The views expressed in these pages are those of the site owner, and do not necessarily reflect those of Michigan Technological University....blah....blah...blah
Some of us simply can't live without our laptops and internet access. You can have electricity where ever there is sun and you can have internet access anywhere the internet-providing satellites can see you. It's just a matter of how much $$ you are willing to spend.
CT Solar is one of the
place
to get laptop solar panel solutions. Basically you need a solar panel plus
a power station(DC-DC converter/regulator/battery). The solar panel
charges the power station and you plug your laptop into it to run. A
single 32W solar panel may not be enough to run the laptop. But it can
definitely charge the laptop. (you have to charge the laptop thru
the power station as CT solar told me their solar panel has a high
output voltage that most 12v laptop adaptors don't like)
They also sell
solar battery(AA/AAA) rechargers
A new type of rollable solar panel made by powefilmsolar.com is now selling at ->. click on solar products. Their 20W rollable panel looks very attractive. For the simplest solar laptop solution just hook up the solar panel to a 12v cigarette lighter adaptor for your laptop to recharge the laptop battery. Make sure the voltage input range of your laptop's 12v adaptor is in the range of the output voltage of the solar panel.
Everex claims their NC1500 series of laptops is the world's most energy
efficient laptops. Checkout www.everex.com or
here
I wonder if this laptop can be powered directly from a single 32W or
20W solar panel?
for satellite internet connection you can get Broadband Global Area
Network (BGAN) from INMARSAT.
They use geostationary satellites to privide
signals. Coverage is worldwide(as of 8/07) except the pacific
region(should have coverage when the next satellite goes up in 08)
Basically you need to buy satellite terminals (think portable modems) and you connect your laptop to the terminal to access the internet. The Explorer 110 and 300 looks like two suitable terminals for single user portable use.
The portable satellite terminals have internal rechargable batteries and can be AC/DC powered/charged. They have DC/DC converter built in so you can connect a solar panel (with suitable wattage) directly to it(usually using car lighter adaptors). Again, the wattage of the solar panel is going to determine whether you can run it in real time or you can only charge it and run off the built-in batteries.
You can purchase the BGAN satellite terminals in many countries. See Inmarsat's web site or do a search. Your country's sky maybe covered by another satellite service provider. This is just one of the options.