Did my ability to search for things intelligently on the internet die when Google search did or are there legitimately no personal umbrellas with solar panels and a battery pack? Like I feel like that would be an obvious thing, and there’s a bajillion beach umbrellas and patio umbrellas that have solar panels. How are there no personal versions for wandering around on a sunny day with portable shade that gets you a charged battery pack? Is this a thing and I just can’t find it or does it not exist yet and all of science has failed me in every way possible?
Sorry for the terrible AI picture, I didn’t create it I just found it on the internet and it was the only one I could find because these apparently don’t actually exist.
“Rollable” solar panels are still pretty stiff. You would need a beefier mechanism to handle the extra forces required. They also have a pretty significant “minimum turn radius” so they would need an entirely new design for their mechanism to work without damaging the panels.
They do make personal solar array with a surface area comparable to your umbrella idea, but those would take days to charge a cellphone, so the charge you get walking around for a few hours is negligible.
It’s a cool idea, and would be a fun project to build and show off, but it’s not going to be marketable or practical without a whole lot of development in solar, battery and umbrella tech.
A device, which is only used when it is really cloudy for photovoltaics has to be one of the dumbest ideas ever.
Never used an umbrella to shield yourself from the sun?
I actually did not, and here around, I don’t see anyone do that. I believe climate and culture are the factors influencing the popularity of using an umbrella as mobile shade.
Japan (and I think a number of other asian countires) has a lot of people using them as sun shades. Particularly when we walk a lot and even moreso in the concrete jungles like tokyo
Heck, I live in Canada and with our Summers as they are now it’s becoming a common sight here.
And you don’t think that carrying a 10kg umbrella is unsuitable for this type of climate, when you are already sweating with 500g?
I think it is also a cultural thing, as in asian communities brighter skin is preferred
I won’t comment on the cosmetic side of things, but it is several degrees cooler under a parasol/umbrella and that’s the usual selling point. I didn’t comment on the weight or practicality, either (I don’t actually think it’s practical with the technology we have today). I was pointing out that these would potentially be used in times other than when it’s cloudy as zr0 mentioned.
Umbrellas are used in sunshine and are often called parasols. It’s not a bad form factor, it just seems to have practical limitations, like being foldable and still useful. Love the idea, though.
Japan is ready. Other places can be made ready. It isn’t hard to prepare people for bikes or whatever. Solar panels on everything are potentially a good idea. I only worry that my umbrellas do not last.
Wait til a big gust of wind comes through and shatters your solar panels by inverting the umbrella/parasol.
Have you heard about solar roadways?
:-)
I think there are some test roads in the Netherlands on the bike lane. Roads are used in all weather conditions, 24/7. Umbrellas not. Roads have approximately the same energy yield as any solar panel on the roof, minus the suboptimal angle and minus the road users causing shadows.
If you don’t see the absurd part in trying to put solar panels as a road then I’m sorry I can’t do anything for you 😁. There are exactly 0 practical reasons to do so.
There is nothing absurd about it. Every surface, which is constantly exposed to the sun, should be covered in PV panels.
Yeah, starting with a fucking road and having cars drive on it all the time instead of like, you know, putting the fragile panel on the side, so smart. I hope you’re joking 😂😅 what’s next, at the bottom of a pool?
You know there are transparent materials that can withstand forces of those, that are applied on a bicycle path. No one was even remotely talking about driving over unprotected panels. That’s just a weird imagination in your head. Instead of doing that, you could just invest a couple of minutes into reading what is getting tested already.
Netherland’s Solar Roadway Performing Even Better Than Expected!
You’re just digging the hole deeper.
I bet those transparent material are as strong and cheap as asphalt, and becomes magically clean from tire traces…
Why not put the panel on a stick on the side of the road? Is that not complicated and expensive enough?
Edit: that Netherlands project seems cheap. BTW I have a bridge to sell, interested?
Some areas still use the for just sun protection. Agree that it would not be a global product for now.
What about parasols
Different device, similar features. They tend to be much larger, making the weight an even bigger issue.
Beach umbrellas are mostly used on sunny days so I can see that.
Get a wind powered hat instead
You could use a Sekiro shield: https://youtu.be/OCq8adZdKP4 It’d be rigid but… probably quite heavy.
Probably because it would weigh 40 pounds and cost $1700. It would probably also suck, and break very easily.
And having any of that shit anywhere close to saltwater? Hell no. The electronics should be corroded within a week.
Edit: while we definitely have the technology to do this, we just don’t have the capability to mass produce them at a reasonable price or of any reasonable quality. Current technology and materials also come with a lot of really crappy limitations. Maybe something like this might get developed if a lot of people suddenly show interest in it, but aside from that happening, it could be a while.
Developing a product like this could take hundreds of millions of dollars and 10 years to get something like in the picture above.
There’s plenty of solar panels that don’t weigh a lot these days
People always severely underestimate how little power solar panels actually produce. In optimal conditions they get around 1000 watt per square meter, but are only around 20% efficient. So that means 200 watt produced at the panel. Once you convert that into something useable and transport it to where you need it, you’ll probably lose another 5 - 10%. And that’s a square meter, that’s more than you can comfortably carry. Think a flat panel of around 2 meters in length and 0.5 meters wide and lifting that above your head, pointed perfectly at the sun.
