K... I've been doing a bit of reading and I've sorta got this penchant for powering a PC using a solar panel to trickle charge a car battery, which in turn is going to feed an Inverter.
At the moment I don't have any figures really, I've just been taking note of the various practicalities others have endeavored. The future for such an experiment looks quite bright as what I have read from various quarter is that people out there are suceeding in varying degrees.
I've just not read anything of anybody piecing together the above yet. I'm not an electrician... so any and all suggestions are greatly welcome. I'm a great believer in practicalities first and aesthetics somewhere else down the line somewhere... so I don't care how it looks to start out with.
What I learn, if I don't blow myself up, burn down the house, or black-out the UK, I'll post here... but please, please, please, tell me anything I need to know or that may be useful.
Powering A Pc...
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Forget the inverter, you don't need it. Computers run at 12v and if you go for a fairly low powered machine you shouldn't have too many problems.
Currently I'm looking at installing a carpc into my landrover with a touchscreen TFT. Have a look at this link for the components you might need for this.
<a href="http://linitx.com/viewcategory.php?catid=52&pp=52" target="_blank">http://linitx.com/viewcategory.php?catid=52&pp=52</a>
You can also have a choice these days of a 24pin ATX supply or a DC supply onboard.
If you take a look at this board it can accept a normal psu and a DC connection: <a href="http://www.commell.com.tw/Product/SBC/LV-67B.HTM" target="_blank">http://www.commell.com.tw/Product/SBC/LV-67B.HTM</a>
Now in a car you have some problems relating to the car starting (draws alot of power from the battery and can cause the power to the pc to fluctuate and damage components) and not wanting to drain the battery too much so for this if you look at the car power supplies on linitx you will see that these allow large voltage fluctuations, in theory you would not need this and could in theory just connect up a battery to the above board and as long as your charging kit was able to top up the battery sufficiently then you wouldn't have a problem.
There are a fair few people who use systems like this out in africa and the like so doubt it's that hard to do.
Only problem you get is our lack of enough sunlight at a strong enough level to mean that you can sufficiently charge the battery in a day. Also because of our relatively high position on the earth it is harder to optimise the panel for day round sun collection. IE at the equator a panel laid flat on the groud will receive more direct light than if you do it in the UK.
Currently I'm looking at installing a carpc into my landrover with a touchscreen TFT. Have a look at this link for the components you might need for this.
<a href="http://linitx.com/viewcategory.php?catid=52&pp=52" target="_blank">http://linitx.com/viewcategory.php?catid=52&pp=52</a>
You can also have a choice these days of a 24pin ATX supply or a DC supply onboard.
If you take a look at this board it can accept a normal psu and a DC connection: <a href="http://www.commell.com.tw/Product/SBC/LV-67B.HTM" target="_blank">http://www.commell.com.tw/Product/SBC/LV-67B.HTM</a>
Now in a car you have some problems relating to the car starting (draws alot of power from the battery and can cause the power to the pc to fluctuate and damage components) and not wanting to drain the battery too much so for this if you look at the car power supplies on linitx you will see that these allow large voltage fluctuations, in theory you would not need this and could in theory just connect up a battery to the above board and as long as your charging kit was able to top up the battery sufficiently then you wouldn't have a problem.
There are a fair few people who use systems like this out in africa and the like so doubt it's that hard to do.
Only problem you get is our lack of enough sunlight at a strong enough level to mean that you can sufficiently charge the battery in a day. Also because of our relatively high position on the earth it is harder to optimise the panel for day round sun collection. IE at the equator a panel laid flat on the groud will receive more direct light than if you do it in the UK.
Perhaps look at the nvidia tegra computer on a chip. It can display 1080p whilst consuming only 1 watt it seems.
All you should need is a tegra powered mobile with a solar panel feeding it. The mobile will be designed to cope with the feed too.
Usb keyboard and mouse powered by the mobile.
Biggest problem I think is the power for an external monitor. If black and white is ok just use e-paper display if you can find one.
<a href="http://www.lowpowerpcs.co.uk/aleutia-a- ... iendly-pc/" target="_blank">This</a> looks good.
All you should need is a tegra powered mobile with a solar panel feeding it. The mobile will be designed to cope with the feed too.
Usb keyboard and mouse powered by the mobile.
Biggest problem I think is the power for an external monitor. If black and white is ok just use e-paper display if you can find one.
<a href="http://www.lowpowerpcs.co.uk/aleutia-a- ... iendly-pc/" target="_blank">This</a> looks good.
Last edited by Nellyboy on Tue Oct 13, 2009 10:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I'm a step further forwards now, sourced some decent yuasa cells, pipes and wiring and containers. Just need a panel for roof and some time to put it all together and test !.
Never mentioned above, mine is a water pump idea. Its all BS i know but its just a daft little project. If i can get this working okay and charging then it will mean the pond pump (and eventually filter housing) runs off some of the large cells i've acquired as they've got decent ratings, but will obviously require more oomph to charge (and possible bump charge interuption!). Then i'll tackle the garden lighting then the world, no just anything in the garden
edit: Sorry Claw, i've completely derailed your thread from what was originally posted. I do a fair bit of thinking out loud Sorry!
Never mentioned above, mine is a water pump idea. Its all BS i know but its just a daft little project. If i can get this working okay and charging then it will mean the pond pump (and eventually filter housing) runs off some of the large cells i've acquired as they've got decent ratings, but will obviously require more oomph to charge (and possible bump charge interuption!). Then i'll tackle the garden lighting then the world, no just anything in the garden
edit: Sorry Claw, i've completely derailed your thread from what was originally posted. I do a fair bit of thinking out loud
Sorry!
Last edited by andrew on Fri Oct 30, 2009 4:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.