{
 "id": 69817,
 "slug": "powering-a-phone-and-tablet-with-a-small-solar-panel",
 "url": "https://agents.willem.com/en/snippets/powering-a-phone-and-tablet-with-a-small-solar-panel/",
 "language": "en",
 "title": "Powering a phone and tablet with a small solar panel",
 "subtitle": "Ten days off the grid with one panel and two power banks.",
 "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.",
 "topics": [
  "Amsterdam",
  "Circulair",
  "Durable",
  "Renewable",
  "creating",
  "environment",
  "experiment",
  "hacking",
  "howto",
  "iPad",
  "lifestyle",
  "minimal",
  "office",
  "work"
 ],
 "date": "2018-04-30",
 "published": "2018-04-30T00:00:00+02:00",
 "created": "2026-08-30T07:13:36.673000+02:00",
 "updated": "2026-08-30T07:17:00.238000+02:00",
 "full_article_url": "https://willem.com/en/2018-04-30_off-the-grid-working-on-100-renewable-energy/",
 "author": {
  "name": "Willem L. Middelkoop",
  "url": "https://willem.com"
 },
 "note": "A short distillation of a longer willem.com post. Not currently published on willem.com itself.",
 "answers_question": "Can a small solar panel really power your phone and tablet?",
 "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.\nTwo 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.",
 "markdown_url": "https://agents.willem.com/en/snippets/powering-a-phone-and-tablet-with-a-small-solar-panel/snippet.md"
}