And the reality is, most solar panels even in permanent installations don’t experience perfect conditions. They don’t track the sun, so most of the time they aren’t perfectly aligned to catch all that energy. They are most likely never aligned perfectly, or if they are just a few days out of the year for like an hour a day. The sun isn’t always out, not just because you know night time, but also because of clouds and other weather or human related stuff. Lots of times there are shadows that prevent optimal workings. Dust and grime also plays a part. But another thing is temperature, solar panels are rated at around 20 degrees C. But when you put a black thing in full sun, you know it’s going to get scorching hot. This also reduces the amount of energy you can usefully extract from the sunlight as well.
The annoying thing about solar panels is they aren’t linear at all. It isn’t like when conditions are 80% from optimal, they produce 80% of the power. No, usually it’s more like 60%. And once you drop below 40% of optimal, you just produce basically zero. With a bit of effort this can be improved upon. For example I use microinverters which can regulate each panel individually, but even then it’s not great. And that’s with state of the art panels, which are very fragile, so they have a sturdy metal frame, a very tough plastic backing and a big ass layer of glass on top to protect them. If you get those more sturdy thin and light panels, you’ll be lucky if they get 15% efficiency (most likely a lot less).
So putting solar on anything that isn’t a permanent installation is usually pointless. It’s way too hard to get those ideal conditions and the panels aren’t very good to start with. If it’s moving, it’s hard to point at the sun all the time. Exceptions are maybe a small panel on the top of a campervans, which is probably the best case for a mobile installation and gets just a little bit of energy. But only if it doesn’t disrupt the wind profile of the van, otherwise it probably costs more in gas to push it along at high speed than it ever delivers back in electricity. One of those small foldable panels can also be useful when hiking for example. You can carry it collapsed on your back and if you take a break, you can fold it out, point it at the sun and get some useful energy for a couple of hours while you get some rest. Putting it on when hiking would be pointless, as it would be bulky when folded out, usually not pointed at the sun and under cover of trees for example.
Maybe the technology will improve in the future, but for now any useful personal solar is very niche.
You’re not gonna be lining a flexible handheld device with the kind of solar panels that can achieve such efficiencies even under ideal conditions. If you want an actual parasol rather than an unwieldy, rigid, parasol shaped bed for a bunch of solar panels, this is a job for the more alternative solar cell types that are cheaper and less efficient, but can be made thinner and lighter, and can be stuck on something like that. Unfortunately those generally have piss poor efficiency and they degrade to near uselessness very quickly.
Right, but it also depends on the application. It would definitely be enough for charging your phone a whole day at a festival. I’ve been using one of those “hiking” panels that you can put on a backpack. It is rated at 15 W, but I get less than 5 W out of it, which is still enough for charging my phone and not having to use a powerbank for the whole duration of the festival week; if it is sunny that is. I would love not having to bring both, an umbrella and the solar panel. E.g. Hellfest this year really was hot as hell, it definitely would have worked for this application.
But folding and weight would be a problem, and I don’t see it useful for any other scenarios. (E.g. at the beach or other one-day-events you just charge your phone at home/hotel and can use it the whole day.)
Looks like this guy couldn’t get financed to make something similar: https://www.homecrux.com/solarbrella-turns-beach-umbrella-charging-dock-phone/74666/
– but my search did turn up alibaba results for similar stuff, so they probably just stole the idea from him.
Nitpick: You want a parasol or sunshade, not an umbrella. Umbrellas are for rain (latin origins aside). It is cloudy when it rains.
I have had the same idea. Photovoltaic cells are sadly all quite stiff and/or fragile …
The cells don’t have to flex to have a flexible sheet of them. Just attach them strategically to a material more suited for flexing.
For real though, I mean, you could also just use a different layout. You don’t have to use triangles and make a circle. You could have a square umbrella that folds out with a little bit of prodding.
So far. A lot of progress is being made on that front.
why would you have a solar powered umbrella instead of a parasol? isn’t the only difference one is used when no sun lol
also sound like a bad idea either way
I know this sub is called “nostupidquestions” but c’mon.
There are foldable and flexible solar panels that go on a backpack. An umbrella would be kind of silly. What are you trying to do? How much power do you need?
Here is a 6.5 watt solar backpack though I robably wouldn’t buy it. It shoud be able to charge a 40WH USB power bank in a day or so lying down facing the sun. You never get the full rated power from solar cells. It weighs about 3 lb per the mgfr page.
https://sidedeal.com/deals/outdoor-tech-mountaineer-solar-panel-backpack
I just have never felt a need for something like that. The power to weight ratio is too low compared to recharging batteries from a wall plug, unless you have to go for long periods (like weeks) without access to a wall plug AND you are able to park the solar panel in good sunlight all day. If you want to use it while walking around, power collected will be several times lower.
Solar is great for stationary installations or maybe on top of an RV, but portable is of very limited usefulness.
That would be effectively worthless if it was used as displayed, with the panel on the backpack. Solar panels perform best when directly facing the sun, as soon as you start to angle them away, they lose output.
I’ve had reasonable results with leaving them on the ground all day though.
Ecoflow makes a hat with panels that charge a battery pack.
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It would get stolen real quick too, unfortunately. Also probably very fragile or very heavy, and would only be useful for a very specific time of the year only (during very hot summer). No clue how much output that would make though, but I’m gonna guess it’s not going to be anywhere near useful.
Like I feel like that would be an obvious thing,
I would have NEVER thought of this…
How are there no personal versions for wandering around on a sunny day with portable shade that gets you a charged battery pack?
Oh my god! THATS what umbrella man was doing! Whew! Solved a huge conspiracy there!
…wait, but that STILL proves he was a time traveler! Dammit!
