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52-inch Sharp TV Runs on Solar Power
Posted by Mark Wilson at 10:25 PM on October 7, 2008
There's so much wrong with the application of this technology that we won't even get started on it, but this Sharp television runs off the juice of a single attached solar panel. That's because the 52" LCD is illuminated by LEDs which coincidentally reduces its power draw to the same amount produced by that solar panel sitting on the floor.
As we hinted above, don't look for this television to run any time the sun isn't out (it appears to lack batteries), but the prototype is far more impressive than Sharp's last, which was only a puny 26-inch set. Rain or shine, you can't watch a game on that thing—not that you'd want to, with the Sox out of the hunt. [AVING]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
rurena
Posted 11:51 PM 7/10/08
I think you are all missing the point. I don't think they are trying to bring a solar powered TV out to market, I think they are trying to demonstrate lower power consumptions. I think this is a demonstration for the green people or just the ones that look at the new TVs and find that they will cost more to have in your house than the old TVs just by power draw.
rurena
krom
Posted 11:46 PM 7/10/08
@siville: get the new Toshiba ones.
krom
siville
Posted 11:40 PM 7/10/08
Soooo... Hook up a battery between the solar panel and the TV. I live in Florida, I could have that thing charged in minutes on an average day.
siville
salviati
Posted 11:39 PM 7/10/08
I think there's some confusion about the power usage of this set. 220kWh isn't a measure of power, but rather, a unit of energy. The power usage of this TV should be in units of Watts (eg. my 42" plasma uses 240W of power).
Assuming Sharp has been able to cut this TV's power usage to ~100W, the size of the solar panel there would probably suffice - in direct sunlight, not on the show floor as it is presented. A good solar panel can generate ~150 W/m^2 in direct sunlight.
salviati
Lev_Astov
Posted 11:34 PM 7/10/08
Umm, kilowatt-hours is NOT the right unit to use here. That's a unit of measure for energy storage. There's something wrong here...
Lev_Astov
Slab
Posted 12:20 AM 8/10/08
@TerryinSt.Paul: I know... just sticking up for my home team.
Slab
TerryinSt.Paul
Posted 12:13 AM 8/10/08
@Slab:
He ment the Chicago White Sox and I'm happy they lost. My twins would've swept the rays.
TerryinSt.Paul
salviati
Posted 12:12 AM 8/10/08
@siville: I also live in FL, but collecting solar power here isn't as easy as you think. First, most of the time Florida is bright but cloudy - photovoltaics need direct sunlight to be efficient at all. Secondly, it takes a lot more time and area to collect energy than you think. You'd probably need a solar panel that size to get 3-4 hours of TV watching on an average day (assuming the TV uses half the power of a standard LCD TV)
salviati
Slab
Posted 12:04 AM 8/10/08
Excuse me but the Sox ARE still in the hunt.
Slab
LastAndLeast
Posted 12:47 AM 8/10/08
@Lev_Astov: Not to mention 220kWh is a pretty huge amount of energy for a TV...
LastAndLeast
siville
Posted 12:47 AM 8/10/08
@salviati:
Yes, but it seems that they have it now to run off indoor light according to the picture. If I even get partial sunlight I should be able to juice this thing up in no time!
siville
GiltProto
Posted 1:04 AM 8/10/08
Yeah, the units are messed up. And that solar panel infront of the TV is not powering the TV either, as it has no direct sunlight incident upon it!
GiltProto
Bueller
Posted 1:48 AM 8/10/08
@Slab: Go RAYS! Oh yeah, the TV tech is pretty cool, with the addition of some batteries.
Bueller
MarlboroTestMonkey7
Posted 2:12 AM 8/10/08
@GiltProto: the panel is fed by the tv, its a closed system. A perpetual motion plasma!
MarlboroTestMonkey7
geekpi
Posted 2:12 AM 8/10/08
@Lev_Astov: I'm sure there is something lost in the translation from Japanese to English, but by the number of readers who see this obvious energy measurement gaffe, the poster doesn't understand the basic principles of energy consumption.
geekpi
bucho54
Posted 2:43 AM 8/10/08
I have been wanting to do something like this for a while. Not with my TV, but with my server. Since it's on all the time I think it would be cool to run it directly off of solar (with batteries as well). The price is still too high for me to justify the project.
bucho54