Aug/101
45,000 Solar Panels going out with OLPCs
One of the 45,000 solar panels that are currently being distributed
Originally uploaded by Christoph Derndorfer
Awesome.
Christoph Derndorfer (@random_musings on Twitter, http://christoph-d.blogspot.com/) is out in Lima with the OLPC project and he’s just posted this image on Flickr.
45,000 of these panels are currently being distributed.
I’m hoping Christoph has the time to post a bit more about the panels. Power rating is probably in the 7-12W range by the looks of it. I wonder how much they’re costing. The 24W panel I bought cost over 300 Euro!
Jul/105
Viliv S10 Netbook as Solar-Powered Desktop (Cont’d)
I talked yesterday about my testing with the Viliv S10 and my 24w solar panel. Today I’ve implemented the solution as my desktop PC.
Previously (for the last 5 months) I had been using a Fujitsu U820 UMPC as my desktop. It was running Windows XP on a Intel Atom 1.6 CPU. The Viliv S10 is running Windows 7 Home Starter on the same Atom 1.6 CPU. Both solutions use a fast SSD. You can see that I have it set up to drive an external monitor, mouse and keyboard but I’m still using the screen on the S10 as an extended monitor. With the extended screen, Windows 7, quieter operation and a better USB solution (the USB bus on the U820 would often reset causing a keyboard and mouse lock-up) this is a better working solution than I had before.
Cont’d…
Jul/108
Simple Off-Both-Grids Solar Computing Solution with the Viliv S10
I’ve just done an interview with the HomeofSolarEnergy website which I guess will be posted soon. The best thing about it was that it got me unpacking my solar panel and thinking about a simple solar powered computing solution again.
Update: The Interview on Home Of Solar Energy is available here.
I mentioned the Viliv S10 in an article about solar-powered computers for 2010 and it turns out that it has the same 9.5v input as the Viliv X70 tablet. Having an input voltage below 12V is always an advantage and it’s even better when the X70 car adaptor works on the S10. I threw out the panel, connected it to the car adaptor and S10 and we’re away. I now have a 3G-capable, Windows 7 convertible netbook running directly from the sun.
Feb/101
Solar Powered PC for 2010 – Pt2
In my last post I wrote about the Viliv S10, a super-efficient Windows-based PC that would serve well for solar-powered work duties. Last week at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona I tested out another interesting bit of kit. This one looks much the same but in terms of internals, it’s like chalk and cheese compared to the S10.
The Compaq AirLife 100 is basically a smartphone cased in a netbook housing with a 10″ touchscreen and an estimated 30wh battery. The operating system is Android which has a great browser (although not as good or fast as Firefox or Chrome would be on the S10) and the ability to run many Android applications. The build quality is good, the keyboard is good and with 3G and Wifi built-in, connectivity is also good but the fantastic thing about this one is that it can idle with the screen off for DAYS instead of hours. In theory (untested) this little baby could run, connected to GPRS data providing 30-second GPS (built-in) location updates and polling email or similar services for about 3 days on a single charge. To top it off, it’s even more efficient than the S10 when running at full steam AND it weighs about 25% LESS!
With a 16GB SSD topping off the specs you’ve got a great lightweight, semi-rugged possibility.
- Est. 10 hours connected use (screen on, 3G on)
- Est. 150 hours occasional automatic GPS location uploads via cellular data.
- Est. 20 hours low-backlight typing. (wifi, 3G off)
- Add a 60wh power pack and if you’re careful with back-light and connectivity, you’ll get a weeks work out of it….in about 1.3KG!
This isn’t going to be the fastest productivty device you’ve ever used but if efficiency is more important than processing speed, the Airlife 100 will take some beating.
The Airlife 100 is due in the Spring and i’m quite excited to test it out longer term.
Check out my hands-on with the device at MWC last week:
Jan/108
A Solar-Powered PC for 2010.
I’d love to get out an do another Solar Computing Tour in 2010 but I’ll have to plan it carefully. Our new baby is due in March so maybe I can pull a long weekend together in late August but we’ll have to see how things go.
It doesn’t stop me thinking about solar computing though and in this post I’m going to compare a set of devices and some technologies that will be important for the job of Solar PC 2010.
Before I do that I want to highlight a few things that really haven’t changed much in the last 3 years. It’s a sad story of minimal progress.
- Solar panels – NOTHING has changed. They’re still expensive and inefficient.
- Battery Tech – NOTHING has change. They are still expensive and use the same technology as before.
- Operating system choice – Nothing has really changed. If you want to work efficiently you need to choose the same OS as you use on the desktop. Mobile operating systems have come a long way but there are still too many potential roadblocks for the average productivity user. Windows 7 is nice but compared to XP it’s less efficient which in my book, makes it the best choice for efficient and productive mobile computing.
- Screen technology. Outdoor users are still fighting the sun with LED backlights although this is a great step forward from the CCFL backlighting I used in 2007. Transflective screens are coming in 2010 though. See below.
- Weather – Ah, there’s something that hasn’t changed much either! Still, constant chaos. (Thank goodness!)
Jun/092
Mobile Solar Computing with the Viliv X70 UMPC
I just wanted to give you solar computing fans a quick heads-up on a new solution that you should consider. The Viliv X70 EX.
