Solar Laptop Charger

It may happen that you are on the move on a highway or are planning to go somewhere backpacking for some days, but also need to exchange some important business emails during the course of the trip. Under these circumstances, more often than not, you won't get access to electricity to get your laptop charged. If you find yourself in such a fix, purchasing a solar laptop charger is the way to go. Solar power is an everlasting source of power. Even if you are traveling across the middle of the Arizona desert or tanning yourself on a far-off Miami beach, you won't have to take the extra efforts to get your laptop charged. A portable solar charger will provide you with the requisite battery charging to help you take care of your business.

Features of a Solar Laptop Charger

As the name suggests, this charger helps in charging the laptop battery using solar energy. Solar powered battery chargers have acquired a new meaning in recent times with the burgeoning electricity charges and the development of the energy conservation approach. These chargers generate about 50 to 70 watts of power, which is enough to fulfill the requirement of your laptop battery for at least the time you urgently require the laptop. An LED logo is present in most of the chargers to indicate the light hitting the solar panel. The most important aspects which you need to consider before purchasing a laptop charger is its size, weight and power specifications. Make sure it collects enough solar power throughout the day to provide your laptop with a full charge. Nowadays, these chargers also double-up as a case for the laptop. Let us see which are the best chargers available in the market.

Reviews of Solar Laptop Chargers

You can use the various automotive solar battery chargers to charge your laptop battery in the car using the car battery socket, alternately charging the car battery with the solar charger. Also, there are many portable solar panels available like the Brunton Solaris or the Brunton SolarRoll, which are flexible enough to be folded for transport, and they come with varying wattages to give you a sizable energy output. Following are some of the widely used solar chargers for laptops with favorable reviews.

• Voltaic Generator: Made from recycled material, it is lightweight, waterproof, UV resistant and comes with 15 watts of power with total peak output at 20 volts. Depending on your laptop, one hour of charging in the sun can provide 12 to 45 minutes of runtime. It has a 70 watt hour capacity and the battery can be fully charged with five hours of sunlight. It can fit about 17" MacBook Pro, so size is also not an issue. It can also be used to charge various cell phones and hand-held electronics for which one hour of solar charge is enough.
• SolarGorilla: Solargorilla has a 24 volt and 5 volt USB socket, making it an ultimate renewable power station for your laptop, mobile phone, iPod and many more devices. It is portable and its fold-up design protects the solar panels. It is water-resistant and weighs only 1.5 pounds. It is compatible with most notebooks, iPod, iPhone, PDAs and many standard cell phones. It has two photovoltaic solar panels generating electric current when they are exposed to light. The green LED on the solargorilla indicates the strength of charge. If the UV intensity is more, it works better! The technically advanced solar panels are housed in a tough outer casing, thus ensuring superb power and reliable performance.
• Brunton 52 watt Charger: The CIGS (Copper Indium Gallium diSelenide) solar panel of Brunton charger is said to be the most efficient thin film solar panel for electricity generation. It comes with a maximum of 52 watts of power specification with 12 volts output for operating laptops, digital cameras, DVD players, etc. It is sturdy yet lightweight, waterproof and requires little maintenance. It has a built-in reversing diode and charge regulator that prevents the solar array from discharging your battery at night. Charging time for the laptop may vary from two to three hours depending on the sunlight.

These are some of the best portable chargers available in the market. Of course, as the technology used to produce solar energy is new or in lay terms, is a work-in-progress, these laptop chargers are a bit costly ranging from $150 to $400. But it is certain that these costs are going to come down in the coming years. There will come a day when solar chargers will become the most important accessory to have with your laptop, given the energy concerns all over the world.