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[Phinnaeus Gage]

Does anyone have any experience with or ideas about solar powered computers?

I think that giving a low power computer, such a RaspberryPi, the ability to run off solar power, would be an interesting experiment and is something that I would like to investigate further.

I'd be interested to hear the opinions of any others, or someone who has worked on any projects related to solar power before.

Hey, Fordy, bud. This has been addressed a couple times on this forum. Do a quick search using solar power as the search term.

Later, bud.

~Bruno~

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Does anyone have any experience with or ideas about solar powered computers?

I think that giving a low power computer, such a RaspberryPi, the ability to run off solar power, would be an interesting experiment and is something that I would like to investigate further.

I'd be interested to hear the opinions of any others, or someone who has worked on any projects related to solar power before.

Hey, Fordy, bud. This has been addressed a couple times on this forum. Do a quick search using solar power as the search term.

Later, bud.

~Bruno~

Ah, Good call mate. Mods feel free to delete this thread.

Or we can keep it open and discuss this or something like it, for I wouldn't have found it if we're for your thread, Fordy. http://cleantechnica.com/2011/06/25/solar-powered-computer-from-samsung-coming-this-year

[enmaku]

In his defense, most of those conversations were about the feasibility (or lack thereof) of mining on solar/green power sources where this thread seems more interested in simply operating a general-purpose computer on solar, which is significantly easier.

Phinnaeus: nice looking solar laptop, though I can't imagine that suggesting folks should leave their entire (possibly powered on and running) laptop in full sunlight to charge (and overheat) is a good idea. A tethered solar panel seems much smarter, but perhaps there's an engineer somewhere on the forums who has better data than I do?

[Valalvax]

Probably the best way to do it is put solar panels wherever is best for you (on roof or in yard or whatever) and run cable to the computer in question

[Bitcoin Oz]

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Solar-Generator-Briefcase-/360283781453?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item53e296394d  I picked up one of these off ebay and it runs my macbook during the day off jetski batteries which I charge when the sun is out.

https://i.imgur.com/f2Rvp.jpg  action shot 

[Phinnaeus Gage]

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Solar-Generator-Briefcase-/360283781453?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item53e296394d  I picked up one of these off ebay and it runs my macbook during the day off jetski batteries which I charge when the sun is out.

https://i.imgur.com/f2Rvp.jpg  action shot 

I must be getting tire, for upon viewing the image, I swore the battery was the operating source until I figured out what truly was happening. Interesting! First suitcase nukes, now this. What will they think of next?

~Bruno~

[Bitcoin Oz]

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Solar-Generator-Briefcase-/360283781453?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item53e296394d  I picked up one of these off ebay and it runs my macbook during the day off jetski batteries which I charge when the sun is out.

https://i.imgur.com/f2Rvp.jpg  action shot 

I must be getting tire, for upon viewing the image, I swore the battery was the operating source until I figured out what truly was happening. Interesting! First suitcase nukes, now this. What will they think of next?

~Bruno~

Protip : Dont hook a solar panel up to your laptop without a regulator 

[Phinnaeus Gage]

GPU Computing shows superior efficiency in Australian Outback

[enmaku]

GPU Computing shows superior efficiency in Australian Outback

That's a radio telescope, not a solar panel array. They're powering their OpenCL rigs with this:



That's a diesel generator 

[enmaku]

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Solar-Generator-Briefcase-/360283781453?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item53e296394d  I picked up one of these off ebay and it runs my macbook during the day off jetski batteries which I charge when the sun is out.

https://i.imgur.com/f2Rvp.jpg  action shot  

Nice panel set, I love the portability aspect. Should be noted that it's only 13W though, which is certainly ample juice for charging a battery which can then recharge a laptop but it should be noted that peak energy consumption of a macbook is WAY more than 13W, so if you've got a laptop that sits in sleep mode with bursts of activity this is probably fine, but if you use it for work and heavy browsing 9+ hours a day (like I do) the screen alone eats up more juice than that