I’ve been testing it for the last week and as a standalone UMPC its a really flexible solution. SSD and 3G options, high quality build and very long battery life. In tests, I’ve been getting 5-6hrs battery life and seeing great productivity levels using either the on-screen keyboard or a USB keyboard and mouse. The best thing is that the car-kit includes an adaptor plug for 12v => 9.5 but the input voltage can rise to 24v making it perfect for attaching direct to a 24w or even 12W solar panel. One issue however is the gloss finish on the screen. Viliv are producing a filter though so this should help a lot. I will get one and test it soon.
Initial plug-in test worked but I need to work-out the minimum sun power level needed and the full-sun charging time.
Stay tuned for more test results. In the meantime, check out my full review at UMPCPortal.
May/091
Sharp announces 0.8mm 300mw Solar Panel for cellphones.
Producing a maximum 300mw in a 27cm square, 0.8mm thick, this lightweight panel just announced by Sharp looks interesting and gives an indication of where we are in small consumer-focused solar panels.
This newly developed solar module makes effective use of compact semiconductor packaging technology to achieve a thickness of just 0.8 mm, the thinnest level in the industry. The solar cells that make up the module are based on polycrystalline silicon and deliver a maximum power of 300 mW*1 , and as an auxiliary power source for mobile devices, will contribute to saving energy. In addition, the electrode pattern on the cell surface can be formed to meet the requirements of device manufacturers, leading to increased design flexibility for mobile devices.
We’re still at a very poor level of efficieny though. 11% efficiency by my reconing. It’s no wonder they didn’t put that statistic in the press release!
300mw is enough to keep a very basic mobile phone topped up while in standby.
May/090
The Cheap, All-In-One Solar PC. iUnika Solar Announced.
Does this mean goodbye to my solar panel, my 1KG lead-acid battery and the box full of cables I have? Does these mean that you won’t have to spend over $1000 on a Solar UMPC kit now?
iUnika have announced a range of very low end, low-cost netbooks which include one with a solar-panel on the back. The price: $260.
- 700gm
- 8″, 800×480
- 400Mhz MIPS CPU
It’s eco friendly too “..the system body’s is made from bioplastics and other biodegradable materials derived from starch and cellulose” [source]
Here’s my take. Using a PC in the sun is hard work on the eyes and hard work on the battery as you need to pump up the backlight. The solar panel is also very small (I estimate 4W max output) so with a device that’s likely to be in the 3-4W operating power range, it’s at best, a trickle charger that can keep the device topped up when not in use. Putting panels on PC’s does a nice job of cutting out the losses you get when charging external power banks but they need to be detachable to get the best use out of them.
Still, bravo to iUnika for doing this. There are definitely some customers that would benefit from this. Education in hot countries with poor infrastructure comes immediately to mind.
Source: Gearlog
Mar/090
Solar Charger from Aigo
I checked this one out at CeBIT 2009 earlier this month and it looked very interesting. Tidy design too.
The problem is, as with many of these consumer devices, they dont even list the capacity of the cells which indicates that this one is more for the MP3 brigade rather than for UMPCs or MIDs. Shame.
Update: More pics including a shot of the specs, at Marcel Nuernberger’s Flickr page.
Dec/085
Taking the iPhone off the power grid.
Kevin Tofel, an eco-friendly blogger at the excellent mobile-focused website JKOnTheRun has bought himself a solar-powered battery-pack and plans to run his iPhone for as long as he can without connecting it to the mains power.
The charger is a Solio Classic with a 6wh capacity cell. The iPhone has a 5wh cell.
At first glance it seems like too much of a challenge. Looking at the solar cell area and comparing it to my own 25W panel which measures about 1m squared tells me that this device is going to have a tiny sun-capture capability. Looking at the FAQ on the device gives a few clues:
It takes 8-10 hours to fully charge a Solio from the sun. With peak charging times between 10am and 2pm, it takes a minimum of 2 days to fully charge a Solio.
8-10 hours for a 6Wh battery is under 1W of solar capture, under ideal conditions.
It’s winter in Philadelphia right now so I guess we’re looking at an average 60% sun-power through the peak hours which means it will take about 3 average days to charge the solar unit. Taking into account that about 20% power will be lost on cross-charging I’d estimate that Kevin is going to struggle to get a full charge every three days.
2.5G Smartphones like the first-gen iPhone that Kevin has, can easily take 2W of power when driven hard. So if Kevin isn’t careful. he’s going to be out of power in the first day but it looks like he’s done his research and is well on top of the challenge…
The strategies…let me go two days without charging my iPhone however, and that gives me two days to capture sunlight with the Solio. I guess if we have a three-day rainstorm, I’m out of luck.
The interesting part of the experiment will be to see what type of usage Kevin gets out of the device. Will it be voice only? Will he be able to use regular email polling as he’s planning. Will he use it as a mobile internet device or just as a voice phone?
It’s clear that this isn’t the best way to save energy given that the $75 Euro initial costs that could power an iPhone non-stop for about 40 years (*1) but these sort of experiments, this sort of publicity and the resulting discussion is exactly what’s needed to stimulate development and improvement of consumer solar solutions.
I don’t get many readers on this blog but from the responses I’ve had over the last year or so I know that many of the readers here will have already thought about this. Perhaps you’ve already done it? If so, what devices did you use and how did it / does it work out for you?
Track Kevin’s progress at JKOnTheRun.
(*1) Assuming the iPone takes a (very high) average drain of 1W, $75 would buy something in the order of 500kwh of household power. With an AC adaptor efficiency of 80%, the $75 over 45 years of iPhone usage.