Charging a laptop with solar power

[Beanfeast 10]

Next summer I'm going away in my caravan to a festival for 4 days, 2-3 of those days I need to have a laptop and mobile in use - possibly all day for at least 2 of those days. There will be no electric hook up, only the leisure battery in the caravan, and the car won't be very accessible for any of this time.

 

It isn't a new laptop so the battery, whilst in reasonable condition, certainly won't last a full day. The leisure battery is also getting on and probably won't last more than 2 days if I'm using it constantly to charge the laptop.

So any ideas how I'd keep the laptop charged up?

 

So far, I've thought of solar panels - but working out the best ones to get is complicated, not to mention expensive! I'd either buy it to charge the leisure battery, or charge the laptop directly somehow.

otherwise I'd buy a 2nd leisure battery, or 2nd laptop battery and take them fully charged. I'm just not sure even that would provide enough power - perhaps a 2nd leisure battery might be enough.

 

Any thoughts and advice welcome!

Edited December 9, 2016 by Beanfeast

[geared 319]

You can charge the mobile with a regular small solar panel, but I doubt you'll manage the laptop.

Obviously you 'could' charge the laptop on solar but you'd need a massive panel and it'd cost a fair amount of money.

 

I've previously used a small solar setup to charge a powerbank (because solar charging takes ages), then charged the phone from the powerbank.

 

Anker stuff is pretty good.

Edited December 9, 2016 by geared

[Obelix 11]

For the power that you need it will be much cheaper to buy a new leisure battery, fully charge it before you leave and then switch it as and when you need.

 

A solar charge panel capable of keeping up with just a laptop is going to be well over £100 and then you have to fit it and hope for cloudless skies.

[bkcin 10]

Mobile USB power banks are cheap these days and work well.

 

It looks like you can also get version that will charge some laptops - http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/iq-laptop-power-bank-30000-mah-universal-with-11pcs-connectors-p80-30ks/version.asp?refsource=Ldadwords&gclid=CI_x_oO359ACFde6GwodqUoOCg

 

I've not tried the above so it would require further research to see if it would be suitable.

 

You could also check with the festival to see if they have any charging facilities that you might be able to use.

[geared 319]

The issue there is it needs a 12V input, and most of the affordable solar packs output 5V (to charge mobile phones).

You can get 12V solar stuff, but obviously it's more expensive (and the power bank is 60 quid by itself)

 

Like Obelix said another leisure battery might be best, Halfords have a massive 115Ah battery for £95 at the moment.

Edited December 9, 2016 by geared

[Ghozer 112]

The issue there is it needs a 12V input, and most of the affordable solar packs output 5V (to charge mobile phones).

You can get 12V solar stuff, but obviously it's more expensive (and the power bank is 60 quid by itself)

 

Like Obelix said another leisure battery might be best

 

Most laptops are higher than 12v too, mines 19v....

 

You also won't get the current you need from a solar panel....

[Cyclone 10]

You can work out whether something like that mobile battery is sufficient. It's 30k mAh. Or 3Ah.

Check the spec of the laptop battery, work out the running time, do some maths.

A quick check on ebay suggests that laptop batteries are typically 5 to 10 k mAh, so 30 would give you approx 3 full charge life spans.

A leisure battery on the other hand should run for weeks, even an old leisure battery with a low capacity has a capacity that dwarfs a laptop battery by entire orders of magnitude.

[RootsBooster 24]

What exactly are your needs for the laptop? Do you have as tablet you could use instead?

[Beanfeast 10]

Thanks for the help all, I would need a laptop rather than a tablet. I need to remote access servers, other PC's etc, run programs, move files etc, etc.

 

I've been doing more digging round and think the power is manageable, albeit at a cost. The spare leisure battery with an inverter sounds like a better option at the moment, especially as that will always be useful for the caravan in the future.

[geared 319]

Could always get the spare leisure battery and a 12V solar charger.

 

Charge the leisure battery from solar, run the laptop and whatever else you want off the leisure battery.

[apelike 10]

Get another leisure battery and charge it before going and use it with one of these to charge the laptop battery.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/150W-Boost-Converter-DC-DC-10-32V-to-12-35V-Step-Up-Voltage-Charger-Module-/152191951325?hash=item236f58e1dd:g:tdcAAOSwARZXocwL

 

As laptop batteries are normally 12V you will require a forward voltage around 14.5V to properly charge it.