Ask HN: Please, how do I now power my laptop? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Please, how do I now power my laptop?

20 pointsOoTheNigerian12 comments

A quick background. ===================

I am woking on a startup (read: using my computer always). 80% of the time, I generate my own electricity with a petrol/gas generator.

On new year's day, the Nigerian government increased the price of petrol/gas by 120%. Instantly doubling the cost of my electricity in addition to other costs. Therefore, making it really hard to afford working with my computer as often.

What is needed ============== I would love suggestions on affordable alternatives for generating reliable renewable electricity. I am told solar is expensive, but I understand that is if you are trying to generate serious power.

Of course I could Google, but I wanted something that has actually been used by a membeer of this community. It will spare me the cost on taking gambles on what I see online.

Thanks a million.

This is 2012. We would not allow irresponsible decisions by mere mortal governments hold us back :)

Check the OLPC project's power listserv. They have been hacking on your problem for years.

http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/Power

I will check it out. thanks!

As much as solar can be expensive (Possibly even more so considering you would need it shipped in) looking into some of the other possibilities isn't a bad idea. Solar I would think could end up more reliable, and be able to generate enough, I've seen some 60W panels for sale for around $100-200 USD at various times. 60 Watts should be fine to charge up most laptops. I think some more information about what kind of laptop you have could tell us what kind of power generation you need.

Edit: It looks like some amount of it might be cheaper if you're doing it yourself [1]. I'm not sure where to find a good reputable place for finding kits like this though.

[1] http://www.ebay.com/itm/Solar-Cells-DIY-Panel-Kit-w--Junctio...

I am willing to spend up to $400 depending on mobility and reliability.

My laptop charger is 60W. it is a normal HP pavilion laptop.

Power inverter off of your automobile's battery. If you are regularly driving enough to keep the car battery charged, this is largely free power...of course with the price of petrol going up, you may not be driving as much.

"this is largely free power."

Does it come with lunch?

Voltaic systems has a nice solar charger laptop bag. I'm not sure if this would work for you: http://www.voltaicsystems.com/generator.shtml

I was hoping I could get something I can hang on my roof and connect to a plug.

The bag looks quite elaborate.

I worked with airjaldi.org in the Himalayan mountains for a few months. They use a solar+mains hybrid to power wifi mesh nodes, but the issues they had to work around (variable voltage inputs, using locally available components) might be applicable for your laptop charging use case as well. Here are some design specs. Good luck! http://drupal.airjaldi.com/node/69

Something like this?

http://www.amazon.com/Sunforce-50048-60-Watt-Solar-Charging/...

Amazon's price in the US for this is $299. If you had two, one could run your laptop, and the other could charge a battery, which you could use at night.

Have you considered different hardware? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPad#Power_and_battery suggests that an iPad consumes ~2.5W (0.5A at 5V via USB). An iPad, or a decent netbook, should be much easier to keep running than your current 60W machine.

I plan to get an Android tablet later in the year.

However, if used consistently, I will also need to charge it. :)

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