Social Question

JLeslie's avatar

Can you recommend a small solar charger I can use indoors?

Asked by JLeslie (65419points) December 25th, 2020 from iPhone

Hoping someone has experience with a solar charger that works well in indoor light. I assume they all do. At minimum to charge my cell phone. Maybe to charge my laptop. Do they have batteries in them, or they only can charge my phone while in light? Does it matter if the lightbulbs are LED or the old fashioned kind?

Observing members: 0 Composing members: 0

3 Answers

zenvelo's avatar

Indoor lighting and ambient light are enough to power a small calculator, but that is approaching the limits.

What you are describing is close to perpetual motion: trying to use available light to power more light..Solar collectors aren’t that efficient.

Solar chargers powerful enough to recharge a phone are available at places like REI, but they come with advisories on using in full sunlight on cloud free days.

Call_Me_Jay's avatar

I have something very much like the Anker PowerPort Solar 21 watt which is about the size of an iPad when folded.

It definitely needs sunlight to work. It has no battery. I have a separate battery bank. I use it when fishing, charging the power bank at camp while we are out on the river.

Your laptop power adapter will have a watt rating. Mine says 65 watts, so the solar charger will not charge it directly.I use my setup to charge phones.

I don’t have experience with power banks large enough to charge a laptop, but I think it would take a loooong time to fill one with solar power. For comparison, 5,0000 milliamp hours (mAH) is a big cell phone battery. My laptop batteries are 20,000 and 80,000 mAH.

SEKA's avatar

Not sure that I’m understanding exactly what you’re looking for; however. while checking out @Call_Me_Jay ‘s Anker solar power charger, Amazon sent me a recommendation for this . I don’t think that it will recharge inside your home. I don’t think that any of them will. Still, it claims that once charged that you can have light for up to 40 hours. I would think that it would last days for keeping your cell up and going. It has a wall style plug that could keep your computer up and running. I could see it coming in handy during hurricane season. The price appears to be very reasonable as well. I’m not necessarily recommending this item as much as I’m just making you aware of what exists

Answer this question

Login

or

Join

to answer.
Your answer will be saved while you login or join.

Have a question? Ask Fluther!

What do you know more about?
or
Knowledge Networking @ Fluther