By Apple's own figures a 15" macbook uses 17.6 watts idle with the screen on. Assuming you get ~10 hours of sunlight per day, that panel array should provide 130 watt-hours of juice. Your jet ski battery is probably an 18-20 aH mode and so can hold 216-240 watt hours, so it won't be the weak link, unfortunately 130 watt-hours being consumed at a rate of 17.6 watts will last about 7 hours and 23 minutes, less if you actually do anything instead of letting it idle. We've already discussed the feasibility of mining with solar - even a BFL single, which is WAY more efficient than your average GPU rig could only run for about an hour and a half on a full day's worth of solar juice from this array. Even Spartan6-based FPGA miners which are almost twice as efficient would crap out pretty quickly - matter of fact to make that 130wH last 24 hours a day you'd need to pull no more than 5.4 watts, which brings your mining option down to the ZTEX USB-FPGA Module 1.15b which is capable of ~90mh/s. While purely solar mining would be cool as hell, the board costs $365, the solar array is another $165 and even a cheap jet ski battery is $50 for a total cost of $580 for a rig that performs less effectively than even a single Radeon 5830 - total cost $6.40/mh is not within MY acceptable tolerances...

Don't take me wrong, I'm all for green, renewable and ESPECIALLY free and that's 130 watt-hours that you didn't have to pull from the grid, but at my local electricity rates, 130wH is worth about 1.5 cents meaning you'd have to pull that amount of juice from the sun every day for 8,862 days (nearly 25 years) just to break even

[P_Shep]

My calculator has a solar panel.

[Bitcoin Oz]

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Solar-Generator-Briefcase-/360283781453?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item53e296394d  I picked up one of these off ebay and it runs my macbook during the day off jetski batteries which I charge when the sun is out.

https://i.imgur.com/f2Rvp.jpg  action shot  

Nice panel set, I love the portability aspect. Should be noted that it's only 13W though, which is certainly ample juice for charging a battery which can then recharge a laptop but it should be noted that peak energy consumption of a macbook is WAY more than 13W, so if you've got a laptop that sits in sleep mode with bursts of activity this is probably fine, but if you use it for work and heavy browsing 9+ hours a day (like I do) the screen alone eats up more juice than that

By Apple's own figures a 15" macbook uses 17.6 watts idle with the screen on. Assuming you get ~10 hours of sunlight per day, that panel array should provide 130 watt-hours of juice. Your jet ski battery is probably an 18-20 aH mode and so can hold 216-240 watt hours, so it won't be the weak link, unfortunately 130 watt-hours being consumed at a rate of 17.6 watts will last about 7 hours and 23 minutes, less if you actually do anything instead of letting it idle. We've already discussed the feasibility of mining with solar - even a BFL single, which is WAY more efficient than your average GPU rig could only run for about an hour and a half on a full day's worth of solar juice from this array. Even Spartan6-based FPGA miners which are almost twice as efficient would crap out pretty quickly - matter of fact to make that 130wH last 24 hours a day you'd need to pull no more than 5.4 watts, which brings your mining option down to the ZTEX USB-FPGA Module 1.15b which is capable of ~90mh/s. While purely solar mining would be cool as hell, the board costs $365, the solar array is another $165 and even a cheap jet ski battery is $50 for a total cost of $580 for a rig that performs less effectively than even a single Radeon 5830 - total cost $6.40/mh is not within MY acceptable tolerances...

Don't take me wrong, I'm all for green, renewable and ESPECIALLY free and that's 130 watt-hours that you didn't have to pull from the grid, but at my local electricity rates, 130wH is worth about 1.5 cents meaning you'd have to pull that amount of juice from the sun every day for 8,862 days (nearly 25 years) just to break even

Where it really comes in  handy is when I am camping and can charge my android which has a bitcoin app. As long as I can get a mobile signal I can still send bitcoins around.

