's probably not worth it.
They're questionable from on environmental point of view insomuch their manufacturing carbon foot print may well be much higher than using the equivalent over its lifetime compared to fossil fueled mains leccy.
I'd rather invest in a total solar system for the house as opposed to lots of individual units whose efficiency is questionable.
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dpack
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if it is several meters square might work
pvs are ace for low power kit but pooters are quite hungry
bike genny would drive one
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chez
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Just wondering about piece-meal off-grid options. I need to do some research. I think HHW has one, doesn't she? But she's not online much in the winter for that very reason ...
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vegplot
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Winter is a bad time for solar PV. Not only are the days shorter but the light intensity is far less than in summer. You get about 1 hour per day peak Watts whereas in the summer it's more like 4.5 hours (average for UK).
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Helen_A
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It depends on the power needs of your laptop.
If you've got one that is capable of charging from a 'travel' socket (so from 12V or 15V) then you should be well placed to charge that from a 12V kit such as that intended for boats etc. Most likely to 'like' these are the small PCs (eee and similar) and the macbook, the macbook air and macbook pro (I've got a couple of friends who run their air from solar only, even at this time of year, but they have other another computer to talk to it as its got no drives etc, and those are running from mains other than for a couple of months in the summer). The 'briefcase' that Maplin sells seems to be a 'popular' option, but wait until they do a halfprice solar event again as otherwise its going to cost you £100 (about 3 years to 'pay back' at a minimum). There is another Maplin kit that is just panel without 'travel casing' and that is less money though, and is also reasonably well thought of, its in use on a lot of the narrowboats at the local marina 
Helen_A
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