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diy solar

Need help trying to make a setup to charge my laptop & phone in the park

Magento001

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Jul 17, 2020
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Hey so I have a dell ultrabook 7470, a renogy T100 and my cell. basically need to charge my my latptop fully 1 time and my 97watt hour renogy portable battery 1 time each day. I am totally new to solar and not quite sure what I will need.


Renogy T100 Portable Charger



T100 PORTABLE CHARGER
SKU: RNG-CMP-T100


I understand I need a portable solar panel guessing 100-200 watt (hopefully 100watt will do as the 200 watt ones are just massive to walk around with)

I am hoping I can somehow avoid getting a deep cycle or 12 volt battery of any kind as they appear heavy as crap and I dont want to walk around with them.

Can I somehow transfer the AC power to my DC laptop directly with just an inverter and a charge controller? Also maybe I can somehow rig the solar panel to connect directly to the Renogy T100 battery.
I understand I will need a MC4 to dc adapter to convert the power from the solar panel to dc, can I just use an adapter inverter and controller?

I dont seem to need alot of juice but am also confused as to how many watts solar panel will be enough I understand that you only get 25-30% of total max watts usually.

Any help is appreciated
 
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so that means the max size solar panel I can get is 30W, will 30 watts be enough to charge this fully at least 1 time a day? how much of a charge can 30 watts give me?
 
Rated Capacity: 97.28Wh
1000 / 30 = 3.3
In perfect conditions you could theoretically charge your battery in less than 4 hours.
 
But from what i understand you usually only get 25% of the solar output that they say due to imperfect conditions. etc...


so this 30 watt solar panel above mentions the following: A grade solar cell convert up to 22% of solar power into free energy.

does that mean it will be able to do 22% of 30 watts?
 
does that mean it will be able to do 22% of 30 watts?

I can't say with any certainty.
Usually when you see a number in that range its talking about efficiency.
A panel rated for 30 watts should be able to deliver 30 watts under laboratory conditions.
 
so this 30 watt solar panel above mentions the following: A grade solar cell convert up to 22% of solar power into free energy.

does that mean it will be able to do 22% of 30 watts?

No, forget about panel / cell efficiency. That means something different.

A 1% efficient 30W panel and a 22% efficient 30W panel, will both produce 30W under standard conditions.

The difference being that the 22% efficient panel will produce 30W in much less space than the 1% efficient panel. The Watt rating is determined after taking efficiency into account.

That said, you are right that you won't usually achieve the full rated output of your panel due to heat, clouds, imperfect conditions etc.
 
Lets say to be safe I need something bigger like a 100 watts panel which should get the job done. then Can I use a 100 watts and charge controller to safely charge something that has a max of 30 watts?

Can I use maybe a 100 watts panel, a charge controller and an inverter and plug my laptop AC power brick directly into the inverter and get it charging that way?

and avoid the deep cycle battery.

heres the battery in my laptop now:

BattDepot Replacement Laptop / Notebook Battery is manufactured to be compatible and optimized for Dell Latitude 14 E7470 Ultrabook.
The battery utilizes high quality cells for higher performance, longer life and more reliability. The built-in protection circuit ensures both safety, stability, fast charging and low power consumption for your device.
Mfg Part#LDE296
AvailabilityIn-Stock
Warranty1 Year
ConditionNew
Cell TypeConventional Li-polymer
Capacity7040mAh / 55Wh
Device Voltage7.6 V
CompatibleDell Latitude 14 E7470 Ultrabook
ColorBlack
 
Lets say to be safe I need something bigger like a 100 watts panel which should get the job done. then Can I use a 100 watts and charge controller to safely charge something that has a max of 30 watts?

Whatever equipment you put between the panel and the t100, the t100 its still only going to draw ~30 watts.
 
i see is it safe to do that without causing a short circut? 100 watt solar panel to 30 watt t100 - that way I can max it out in 4 hours for sure.

Can I just go direct - laptop dc power brick to inverter to controller to solar panel? no deep cycle battery
 
Sorry that wasn't very clear.
Now matter how much power you supply the t100 will only draw 30 watts.
 
because it has a built in controller and that will keep it from getting fried.

Can I just go direct - laptop dc power brick to inverter - controller- solar panel?

You can do solar_panel->t100->laptop yes.
You may even be able to power the laptop with dc to save the ac/dc conversion penalty.
 
I see what you are saying. I'm not sure if it would work or not. As Joey says you can't exceed 30W if that is what the unit is rated for, but I think your goal is to use a larger panel just so that you can be sure to charge at the full 30W. In this case, it may be possible to use an external controller and larger panel but I wouldn't count on it.

I would advise you try and get some clarity from Renogy (not always an easy thing to do) regarding the maximum solar input (current, voltage, and power).
 
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