Solar Battery For Laptop And Router

[Goodmind]

Thank you in advance for replying to this topic.

I would like to find a place in Bangkok that is conveniently located to purchase a solar battery for my laptop and ADSL /Lan Router.

The electricity in my apartment has been going out sometimes for one hour up to 8 hours at a time.

I would like a backup for this situation.

Any recommendations of shops to go to would be fantastic.

Thank you kindly.

Siri.

[RakJungTorlae]

I would think a rechargeable battery pack would be better then solar or even a small generator if its just for emergency use.. but if the power is out im not sure you could still get banwith if its supplied though the building. or U could buy from 7/11 a Go Live true H phone that worked as a aircard but IMO it works alot better and cheap. also buy 1 more battery for ur notbook or that battery hook up Idea

if you google Solar power thaivisa. a few topics do come up.

[Crossy]

Let's try this in the Tech forum.

You need power for your lappie and router when the mains is off.

Possible solutions:

UPS

Generator

Solar

UPS - Autonomy is dependent upon battery capacity.

Generator - Only limited by your fuel supply, but may not be permitted by your condo.

Solar - Doesn't work at night unless you have big batteries - see UPS.

[mamypoko]

Not sure how to express this clearly, but here goes: Even if everything in your domicile, router/computer, etc., has power during an outage, consider that the internet feed beyond your walls might also be down due to the outage.

In my case, when the power cuts the computer, the router and the land line stay on, but no internet. For sure this would not be the case for everyone, but worth factoring in.

Solar and batteries!!! If you go that route, please keep me/us informed...would love to hear the details. Could certainly use such a setup to feed other things even when the mains are go.

[JDGRUEN]

I bought one of these (link below). It is marketed under several brand names - often no brand name. I paid about 3000 baht for it plus shipping. I was going to use it for travel .. It will charge laptops and smartphones and many other DC devices as it comes with about 30 different power adapters. But - the problem is - it sorta kinda works. It will charge its internal battery by solar - takes a long time - and doesn't seem to fully charge. It will also charge itself by plugging it into a wall outlet. It will charge a laptop and phone - but not fully and the unit poops out far too quickly It would likely run some router units - if it actually worked as advertised. Basically not reliable as a back up source or recharge source- under powered and quirky operation. Getting the unit's battery to charge my phone requires me to also plug it into a wall socket just to jump start the process - you can then unplug from the wall - but what a silly hassle. Basically - I threw away a hundred bucks. Trying to return it is a nightmare. BTW - I bought it from another company - not the one at the link - couldn't find the old link.

http://chinapowerreliable.manufacturer.globalsources.com/si/6008833125134/pdtl/Portable-solar/1058249816/Solar-charger.htm

I posted this so you good folks will not go out and buy one in case you found it on an internet search .

[Crossy]

AmornSolar have several portable power units that will power a laptop and your router (you'll need some sort of adaptor for the router). Something like this http://www.amornsolar.com/product/161824/Solar-Panel+กระเป๋าหิ้วMono-Crystal-28Watt-17.5V.html

But they need FULL sun to generate anything like their rated output.

Personally, I'd get a small UPS with an external battery, something like this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Professional-500VA-12VDC-to-220VAC-Inverter-UPS-Charger-UKB-/380654898748?pt=UK_Sound_Vision_Battery_Chargers&hash=item58a0ccce3c and marry it with a truck battery. Make sure you get a unit with a built-in charger.

We have the 2000VA unit running lights, TV and computers, get them in Zeer and probably Fortune or Pantip.

[LookChang]

I have tried several types of solar chargers to use with a laptop and the most effective was this one : http://www.aliexpress.com/snapshot/210992230.html

Not perfect (long solar charging time) but it's working.

[Crossy]

The problems with the Aliexpress device are as follows:

It has 6 x 5159115PL Li-Po batteries, these are 3400mAh @ 3.7V or 12.58 Watt Hours each, a total of 75.48 Watt Hours.

The solar panel is 15V @ 150mA about 2.25 Watts.

This means that using solar alone it will take 75.48/2.25 or about 33.5 hours in full sun to charge the battery, about 6 days if you give it 6 hours of sun a day.

It will certainly run your laptop for a good while from its internal battery, but the solar charger is a joke.

[Guest]

Those small ones are pretty much toys. The last link solar panel output was 15V/0.150A -> 2.25W.

Amorn in Phuket is selling 280W solar panels for 5500 baht. Not sure if the quality is good, but the price is.

Then again, there is a need for good battery pack, which cost a lot of money and have to be replaced after few years.

[Guest]

I brought an 5W/12V solar panel from Amorn and put an car USB-charger (12V->5V) behind it. Very simple setup for playing around.

When I plug my old Nokia N900 phone to it, the phone shows that it's charging.. but in reality it's actually draining the battery. Perhaps an diode would help out in this case.

[nullx8]

Solar ?

if that would work, we would't need Nuclear power

to cover 8 hours you need something Huge! the cost of solar and the batteries to store the juce for such a long time is probably more expensive and much less reliable than buying a disel to power your whole house.

if its "just" a notebook .. then you can probably run this time on batteries so nothing to worry about that. (assuming its a decent notebook)

so you just need somethings to power the last mile equipment (router, switches) ...

this may somethings between 20 and 50 watts, so you would be good with a Gel-powered UPS around 0,5-1KW ...

why this high ? the batteries not last forever and the storage gets limited over time, to keep the pleasure, better get something "bigger"

i would not bother with Solar, quality panels from toshiba or sharp costing a fortune,

where the cheap china-junk you can pick up in 90% of the thai stores is just good to charge AA Batteries.

also you need the electronics and Batteries like in a UPS anyway, too high cost with very little benefit.

the customs charge for the panels alone can get you already a nice APC Backup

Edited June 8, 2013 by nullx8

[tlock]

I just brought one of these over in a suitcase, a bit pricey but a serious solution.

http://www.goalzero.com/shop/p/165//16:1/

[muratremix]

You just need a UPS with large battery or two ups, one for your laptop/phone another one for your router.

My Powercom APC 1000VA can keep stuff open for hours depending on load.