GTIS Power and Communications Systems
The Asus P3B is a bright Mini LED projector rated 800 ANSI lumens with an internal 45Wh battery. I had the chance to test an Asus P3B portable projector briefly before it was sent off to it’s new owner in Africa. I measured it’s power consumption and did a short subjective evaluation of it.
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When running your laptop computer on solar power, you should adjust your power-saving settings in Windows or Linux in order to conserve power when plugged in the same as it does when running on battery power, because your solar power isn’t unlimited the way an AC outlet is. Most laptops waste a lot of energy when recharging their internal batteries, so you’ll be most efficient with your limited solar energy if you keep the laptop plugged in and fully charged. However, keeping the battery constantly topped-off isn’t the best thing for the laptop battery. Continue reading
There are a lot of “power banks” on the market that appear to have similar capability to the Half-Pint we build and sell, but in practical use they are significantly different. Here’s how to choose and things to watch out for: Continue reading
Are you really going to sit out in the sun next to your solar panel?
How you plan to use your solar power system affects what you need to buy, especially when it comes to the solar panels. Picture exactly how you’re going to use your system before you buy. Continue reading
Compared to lead-acid batteries Lithium Iron Phosphate (abbreviated LiFePO4 or just LFP) batteries are simple to charge and quite forgiving about voltage set points. You can use most “12-V” lead-acid solar charge controllers to charge a 12.8 V LFP battery. On those with adjustable settings, here are our recommendations for voltage set-points and why.
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There is a lot of interest in charging tablets and phones directly from a solar panel, without the expense of an external battery and charge controller. We’ve done some testing on a variety of phones and several tablets that charge over a micro-USB connector at 5 V to determine what is practical.
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