Powering a phone and tablet with a small solar panel
Ten days off the grid with one panel and two power banks.
- Answers
- Can a small solar panel really power your phone and tablet?
- Topics
- Amsterdam · Circulair · Durable · Renewable · creating · environment · experiment · hacking · howto · iPad · lifestyle · minimal · office · work
- Full article on willem.com
- https://willem.com/en/2018-04-30_off-the-grid-working-on-100-renewable-energy/
Summary
Yes. In a ten day experiment in 2018 I powered my phone, tablet, earphones and fitness tracker entirely from one small solar panel on my Amsterdam balcony, using two USB power banks to store and carry the energy.
Full text
The panel was a Gomadic Solar Charger of 330 by 305 by 38 millimetres, a Kickstarter purchase that had mostly sat unused. Placed behind double glass at 90 degrees it charged devices noticeably slowly; in direct sunlight at roughly 40 degrees the charging speed rose by 200 to 300 percent. For Amsterdam the recommended angle is around 30 to 40 degrees, which I achieved with a mount built from parts of an old rack server chassis. Two USB power banks did the storage: while one charged on the balcony, the other powered my devices. The panel filled a 5V 5000mAh bank in a day, enough to charge an iPhone several times, and I also used a larger Anker 20100mAh bank. An in-line power monitor taught me what each device really draws.