Get/create a solar backpack with a powerbank instead. That way weight is less of a concern and you can charge it when the sun is actually out without looking like a weirdo π
No Stupid Questions
No such thing. Ask away!
!nostupidquestions is a community dedicated to being helpful and answering each others' questions on various topics.
The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:
Rules (interactive)
Rule 1- All posts must be legitimate questions. All post titles must include a question.
All posts must be legitimate questions, and all post titles must include a question. Questions that are joke or trolling questions, memes, song lyrics as title, etc. are not allowed here. See Rule 6 for all exceptions.
Rule 2- Your question subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material.
Your question subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material. You will be warned first, banned second.
Rule 3- Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here.
Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here. Breaking this rule will not get you or your post removed, but it will put you at risk, and possibly in danger.
Rule 4- No self promotion or upvote-farming of any kind.
That's it.
Rule 5- No baiting or sealioning or promoting an agenda.
Questions which, instead of being of an innocuous nature, are specifically intended (based on reports and in the opinion of our crack moderation team) to bait users into ideological wars on charged political topics will be removed and the authors warned - or banned - depending on severity.
Rule 6- Regarding META posts and joke questions.
Provided it is about the community itself, you may post non-question posts using the [META] tag on your post title.
On fridays, you are allowed to post meme and troll questions, on the condition that it's in text format only, and conforms with our other rules. These posts MUST include the [NSQ Friday] tag in their title.
If you post a serious question on friday and are looking only for legitimate answers, then please include the [Serious] tag on your post. Irrelevant replies will then be removed by moderators.
Rule 7- You can't intentionally annoy, mock, or harass other members.
If you intentionally annoy, mock, harass, or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.
Likewise, if you are a member, sympathiser or a resemblant of a movement that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of a group of people, and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you will be banned on sight.
Rule 8- All comments should try to stay relevant to their parent content.
Rule 9- Reposts from other platforms are not allowed.
Let everyone have their own content.
Rule 10- Majority of bots aren't allowed to participate here. This includes using AI responses and summaries.
Credits
Our breathtaking icon was bestowed upon us by @Cevilia!
The greatest banner of all time: by @TheOneWithTheHair!
I have had the same idea. Photovoltaic cells are sadly all quite stiff and/or fragile ...
The cells donβt 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.
Do you usually use an umbrella when it's sunny or would you do it just to charge the battery? I know it's a thing but only very rarely see people do that, probably not enough to have demand for something like this. Backpacks with solar panels exist but I think these are pretty hard to find too.
This idea is right up there with Glow in the dark sunglasses.
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.
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.
Solar cells are crystalline and rigid. You wouldn't be able to fold the umbrella up and put it away. Also, as someone else pointed out, solar cells work best in sunlight... which you won't want an umbrella for.
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
Why not add a bluetooth speaker and some search lights, maybe a perfume dispenser and a toothpick holder. fucking genius.
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!
What exactly is the benefit of having an umbrella mounted solar panel over regular solar panels
Protects you from the sun while you walk. Umbrellas are used for that at least in Japan, as somebody already mentioned
Yeah but umbrellas already exist. Why would you want to carry around a solar umbrella with empty batteries to charge as opposed to a regular umbrella with already charged batteries
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.
Ecoflow makes a hat with panels that charge a battery pack.
fragile.
You could put them on a fixed awning, but you generally don't want solar cells flopping around, being vibrated or moving at all if you can help it
I know this sub is called "nostupidquestions" but c'mon.