[enmaku]

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Solar-Generator-Briefcase-/360283781453?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item53e296394d  I picked up one of these off ebay and it runs my macbook during the day off jetski batteries which I charge when the sun is out.

https://i.imgur.com/f2Rvp.jpg  action shot  

Nice panel set, I love the portability aspect. Should be noted that it's only 13W though, which is certainly ample juice for charging a battery which can then recharge a laptop but it should be noted that peak energy consumption of a macbook is WAY more than 13W, so if you've got a laptop that sits in sleep mode with bursts of activity this is probably fine, but if you use it for work and heavy browsing 9+ hours a day (like I do) the screen alone eats up more juice than that

By Apple's own figures a 15" macbook uses 17.6 watts idle with the screen on. Assuming you get ~10 hours of sunlight per day, that panel array should provide 130 watt-hours of juice. Your jet ski battery is probably an 18-20 aH mode and so can hold 216-240 watt hours, so it won't be the weak link, unfortunately 130 watt-hours being consumed at a rate of 17.6 watts will last about 7 hours and 23 minutes, less if you actually do anything instead of letting it idle. We've already discussed the feasibility of mining with solar - even a BFL single, which is WAY more efficient than your average GPU rig could only run for about an hour and a half on a full day's worth of solar juice from this array. Even Spartan6-based FPGA miners which are almost twice as efficient would crap out pretty quickly - matter of fact to make that 130wH last 24 hours a day you'd need to pull no more than 5.4 watts, which brings your mining option down to the ZTEX USB-FPGA Module 1.15b which is capable of ~90mh/s. While purely solar mining would be cool as hell, the board costs $365, the solar array is another $165 and even a cheap jet ski battery is $50 for a total cost of $580 for a rig that performs less effectively than even a single Radeon 5830 - total cost $6.40/mh is not within MY acceptable tolerances...

Don't take me wrong, I'm all for green, renewable and ESPECIALLY free and that's 130 watt-hours that you didn't have to pull from the grid, but at my local electricity rates, 130wH is worth about 1.5 cents meaning you'd have to pull that amount of juice from the sun every day for 8,862 days (nearly 25 years) just to break even

Where it really comes in  handy is when I am camping and can charge my android which has a bitcoin app. As long as I can get a mobile signal I can still send bitcoins around.

Now THAT is a very feasible use for solar power (and large batteries). The charger for my phone is 5V 1A (though for some inexplicable reason they list it as 1,000mA) and I can operate every single feature on the phone while it's on that charger and still have enough juice to trickle charge the battery, putting it firmly below the 5W of the FPGA I mentioned above and therefore completely feasible. Hmmm now I'm coming up with a dozen other projects I could run with 13 watts and a battery... Green PirateBox anyone?

[check_status]

You could get this:
http://www.fit-pc.com/web/fit-pc/intensepc/

It's an I-7 dual core running max @ 26 watts, 10 watts at idle, can add 4-pcie 1x+ expansion slots.
Comes with Linux Mint 12 pre-installed.



And this:
http://aleutia.com/12v-led-20-inch-monitor

20″ Ultra Slim LED Widescreen Display (1600 x 900) with 12V DC Input. Wall Mountable. 11 Watts.



Combined with this:
http://www.konarka.com/index.php/power-plastic/power-plastic-products/

Unlike silicon and other solar technologies, Konarka Power Plastic collects energy from nearly sunrise to sunset outperforming its competitors.




So you can do this:



Or this:

[rjk]

FitPCs are expensive. The various models in the ZOTAC ZBOX Nano lineup are cheap and good value, even if you max out the RAM and add an SSD.

[cmg5461]

SERIOUSLY? NVIDIA CARDS???

[naypalm]

Just got my Raspberry Pi a few days ago. Currently it's hosting a copy of bitSE.

[benjamindees]

...

You're going to use an LCD display in full sunlight?

[naypalm]

Some data gathered with a Kill-A-Watt and my Raspberry Pi

Watts: 2.4
Amps: .04
Volts: 4.7

kWh : $0.07
Cost per Year: $1.22
Cost per Month: $0.10

rPi running the latest debian build with apache2 + php5. Only the 4GB SD card, ethernet, and microUSB power cable are connected.

Feel free to change those stats by visiting http://bitse.bit:81 or http://naypalm.dyndns.org:81