this post was submitted on 20 Jul 2025
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No Stupid Questions

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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.

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[–] floop@lemmy.dbzer0.com 38 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] nimpnin@sopuli.xyz 4 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (2 children)

Nah. You could DIY something like that for 30€ or something, let alone mass produce. The only problem is that the folding would be more clumsy and probably take a bit more space folded

Edit: picture of a real product from which you could DIY one:

[–] Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 4 points 2 hours ago

Lol that tiny ass solar setup ain't charging both a laptop and a phone, least of all with them running.

That can just barely charge a phone (source - I've done a lot of math around this, solar panels have very low output per square meter).

[–] floop@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (1 children)

Slapping one together out of spare parts is not at all the same as mass producing one in a factory.

And whatever you could slap together for 30 bucks would, as I said, in previous comment, suck and break very easily, not to mention that you wouldn’t be able to bring it anywhere close to the ocean for fear of everything corroding extremely quickly.

[–] nimpnin@sopuli.xyz 1 points 3 hours ago

Yeah. Mass producing can be orders of magnitude cheaper.

It’s a ridiculous argument. Of course something like that could be manufactured, it’s just too niche of a market so nobody has made it a reality (yet).